Thinking About Offering Food Packages...

[Rachel1949]

Hey all,

We have a glamping Airbnb that we just launched here in Georgia, USA, and we are thinking about offering a package to provide food. I'm curious if anyone has done this, and are there any regulations that I should know about? I've looked on the Georgia Health Dept. website and nothing that I've found really speaks to what we're doing. Like, if the guests pay us, then we purchase and deliver it from a restaurant, do we need a license for that?

Thanks!

[Linda108]

How is what you are doing different from something like Uber Eats?  You are acting as a delivery service, not the food preparer, so the applicable rules are related to delivery.  Perhaps if you signed up as an Uber Eats driver that would take care of the issue?

[M199]

@Rachel1949 

Hmm, what happens when someone has an allergic reaction??? Lawsuit maybe? Do you want that liability? Would you be insured?

[Sarah977]

@Rachel1949  I can't imagine you'd need a license for that- all you would be doing is offering to go pick up take-out for them, it's not really any different from offering to do their laundry or doing a grocery store run for them. You aren't involved in the food prep, and aren't handling the food, so it has nothing to do with Health regs.

But I don't quite understand why the guests couldn't just order take-out and have it delivered themselves, unless you don't have a cell signal.

[Anonymous]

@Rachel1949  Your listing mentions that guests have an accessible point where DoorDash, GrubHub, and Uber Eats drop off deliveries. With all those choices, I'm not sure there's a good reason to offer your own delivery service as a fourth option. Hot food deliveries come with a high risk of disappointment (or even food poisoning) , and when that happens you don't want it to reflect back onto your listing. Maybe it's best to leave that service up to the existing operators. 

One thing I can imagine, though, is offering, as an optional add-on, a curated basket of local and/or gourmet packaged foods and drinks that are suitable for the glampsite's cooking implements, and complement your listing's charming style. That gives you full control of the quality while providing guests a different option than is already available. 

[Lorna170]

@Rachel1949   You may find the information that you are looking for if you research the rules for Bed and Breakfast accommodations in your municipality.  For example, if I were to offer fresh baked bread or any food that is not super-market sourced, I would have to have my kitchen inspected.  My neighbor, however, has a licensed farm, so she can offer fresh eggs and is not required to be inspected.  

[Sarah977]

@Lorna170  The thing is, she isn't talking about offering food, so her "Offering Food Packages" is an odd and misleading way of stating it. All she is talking about doing is being a gofer- picking up and delivering a restaurant meal the guests have ordered. 

So the service she is thinking about is actually nothing more than a delivery service, not a food service. It's no different from me telling my guests I'm going to the grocery store  and would they like me to pick anything up for them while I'm there,  except I don't charge extra for that 🙂

[Lorna170]

@Sarah977  my mistake. If the OP wants to offer to pick up and deliver, fine.  It may lead to more concierge type services for her glampers which could be profitable. 

[Anonymous]

@Lorna170   How does the profit for concierge services work at this scale? The host would only be able to charge a service fee on top of full-price goods and services. I don't think most glamping guests would be happy to pay their host a lot of extra money to spare them from the hassle of tapping an order out into an app.