Food Facilities and Operations

Award of Excellence

Incentive Program for Retail Food Establishments

The County of San Luis Obispo has an incentive program for food establishments which identifies and awards a certificate to facilities that routinely exhibit excellent food safety and sanitation practices. The award eligibility criteria are determined by several factors including the type of food served, methods of preparation occurring within the facility, as well as the significance of the violations observed during the inspection (if any). Food facility classifications and award eligibility criteria are described below.

Food Facility Classifications

Fixed location food facilities are classified based on factors such as the type of food served, preparation complexity and population served. There are three types: Minimal Preparation, Moderate Preparation, and Full Preparation. Food facility classifications are as follows:

1. Minimal Food Preparation: These are facilities that sell prepackaged food items, prepare or serve non-potentially hazardous foods, heat commercially processed potentially hazardous foods for hot holding, and offer single-use eating and drinking utensils. Examples:

  • Farm/Produce stands who sell whole produce
  • Prepackaged food markets
  • Popping popcorn or warming hot dogs for self-service

2. Moderate Food Preparation: These are facilities that prepare or serve potentially hazardous food for same day service. They also may have reusable customer plates, cups or utensils that require washing and sanitization. Food is not prepared ahead of time; and there is no cooling, thawing, or reheating of food. Examples:

  • Fast food restaurants, delis, coffee shops
  • Bakeries and donut shops that have baked goods only or dispensing of beverages
  • Juice stores or ice cream shops

3. Full Food Preparation: These are facilities that prepare a variety of potentially hazardous foods for same or multi-day use. They may utilize processes such as cooling, reheating, hot or cold holding or thawing. They may prepare foods for highly susceptible populations or foods which should have a consumer advisory. Examples:

  • Full-service restaurants or full-service grocery stores with multiple units (i.e. deli, bakery, fish, meat, hot food to go, etc.)
  • Sushi restaurants, buffets or salad bars
  • Schools that serve children or licensed health care facilities

How Does a Food Facility Qualify for an Award of Excellence?

1. Minimal Preparation Facility - No violations were observed during the routine inspection therefore the facility received a final inspection score of 0.

2. Moderate and Full Preparation Facility – No “critical” or “repeat” violations were observed during the routine inspection and the facility received an overall score between 0 and -2.

Establishments that are Excluded from the Award of Excellence

The Award does not apply to Farmers’ Markets or Community Events. Additionally, Caterers, Temporary Food Facilities, Mobile Food Facilities, Cottage Food Facilities, and Dependent Food Service Operators are not eligible for an award of excellence.

Catering Operations Health Permitting

This service allows you to apply for or renew a permit to conduct a Catering Operation within San Luis Obispo County.

Catering Operation means a food service or limited food preparation conducted at a site other than the permitted shared food facility, aka off-site food service activities.  Catering operations may occur by either of the two circumstances:

  1. As part of a contracted off-site food service event.
  2. Direct-to-consumer sales, if operating in conjunction with a Host facility for no more than 4 hours in any 12-hour period, unless additional hours are otherwise approved by this agency.

A catering operation does not include food ordered as takeout, delivery for consumer self-service, food service at a community event, or food prepared or served at a private event.

  • If your planned catering operation will be conducted from a permanent kitchen from which you lease or rent space to perform your food preparation activities, you are a Dependent Food Service Operator. Click here to view information on Dependent Food Service Operator permitting.
  • If your planned catering operation will be conducted from a permanent kitchen for which you will be the permit holder, follow the process detailed below.

Catering Operations Inspection

This service allows you to request an inspection of your Catering Operation conducted within San Luis Obispo County.

Commissary and Shared Permanent Food Facility Information

The Environmental Health Services Division (EHS) recognizes that there is a growing demand by Dependent Food Service Operators to have access to the County’s local permanent food facilities to prepare their food products. EHS’s goal is to make the sharing of food facilities by multiple businesses work smoothly, while ensuring that safe food handling practices are in place to protect the public’s health.

What is a Shared Permanent Food Facility (SPFF)?

A shared permanent food facility may be a permitted Commissary or other approved permitted permanent Retail Food Facility, such as a Restaurant, Retail Market, or Catering Operation Facility, wherein the permit holder leases or rents kitchen facilities to dependent food service operators. The SPFF must possess the adequate space and equipment necessary for the safe operation of the dependent food service operation utilizing it's services.

  • A dependent food service operator is any person or business who engages in a lease or rental agreement with the permit holder of a permitted permanent food establishment, or Shared Permanent Food Facility (SPFF), to use the SPFF to perform food production and/or food service operations to supply food and related services to the general public. They may be a mobile food facility operator, a temporary food facility (food booth) operator, may provide direct sales of food products at the leased or rented permitted food establishment or host facility, or may prepare for off-site catering operations.
  • ​​Commissaries are intentionally designed to be used by mobile food facilities such that the operational requirements of the mobile food facility can be accomplished. This permanent food facility operator will possess our commissary permit and will not make or sell food from the permitted commissary.
  • Other approved Retail Permanent Food Facilities are not commissaries but are existing permitted food facilities approved to share their kitchen space and ammenities. These may be approved to service some mobile food facilities, however approval is not guaranteed.

SPFFs are evaluated for their amenities and categorized into four tier classifications. These classifications determine the level of accommodation the facility can provide to various types of dependent food service operations. Click here to view the tier classification criteria.

Community Event and Swap Meet Organizer Health Permitting

This service allows you to apply for a permit to conduct a Community Event, Swap Meet Event, or Farmers' Market including food service to the general public within San Luis Obispo County.

Cottage Food Operation Annual Self-Certification Review

This service allows you to submit your annual Cottage Food Operation Class A Registration Annual Self-Certification documents.

A Cottage Food Operation is an enterprise at a private home where specific low-risk food products that do not require refrigeration are made or repackaged for sale to consumers.

Cottage Food Operation Class B Inspection

Request an inspection of your home located within San Luis Obispo County where Cottage Food Operation Class B operations are performed.

A Cottage Food Operation is an enterprise at a private home where specific low-risk food products that do not require refrigeration are made or prepackaged for sale to consumers.

Cottage Food Operation Registration or Permitting

This service allows you to apply for or renew a Cottage Food Operation Class A Registration (direct sales) or Class B Permit (indirect sales) occurring within San Luis Obispo County.

A Cottage Food Operation is an enterprise at a private home where specific low-risk food products that do not require refrigeration are made or repackaged for sale to consumers.

Dependent Food Service Operations Health Permitting

A Dependent Food Service Operator is any person or business who engages in a lease or rental agreement with the permit holder of a permitted permanent food establishment, or Shared Permanent Food Facility (SPFF), to use the SPFF to perform food production and/or food service operations to supply food and related services to the general public.

If you do not have a permanent retail food facility under permit with this Department and you wish to utilize one that another person holds the permit for to be approved to perform your food production or food service operations, then you are a dependent food service operator.

The Environmental Health Services Division (EHS) recognizes that there is a growing demand by dependent food operators to have access to the County’s local permanent food facilities to prepare their food products. EHS’s goal is to make the sharing of food facilities by multiple businesses work smoothly, while ensuring that safe food handling practices are in place to protect the public’s health.

This service allows you to apply for or renew a permit to conduct a Dependent Food Service Operation within San Luis Obispo County.

Dependent Food Service Operations Inspection

This service allows you to request an inspection of your Dependent Food Service Operation conducted within San Luis Obispo County.

Food Facility Construction Permitting

This service allows you to apply for a permit to construct or modify a food facility located within San Luis Obispo County.

Please note, additional permitting may be required by the local city or county jurisdiction Planning and Building Department.

Food Facility Health Permitting

This service allows you to apply for or renew a permit to operate a food facility located within San Luis Obispo County.

Food Facility Inspection

This service allows you to request an inspection of your regulated food facility located within San Luis Obispo County.

Please visit EatSafeSLO for the mapped locations of actively permitted retail food facilities along with inspection reports.

Food Facility Inspection Results

Interactive map:
EatSafeSLO is an interactive map that provides the locations of fixed and permitted retail food facilities with links to health inspection results. Please note that cottage food and mobile food facilities are not mapped in EatSafeSLO but links to their inspection results are availble in the section below.

Search the inspection database directly without the EatSafeSLO interactive map:
MyHealthDepartment to view inspection results directly from our new database for inspections performed on or after May 5th, 2025. Please note that if a facility has not been inspected since May 5th, 2025, the link will not return a result.  If this is the case, please refer to the 2 Year Inspections Report for Retail Food to view inspection results for inspections performed on or before May 2nd, 2025.

New Scoring System:
Environmental Health Services has moved to a new scoring method that uses a negative scoring scale. A perfect score is zero and violations lead to a negative number score. ​​​​​​Please see the FAQs below for more details about the new scoring system.

Food Program Frequently Asked Questions

This service provides answers to common questions regarding food preparation and food facility operation.

Host Facility Health Permitting

What is a Host Facility? A Host Facility is a facility located in a brewery, winery, commercial building, or other location approved by Environmental Health Services (EHS) that meets specified infrastructure and operational requirements. The location cannot be the same premises as those set aside for wine or beer tasting.

This service allows you to apply for or renew a permit to operate a Host Facility within San Luis Obispo County. This permit allows for expanded food options by hosting a catering operation who may sell food directly to the consumer at this approved site for no more than 4 hours in any 12-hour period, unless additional hours are otherwise approved by this agency. A Host Facility Permit is not required for sites that only utilize catering for private events or that only host approved/permitted mobile food facilities (food trucks, food carts, etc.).

Host Facility Inspection

This service allows you to request an inspection of your Host Facility operated within San Luis Obispo County.

Mobile Food Facility Consultation and Construction Permitting

This service allows you to apply for a consultation or a permit to construct or modify a Compact Mobile Food Facility Operation (CMFO) or Mobile Food Facility (MFF) Preparation Unit to be operated within San Luis Obispo County.

A health permit to operate a CMFO or MFF will not be issued unless all construction and operational requirements are met.

If you have completed a construction plan check for your CMFO or MFF and/or have received direction from this Agency to proceed with health permitting, please visit the Mobile Food Facility permitting page:

Consultation and/or Construction Plan Check applications are required for all CMFOs and MFFs and are within these categories:

  • Full construction plan check required for:
    • New construction of CMFOs or MFFs.
    • Remodeled or modified CMFOs or MFFs. 
    • CMFOs or MFFs previously permitted where the health permit to operate expired 2 or more years ago.
  • A 2-hour consultation* is required for:
    • CMFOs or MFFs previously permitted in another jurisdiction within the last 2 years.
    • Ownership changes of CMFOs or MFFs operated within San Luis Obispo County within the last 2 years where a significant menu change or change in operation will occur.

*The purpose of the 2hour consultation is to determine if the CMFO or MFF can move forward with the permitting process or if additional information is required for approval. Please note that a full construction plan check may be required.

Please note a Housing and Community Development (HCD) certification is required for all occupiable MFFs, including those previously certified that have been modified or remodeled since the last certification date.

A prospective new owner is encouraged to contact our Agency with questions prior to purchasing or constructing any Mobile Food Facility. Additional consultation or construction plan check requirements will be determined during that time.

Please note, it is unlawful to build a CMFO or MFF without prior written approval from this office.

Mobile Food Facility Health Permitting

This service allows you to apply for or renew a permit to operate a Compact Mobile Food Operation (CMFO) or Mobile Food facility Preparation Unit (MFF) within San Luis Obispo County.

Mobile Food Facility Inspection

This service allows you to request an inspection of your permitted Mobile Food facility operated within San Luis Obispo County.

 

Please note, operation of a mobile food facility without a valid health permit or without a valid health permit sticker affixed to the mobile food facility is a misdemeanor and may be punishable by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25) or more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

Surplus Food Donations

Donating food  can be a sustainable and simple way to help local non-profit and charitable organizations serve those in need in your community.

Permitted food facilities such as restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, food processing facilities, food distributors, and caterers can donate prepared foods and meals to nonprofit charitable organizations or individuals directly. Foods that have been previously served to a consumer cannot be donated.

Individuals can donate uncooked, pre-packaged food products (e.g. canned food items) that can be prepared on site by approved food handlers.

California Retail Food Code specifies that Limited Service Charitable Feeding Operations shall register with the local enforcement agency.  In San Luis Obispo County, please register with the County of San Luis Obispo Environmental Health Services by submitting the Limited Service Charitable Feed Operation Registration Form.

Please visit Contact us for hours of operation, directions and phone information.

More Information:
SB 1383 Education and Outreach Resources - CalRecycle Home Page
Edible Food Recovery - San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority
Food Rescue US

 

Swap Meet Food Facility Health Permitting

This service allows you to apply for or renew a permit to operate a Swap Meet booth with food service within San Luis Obispo County.

Temporary Food Facility Health Permitting

This service allows you to apply for or renew a permit to operate a Temporary Food Facility within San Luis Obispo County.