Inside the risky business of Facebook Marketplace food sales

By SAGE SMITH AND HILARY ANGUS

An increasing number of Vancouverites are selling food online to earn a little extra cash or test the market for their products, but strict government health and safety regulations pose problems for these often-illegal businesses.

B.C.’s Home-Based Craft Food act allows certain foods to be sold out of home kitchens without restaurant permits, but producers must still maintain certain health and safety standards like food safety training and a basic business licence.

Permitted foods are very limited, including items like baked goods, candy, honey, noodles and similar products that are considered low-risk due to either their low water content or their high-temperature processing methods.

Meat, dairy, home-canned goods, hot meals, frozen food and fresh ingredients are strictly prohibited.

But a quick search of “food” on Facebook Marketplace will produce a wide variety of listings that fall well outside of the craft food regulations.

Testing the market while testing the limits

Adan, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym in fear of being shut down or fined, said he began selling food on Facebook Marketplace in 2018 as a way to supplement the income he earns working in a warehouse.

He sells pork marinated “traditional Filipino style,” which customers can order a few days in advance, and pick up frozen in two-kilogram bags that he sells for $35 each.

Adan said selling food on Marketplace is hard. Customers will message him to place an order, he said, but then once he’s purchased and marinated the pork they’ll stop texting back, or fail to show up when they said they will.

He also finds the seasons challenging for his particular product, as his pork skewers are best grilled and “people don’t grill in winter here.”

But overall, he said it’s worth it. During busy weeks in the summer, he can get orders for up to 50 kg of pork at a time for events like birthday parties.

He takes an enormous amount of pride in the quality of his food and said the community – both Filipinos and the wider community – have supported his products.

But the work is not without its risks, and Adan understands them well. He said he is on the radar of Vancouver Coastal Health, who have contacted him numerous times over the years about his business.

He agreed, under VCH’s direction, to take his FoodSafe Level 1, and he moved his operations from his apartment to the licensed kitchen in a store his friend runs.

Now when he meets customers, he meets them at the kitchen, but he admitted that he often still marinates the pork at home.

Adan said he follows FoodSafe guidelines when preparing his food, and he would be happy to legalize his business if it was feasible, but the costs of running a legal food business are prohibitive.

In Vancouver, renting a station in a certified commissary kitchen costs between $800 and $3,000 per month. Combine that with business licence fees, insurance, marketing, and wages for staff, and even a tiny food business can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars per year.

He said many of the people selling food on Marketplace – most of whom, by his observation, seem to also be immigrants – are probably making the same calculation.

He said VCH now wants him to take FoodSafe Level 2, the designation for foodservice owners and kitchen managers, and a higher designation than the requirement for regular kitchen staff.

He is happy to do so if it enables him to keep selling his food without the significant investment it would require to register a legal business.

The Voice was not able to independently verify Adan’s interactions with FoodSafe, and VCH did not agree to an interview by press time.

From Facebook to Foodtrucks: some vendors have found success

Raymond and Hannah Yamelst of Big City Bannock said they began their now-flourishing business by selling food in a group on Facebook.

In October 2023, the couple began selling Indigenous taco kits in an Indigenous food and trading Facebook group, and found immediate success. “It seriously just went crazy,” Raymond said. “People started ordering over and over, nonstop.”

Raymond said he used his personal Facebook page to sell tacos for a couple more weeks, but quickly realized they would need a professional page and opened the Big City Bannock Facebook page.

They began to advertise their food, and the 15 orders a day increased to nearly 60 in less than two months. They also began to cater.

This was when they realized they might have a problem. As their business was taking off, they started receiving warnings from other community members in the form of comments on their Facebook page: “You guys better stop doing business because you’re not permitted.”

Raymond said they responded by shutting down the majority of their sales for nearly nine months.

“When we started we didn’t know the rules,” he said. “As soon as we did find out what the rules were, we shut our business down.”

The Home-Based Craft Food Act of B.C. permits bread sales, so they continued selling bannock.

Raymond said he did a lot of research and applied for the necessary permits. “It took a long time, and it was tough.”

“We did have to turn down jobs,” he said, “But most of that business still stuck around because we were honest with them.”

The couple now have a full business licence, are expanding their business with a new food truck and hope to have a brick-and-mortar restaurant within the year.

Their advice to people using Facebook to sell food is to “Understand your local health authorities. Because it’s serious.”

He said the potential risks are not worth it, adding “If someone were to get sick, that’s a lot of liability on yourself.”

He also said getting caught operating without a licence can have serious implications on your future.

“Go for it, but be very safe. Because you can get fully flagged, [and then] you’re never going to get a health permit.”