Apply for a temporary food facility permit event coordinator
Event coordinators are responsible for getting a permit from our office whenever your organization is holding a public event in the County of Santa Clara where food is served.
Unless otherwise specified, a permit is also required for any temporary food facility (TFF) vendor that will sample, sell, prepare, or give away unpackaged or prepackaged food and beverage at a public event.
As an event coordinator, you will need to gather all permit applications from your vendors and submit them to us. Be sure to review your obligations as the event coordinator.
Gather permit applications and documents
- Complete the event organizer permit application.
- Identify and confirm each temporary food or beverage facility vendor participating in your event. Make sure you are familiar with the County's vendor compliance requirements at temporary events. Then, distribute applications to the operators that do not have a permit from the County.
- Collect all required applications, supporting documentation and applicable permit fee from each participating vendor. Ensure that all forms are legible and complete. Each application counts towards the number of food operations when determining the Event Coordinator fee.
- Provide a site plan showing the locations of the food booths, MFFs, toilet and hand washing facilities, and waste disposal locations including trash, liquid waste, grease waste, metal waste container.
- If the event is large, include a list of all food vendors with their booth numbers and a map depicting the booth number.
Submission deadline and payment information
- As the event coordinator, only you can submit the vendor applications to our office as we do not accept applications directly from vendors.
- Out-of-County permitted mobile food facilities operators count towards the number of food operations when determining the event coordinator fee.
- Submit the application and payment in-person or by mail. See the contact card on this page for the office and mailing address. We also accept online payments.
- We generate a single event invoice that includes all applicable fees to include the event coordinator and food vendor fees. Online payment by credit card or e-check must be made for the entire invoice balance, with no partial payments. this suggests cash, checks and money orders can be partial?
- You can pay by cash, check, cashier’s check or money order made payable to The of County of Santa Clara.
- For credit and debit card payments, see further instructions in the accompanying table.
| Action item | Deadline |
|---|---|
| If you wish to pay by debit or credit card, call our office and ask for one of the senior program managers listed below. | At least three weeks before the event start date. |
| Submit your event applications, supporting documentation, site plan, and payment. This applies to all event coordinators, including veteran and Craven Act nonprofits. | At least two weeks before your event start date. |
| Program managers |
|---|
| Todd Naffziger Senior Environmental Health Specialist |
| Anjani Sircar Senior Environmental Health Specialist |
| NUMBER OF FOOD OPERATIONS | EVENT COORDINATOR FEE |
|---|---|
| 1 food operation | $ 0.00 |
| 2 to 10 food operations | $ 224.00 |
| 11 to 20 food operations | $ 330.00 |
| 21 food operations or more | $ 452.00 |
| PERMIT TYPES FOOD VENDOR CATEGORIES | PERMIT FEE: 1-12 DAYS PER EVENT | PERMIT FEE: 13-25 DAYS PER EVENT |
|---|---|---|
| Risk category 1 (RC1) Low risk | $ 128.00 | $ 128.00 |
| Risk category 2 (RC2) Moderate risk | $ 191.00 | $ 265.00 |
| Risk category 3 (RC3) High risk | $ 244.00 | $ 315.00 |
| Sampling only and limited to small sample sizes with no food and beverage sales | $ 116.00 | $ 116.00 |
| Mobile food facilities - carts and vehicles permitted by our office, the Department of Environmental Health of Santa Clara | No temporary event fee required if vendor is operating under annual permit from our office | - |
| Mobile food facilities - carts and vehicles permitted by our office, the Department of Environmental Health of Santa Clara | Fee will depend on menu items' risk categories RC 1, 2 or 3. See below. | Fee will depend on menu items' risk categories RC 1, 2 or 3. See below. |
| Veterans and Craven Act nonprofits are exempt from permit fees, but not late fees, reinspection fees, or enforcement fees. | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 |
| Prepackaged, non-potentially hazardous foods (non-PHFs). |
| Prepares only non-PHFs. Examples include prepackaged foods/beverages, kettle corn, candies. |
| Heating and serving commercially manufactured ready to eat foods with no further processing/cooking. Examples include canned chili beans, hot dogs, nacho cheese. |
| Food operation may operate on a single day or for multiple days. |
| Potentially hazardous food (PHF) that is prepared and cooked for same day service to customers (hamburgers, tacos, chicken wings, cut melons, etc.). |
| No cooling of PHFs is allowed. Example: An operator conducting a high-risk operation (RC3 – cooking and cooling PHFs to serve cold or reheat at the event) who has a valid annual health permit at a brick-and-mortar food facility or MFF operation and is inspected by the local enforcement agency may be downgraded to RC2. You must provide a copy of your permit with the TFF application. |
| All prepared food is to be discarded at the end of day (includes hot food and any cold food that have exceeded 41⁰F). |
| Food that is prepared, cooked and cooled in advance of the event (such as potato salad, chicken pot pies, and tamales, etc.) at an approved facility that is permitted and inspected by the local enforcement agency (i.e., you are not the permit holder at a brick and mortar fixed food facility; you are renting kitchen space or using the facility with the facility owner's permission). |
| Food that is prepared at an approved food facility for multi-day use. |
| Must submit Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for review and approval. |
| All prepared food is to be discarded at end of day (includes hot food and any cold food that have exceeded 41⁰F). |
Permit fee exemption
If you meet one of the conditions below, you can apply for an event permit fee exemption. We will waive the fees if we approve your application.
Veteran organizations
- Complete the Affidavit for a veteran's exemption.
- Provide this to our office by following the directions to submit event coordinator paperwork as outlined above.
Nonprofits serving donated food
Under the Craven Act exemption, your permit fees may be waived if you are a non-profit organization that coordinates a community event and receives 100 percent of the food and beverages donated from for-profit food facilities that receive no monetary benefit.
To apply for this exemption:
- Distribute the For-profit declaration forms to the donating food vendors then collect the completed forms from them.
- Complete a Non-profit declaration form.
- Write a cover letter describing your event.
- Submit the above documents and a copy of your IRS tax determination letter at least two weeks before your event. You can submit in-person or email us???
Once we approve your application, we will send you an Authorization letter that you xxxx.
Provide a site plan showing the locations of the food booths, MFFs, toilet and hand washing facilities, and waste disposal locations including trash, liquid waste, grease waste, metal waste container.?