Question: Concession Stand Rules

Should volunteers be a certain age if you are serving hot food and should they work with the money? Also, if one volunteer group raises considerably more and purchases the equipment for the concession stand, should all volunteer groups be able to use it freely?

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
Food service rules are local -- check with your city or county government about specifics. Generally, it's OK to have underage kids staff a concession stand (at a fair, for example) as long as they are volunteers and the concession isn't a regular business. Regarding who should handle the money, it's more typical for an adult to make the change. Keep in mind that the same person shouldn't be handling the food and the money. That's a typical food safety rule in most, if not all, jurisdictions. As far as sharing equipment, it's hard to answer that question without knowing some more details. If your group actually owns the equipment, you might charge a rental fee for other groups to use it. If all of the volunteer groups you're talking about are benefiting the same school, then it probably makes sense to share willingly.