ROAD FOOD

How to make sure
your stand is legal

By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
Star-Bulletin

However, if you're a present or potential roadside vendor, here's a five point checklist to make sure you're legal:

1. You're OK if you're on private property and have the property owner's permission to sell there.

2. If you're on City & County of Honolulu property or in a city parking space, you must move every 15 minutes; check appropriate ordinances at the city's Special Reference Library, Municipal Records and Reference Center; phone 523-4577.

3. You must be two to 30 feet from the edge of state highways, depending on the state right of way (how much land the state owns). To check boundaries, get the adjacent property's Tax Map Key number and go to the state Department of Transportation's Highway Property Management Office, 888 Mililani St., Room 502, from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

4. If you're selling prepared food, it must be prepared in a state Department of Health approved kitchen that is separate from one's home kitchen and in a properly zoned area. To order a 20-page set of the pertinent Chapter 1A Rules for Food Establishments, call or write Sanitation Branch, 591 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 103, Honolulu, HI 96813; phone 586-8000.

5. The state Department of Health also requires vendors to have access to a bathroom within a reasonable distance.

Note: A pending rule will allow vendors to hold prepared food at room temperature for up to four hours, according to state Department of Health Sanitation Branch chief Brian Choy.