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These information pages can help you get started in learning about some of the laws and registration requirements that may apply to your experiences on Airbnb. These pages include summaries of some of the rules that may apply to different sorts of activities, and contain links to government resources that you may find helpful.
Please understand that these information pages are not comprehensive, and are not legal advice. If you are unsure about how local laws or this information may apply to you or your Experience, we encourage you to check with official sources or seek legal advice.
Please note that we don’t update this information in real time, so you should confirm that the laws or procedures have not changed recently.*
Yes. If you plan to include food during your Experience, we encourage you to please keep your health and safety, and that of your guests, at the top of your mind. For example:
The following food experiences are unlikely to run afoul of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene:
If you are thinking of serving home-cooked food, please carefully read our home-cooked food guidance and check with an attorney to make sure you are following your local laws.
The key question is whether serving home-cooked food in your private home to occasional guests qualifies as a regulated activity under the New York Sanitary Code. The Sanitary Code applies to “food service establishments” and “temporary food service establishments.”
According to the Sanitary Code, a “food service establishment” is, with some exceptions, “a place where food is prepared and intended for individual portion service and includes the site at which the individual portions are provided, whether consumption occurs on or off the premises.”. Unless an exemption applies, all food service establishments in New York City must be permitted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Note that, for a variety of reasons, residential kitchens generally cannot be permitted as “food service establishments.” In addition to the strict requirements a “food service establishment” kitchen (referred to as a “commercial kitchen”) must meet, a commercial kitchen must be totally separate from the kitchen used by the people who live at that home. In other words, in order to run a food service establishment from your home, you would need two separate kitchens.
This is a tricky area and we encourage you to call the Department of Health directly or speak to a lawyer to describe your Experience and make sure you are correctly interpreting this guidance and are following your local laws.
If you want to teach a cooking lesson in a private home, please carefully read the section above on home-cooked foods and speak to an attorney to make sure you are following your local laws. If you simply demonstrate cooking without serving the food, that should be okay to do without a permit.
From time to time, Airbnb may also partner with select non-profits who may either provide licensed food facilities for Hosts or may otherwise sponsor a food related event.
*Airbnb is not responsible for the reliability or correctness of the information contained in any links to third party sites (including any links to legislation and regulations).