Know exactly what the HD means by cooking on site. I would guess it is like here...it must be COOKED on site. It's different if you have a Class 1 license, but for temp vending, they are picky. I have had success cooking ribs, butts, and brisket hot and fast on site. Serving time starts around 11 AM, put them on at 4 or 5, make breakfast, enjoy the early morning quiet, prep other stuff, and be legal.

Onsite cookers; approximately how big of a crowd are you cooking for when you cook onsite?

well we cooked on site "wink wink nudge nudge" I would call it a mild success. we each took home 800 bucks. we got a 97 on our health score. Just didn't have thermometers hanging in the fridge. We are cooking again for the block party to clear out our uncooked inventory. Should be a great way to clear out our remaining inventory and maximize our profit.

Dont be a scab. I vend for a living and I do it all right, if you are going to cook store and do everything against the rules, please dont become a vendor. There are enough people out there trying to beat the system. There are a lot of expenses involved with vending. There are many ways to do it correctly. There are USDA certified smoke houses that you can have custom cook your meat and bring it boxed to the festival, its legal to reheat meat that was cooked in an approved plant. Or get a legal commisary and do it right. You cannot cook brisket and butts on site the night before you are inspected anyway. They want to see raw product if you are not certified to have cooked product. Do your homework and make sure you do it right, the last thing you want is the inspector dumping bleach on 400lbs of pork you worked your ass off to cook!

The fact of the matter is, you can be "legal" and still serve nasty food. It all depends on the individual(s) doing the cooking and serving. There are safe ways to cook off-site and reheat on-site. If someone is taking the necessary precautions to keep their food safe and their equipment sanitary, I say more power to them - by the "rules" or not. I don't think people set out to "beat the system," necessarily. People try to earn a little extra money to make ends meet in a tough economy by the only means they know how, or is available to them. It doesn't make them bad people, or criminals. And I'm not defending myself here, because I don't vend. But I've read the regs many, many times, and some are ridiculous given the very nature and technique of cooking BBQ - especially.

This Won't work, I served a festival this year, served over 300 people, the Festival ended at 3:00 P.M. The Inspector showed up at 2:30, Inspected us and guess what, I was out of food. In fact at all ten inspections food was being served before the inspector arrived. They work very hard with you to get you right if you aren't. Our Inspector has to come 2 hours from his home over 120 miles away to inspect us, he does not expect you to show him raw meat before you begin your cook.

I've never seen an Iowa inspector dump bleach on anything. I've seen him/her shut down the people around us, but no food was destroyed or confiscated.

My trailer was inspected over ten times July and August and I got a 100% each time. All inspectors that I have met, are there to help as much as possible.

HD rules are really state and county dependent. I have found that the closer you get to a big city the more onerous the inspection. I am in California so what I read about Iowa and other states sounds like a dream for us here in CA where I have had inspectors want to see the receipts for the product to check the date bought and want to know how it was stored between purchase (only allowed to purchas the day of the event) and cook. We are not a business friendly environment. A friend of mine was almost shut down because he had some open cold cuts in a separate cooler for his own lunch. OMG, what we have to put up with.