Commissary Kitchen Finder: where they actually are, and what they cost
No commissary, no health permit. That is the rule in almost every jurisdiction — and it is the step first-time food truck owners and caterers leave until last. Pick your state to see how many licensed shared-use kitchens are listed near you, what renting one runs per month, and exactly what to ask before you sign.
Find a commissary kitchen in your state
Counts come straight from The Kitchen Door's own state pages, harvested 30 July 2026. Every city below links to that city's live listings.
51 options — 50 states plus a note for Washington, D.C.
What a commissary kitchen will cost you
Nobody publishes commissary rates state by state, so this uses the national bands from our own live cost breakdowns — every figure is linked at the bottom of the page. Treat it as a budgeting range, then call three kitchens and get real quotes.
Monthly hours = weekly hours × 4.33 (52 weeks ÷ 12 months).
Used only for the benchmark check below. Leave at 0 to skip it.
Before you sign: what the kitchen has to actually give you
A commissary is not just counter space. Our permit guide lists what the health department expects the facility to cover — if a kitchen cannot do all of these, it will not clear your inspection.
Legal prep space
The commissary is "where you legally prep food, store ingredients, fill water tanks, and clean the truck." If any one of those is missing, you have a gap the inspector will find.
Ingredient storage
Dry, cold and frozen. Ask what is included in the rate and what is billed separately — storage is the line most often quoted on top of the hourly rate.
Potable water fill and wastewater dump
Mobile units need both. A kitchen without a legal grey-water disposal point is not a commissary for a truck, whatever it calls itself.
Truck cleaning and parking access
Some jurisdictions require a daily return. Confirm the facility can physically take your unit before you sign anything.
A signed agreement, in writing
"Commissary agreement. Technically not a permit, but almost every jurisdiction requires you to prep and clean at a licensed commercial kitchen. No commissary, no health permit."
Receipts you can hand an inspector
"Health inspectors ask for commissary receipts at inspection. No receipts, no permit. No permit, no revenue." Keep every one.
All 50 states, ranked by commissary kitchen supply
Click a column heading to re-sort. Raw count favors big states, so the per-million column is the fairer read on how hard your search will be.
| # | State | Listed kitchens | Per million residents | Population (2024) | Biggest city cluster |
|---|
Green = top third by kitchens per million, amber = middle third, red = bottom third. Ranks are over the 50 states; Washington, D.C. has no state page in the directory and is excluded from the ranking.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Nothing is estimated by us.
Kitchen counts and locations
- The Kitchen Door, operated by The Food Corridor — the largest public directory of commissary and shared-use commercial kitchens in the U.S. Each state total is the figure that directory publishes on its own state page ("There are N commissary/commercial kitchens available in…"), harvested 30 July 2026. The per-city counts on each page sum exactly to the state total. We publish counts and links only.
- Culinary Incubator — a second national directory, useful as a cross-check when your state looks thin.
- Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 State Population Totals (POPESTIMATE2024). Kitchens per million = listed kitchens ÷ (population ÷ 1,000,000).
Cost bands and the permit rule
- Hourly rate ($15–$30/hr), dedicated monthly slot ($300–$800/mo) and the first-three-months catering line ($900–$2,400): How to Start a Catering Business.
- Food truck commissary agreement ($400–$1,500/mo), "No commissary, no health permit," the four-to-six-week lead time and the inspection-receipts rule: Food Truck Permits and Food Truck Permits and Licenses by State.
- Commissary rental as a startup line item, deposit flagged: Food Truck Startup Costs.
- Commissary overhead of $200–$1,500/month versus a $3,000–$15,000 restaurant lease (per PitStop): The Food Truck Failure Rate.
- Commissary and supplies at 2–4% of revenue: How Much Do Food Trucks Make.
What this tool deliberately does not do. It does not quote a deposit figure — our source flags that commissaries take one but never puts a number on it. It does not price individual states, because nobody publishes that data. And it does not tell you your state legally requires a commissary: those rules are set county by county, and Texas HB 2844 is a live example of a state changing them. Call your county health department and ask. This is a planning tool, not legal advice.
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