La’Placita Commercial Kitchen

This business speaks Spanish and English.

La’Placita is a family-run commercial kitchen. They are on a mission to make healthy homemade food accessible to everyone in Oakland. Amelia Otero is a pioneer in the mobile food movement. Many parts of East Oakland are considered “food deserts,” meaning there is little to no access to affordable and unprocessed foods.

For many years, mobile vendors without a permit were the only way for people in East Oakland to incorporate nutritious foods in their diet. Amelia was tired of seeing corner stores as the main source of food for many East Oakland residents, so she helped create the policy used in the City of Oakland that allows mobile vendors to operate. In addition to helping pass policy, Amelia started La’Placita as a co-op commercial kitchen on Fruitvale Boulevard in 1998. The space then moved to its current location on 48th and International in 2012. La’Placita is one of the only commercial kitchens that is approved by both the City of Oakland and Alameda County.

Whether you own a food truck or a food cart, the commercial kitchen offers a clean space for you to prepare your food while following all safety regulations. There is one room that is designated for fruit prep. As well as a larger room that is used for all other food prep. They also have a gated outdoor area that is used to store mobile vending equipment and vehicles.

Along with a safe and clean space for food prep, you can get help with permitting your mobile food business. Pamela Smith is the daughter-in-law of Amelia. Pamela manages the kitchen and helps mobile food vendors navigate through the necessary paperwork to legally do business in Oakland. If you are a mobile food vendor looking for food prep and overnight storage space, contact Pamela by phone or by email.