Catering, Pastry and Street Food

Who it is for. Beginners with no formal certificate, including school leavers, women's groups and persons with disabilities. National Proficiency I is the first level of Ghana's TVET framework.

Why catering, pastry and street food

• In an FAO survey of 1,700 street-food vendors in Accra, almost all were women, and nearly half sold next to schools.
• In Kumasi, 63% of people buy street food every day, but 82% do not trust vendors' hygiene, and customers choose vendors on neatness. A clean vendor stands out.
• In a 2022 survey of 406 street-food vendors in the Takoradi sub-metro, 70.4% had low food-safety knowledge, practice was poor for about half, and only about 38% had any formal training in food vending. Training is the gap this manual fills.
• A University of Ghana study of vendors in markets in Accra, Takoradi and Senchi found coliforms and Salmonella in food and water samples, and named poor hygiene and poor temperature control during power cuts as causes.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical, following CTVET's Oil Palm programme split of about 30% school and 70% workplace. Every unit ends with homework and a short Check yourself quiz. Recipes in this book are starting points: write down what you do, taste, and adjust.

Competency standard

Range. Training kitchen and a practice food stand. Evidence. Observation every session; daily hygiene checklist; temperature log; oral questions.

Why it matters

Food can look, smell and taste normal and still make people sick. Two things make most food sick: germs from dirty hands, water and surfaces, and food left warm too long, which lets germs grow. In the Takoradi vendor survey, 43.4% used the same kitchen cloth to clean shelves and their hands, and only 56.7% kept prepared food at room temperature for no more than 2 hours. Both habits are easy to fix.

WHO Five Keys to Safer Food

1. Keep clean. Wash hands, tools and surfaces; keep insects, pests and animals away.
2. Separate raw and cooked. Raw meat, chicken and fish have germs that can spread to cooked food.
3. Cook thoroughly, especially meat, chicken, eggs and fish; heat food to 70 °C.
4. Keep food at safe temperatures. The danger zone is 5–60 °C. Keep cold food below 5 °C and hot food above 60 °C, and do not leave cooked food at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
5. Use safe water and raw materials; do not use food past its expiry date.

The FDA's code for food businesses in Ghana sets similar numbers: cook all parts of risky foods to at least 65 °C for 15 seconds, and during display and service keep them below 5 °C or above 60 °C. Aim for the WHO's 70 °C; it gives you a margin.

Your personal hygiene routine

The FDA code asks every food handler to:

WHO's longer method, 40–60 seconds, covers palms, backs, between the fingers, thumbs and fingertips, and dries with a clean single-use towel. Practise it until it is a habit.

Steps: wash your hands properly

You need: running water (tap or tippy-tap), liquid soap, paper towels or a clean towel used once, a covered bin.

1. Wet your hands with clean running water.
2. Put on liquid soap.
3. Rub palms together, then the back of each hand.
4. Lock your fingers and rub between them.
5. Rub each thumb, then your fingertips in the other palm.
6. Count to at least 20 (WHO: 40–60 seconds for the whole wash).
7. Rinse under running water.
8. Dry with a single-use towel; turn off the tap with the towel.
9. Check: no soap left, no wet patches, nails clean.

Common mistakes. Washing in a shared bowl of water (germs stay in the bowl); drying on your apron; touching your phone or money and then food. Fix: a tippy-tap, paper towels, and a money handler who does not touch food (Unit 7).

Separate raw and cooked

The thermometer is your best tool

A probe thermometer costs less than one bad day. Use it to check:

1. Cooking: push the tip into the thickest part of the meat or the middle of the pot. Look for 70 °C or more.
2. Hot holding: food on the stall must stay above 60 °C.
3. Cold holding: the fridge or ice chest must be below 5 °C.
4. Clean the probe with hot water or a sanitiser wipe between foods.
5. Write it down in your temperature log with the time.

Check yourself

1. What is the temperature danger zone, and how long can cooked food stay at room temperature?
2. Name three times you must wash your hands.
3. Why must you not leave cooked rice to cool slowly in the pot?

Competency standard

Range. Training kitchen, gas cooker, deep pan, knives. Evidence. Observation; gas check record; oral questions.

Gas (LPG) safety

• Never keep the gas cylinder indoors. Keep it well aired and away from flames. Light the match before you turn on the gas.
• Check washers and hoses regularly, use proper hose clips, and take a faulty hose or regulator to a dealer.
• In April 2026 the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company said nearly 30% of cylinders brought in for inspection under the Cylinder Recirculation Model were defective and unfit to use. The model, where you swap an empty cylinder for a filled and certified one, ran in Accra, Kumasi and Tema at that time. Do not use a rusty, dented or leaking cylinder.
• The Fire Service has inspected food vendors' cylinders for leaks at Takoradi Market Circle.

Steps: set up and check the gas

You need: cylinder, regulator, hose with two clips, a cup of soapy water and a brush, matches or a lighter.

1. Stand the cylinder upright, outside, on firm ground, in shade, away from drains.
2. Look at the cylinder: no deep rust, dents or bulges. Reject it if you see any.
3. Check the hose: no cracks, no soft spots; both ends held with clips.
4. Fit the regulator; turn the cylinder valve on slowly.
5. Leak test: brush soapy water on every joint. Bubbles mean a leak. Turn off at once and fix or replace the part. Never use a flame to look for leaks.
6. At the cooker: light the match first, then open the burner tap.
7. When you finish: close the burner, then the cylinder valve.
8. Record the check in your gas log.

Hot oil and pan fires

• In a Ho study, frying oil got worse the longer it was reused and stored. India's food regulator advises reusing oil no more than three times, and throwing it away when it smokes blue-grey, foams, darkens or thickens; never pour it into a drain. No Ghana limit was found.
• If a pan catches fire, never pour water on it. The Fire Service's chief advised using a fire blanket, wet cloth or sack to cover the pan, then waiting a while before uncovering it. Turn off the gas if you can do it safely.
• Keep a fire extinguisher and learn to use it.

Steps: fry safely

1. Use a deep, heavy pan; fill it no more than half with oil (the author's safety rule).
2. Dry wet food before it goes in; water makes oil spit.
3. Heat oil to the recipe temperature (usually 160–180 °C for pastries; check with a thermometer that reads to 200 °C).
4. Lower food in gently with a slotted spoon, away from you.
5. Never leave hot oil alone, and keep children away.
6. Keep the fire blanket and lid within reach.
7. Let oil cool fully before you strain or move it.

Knife safety

Burns: first aid

WHO says: stop the burning and cool the burn with running water; wrap the person in a clean cloth and go to a health facility. Do not put paste, oil, turmeric or raw cotton on the burn; do not use ice; do not cool for so long that the person gets cold; do not burst blisters. In Ghana, people sometimes put toothpaste, raw egg or palm oil on burns: do not.

WHO also notes that women and children are often burned in home kitchens by spilt hot liquids, flames and stove explosions. Keep pot handles turned in and children out of the cooking area.

Check yourself

1. Which do you light first, the match or the gas?
2. What do you do if a pan of oil catches fire?
3. Name two things you must never put on a burn.

Competency standard

Range. Street vending, a chop bar, a home-based caterer, a small bakery. Evidence. Permit checklist; completed practice form; oral questions.

Who needs a permit?

The FDA says it is illegal to run a food service business without a valid Food Hygiene Permit. The law behind it is section 130(1) of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851). The FDA's guideline defines a food service establishment very widely: any place where food is prepared, packaged, served, stored or sold to consumers, including restaurants, bakeries, snack bars, mobile food vans and catering operations. Its code also covers street-food vending at kiosks and events, outdoor and event catering, and food delivery by dispatch riders. The FDA has said the permit lasts one year and must be displayed where customers can see it. It said it would start closing food businesses without permits from February 2026.

Street vendors have their own track. The FDA, with FAO and an Accra assembly, launched a Street Food Vending Permit in November 2021, and the FDA's food service department inspects vendors and gives permits to those who comply, working with the Ministry of Local Government.

In March 2023, the FDA said only 1,079 food service businesses in the whole country held a hygiene permit, and that about 5,000 street vendors had been trained since 2021. In a Western Region FDA training in Takoradi, only 5 of 25 vendors met all the conditions for the vending permit; the conditions listed were a business certificate, a location permit, a food-handling test with the Assembly, and the vending permit itself. A permit makes you stand out.

The Street Food Vendor Permit form

The FDA's one-page form (version effective 29 January 2024) asks for:

The food handler's medical test

• The FDA code says everyone who touches food at work must be medically certified fit before they start and must take the food handler's test at least once a year.
• For a hygiene permit, the FDA asks for a food handler's test certificate for tuberculosis, hepatitis A, typhoid and other communicable diseases for each worker who prepares or serves food.
• Sekondi-Takoradi screened over 400 food vendors in 2023 and refused licences to those with conditions such as typhoid.

Permits from the Assembly

The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) 2025 fee schedule lists yearly fees for bakeries, formal and informal catering services, chop bars, snack bars, outdoor caterers and local fast-food vendors; an Environmental Health suitability certificate for restaurants, chop bars, food joints and bakeries; health screening certificates; and fines for selling food in unhygienic places and selling food without a medical certificate. Informal catering services, for example, are listed at GH¢200 a year. The table's columns are hard to read, so ask the STMA revenue or Environmental Health office for your exact category and fee.

What the FDA charges

The FDA's fee schedule (L.I. 2481 of 2023) lists a food service facility inspection at GH¢60 a year for micro, GH¢120 for small and GH¢140 for medium businesses, and GH¢600 per inspection for large ones. It also lists Good Hygienic Practices training at GH¢200 per person. How the FDA decides whether you are micro, small or medium was not found: ask the FDA Western Regional office.

Check yourself

1. How long does an FDA Food Hygiene Permit last, and where must it be?
2. Which diseases does the food handler's test cover?
3. Can you run a catering business from your bedroom kitchen, according to the FDA code?

Competency standard

Range. Banku, kenkey (buy-in or demonstration), waakye, jollof, red-red, kelewele. Evidence. Dishes cooked; recipe cards with quantities; temperature log; observation.

Before you cook any dish

Banku

Banku is a fermented corn and cassava dough, cooked and stirred into a smooth, stiff ball. Cassava and corn are soaked, milled into a wet dough and left to ferment for two to five days, depending on the temperature. Most sellers buy ready fermented corn dough and cassava dough at the corn mill.

You need: fermented corn dough, cassava dough, salt, safe water, a heavy pot, a banku stick (ta) or strong wooden spatula, a bowl of cold water, a clean plate, cling film or clean leaves for wrapping.

1. Weigh the doughs. A common start is equal parts corn dough and cassava dough (a widely used ratio; adjust to your customers' taste).
2. Mix the doughs with water and a pinch of salt into a smooth, lump-free slurry.
3. Put it on medium heat and stir all the time. It thickens quickly.
4. Keep stirring and turning until it becomes a smooth, stiff dough.
5. Make a well, add a little hot water around the dough, cover and let it steam a few minutes; then stir and knead again. Repeat until cooked and smooth.
6. Wet a small bowl; shape balls of the same size; weigh one to check (Unit 6).
7. Serve hot with pepper and fried or grilled fish, or with okro stew; wrap balls for sale.

Check: smooth, no raw floury taste, no lumps. Common mistakes: lumps (water added too fast, not stirring) — fix by stirring hard off the heat and adding a little hot water; burnt bottom (heat too high) — lower the heat and keep turning.

Kenkey: buy safely, sell safely

Kenkey is fermented maize dough. Part of the dough is cooked into a thick porridge called aflata, mixed back with the raw dough, wrapped in corn husk (Ga kenkey) or plantain leaves (Fante kenkey), and steamed or boiled for hours until soft. Making kenkey takes days and a lot of fuel, so many sellers buy kenkey from a producer and sell it with pepper and fish. A kenkey maker in Accra advised eating kenkey within about four days at room temperature, or keeping it in a fridge.

Selling kenkey safely:

1. Buy only fresh kenkey from a clean producer; ask the day it was made.
2. Keep it covered in a clean basket or container, off the ground.
3. Grind pepper fresh each day with washed onions and tomatoes; keep it covered.
4. Fry fish to a full cook (70 °C in the thickest part) or buy it from a clean fryer.
5. Serve with tongs or a clean spoon, never bare hands.
6. Throw away leftover pepper sauce at the end of the day.

Waakye

Waakye is rice and beans cooked together with dried sorghum leaf sheaths (waakye leaves) and powdered limestone (kaun) for its red colour and taste; the leaves are taken out before serving. Vendors often wrap it in leaves and sell it with stew, wele, boiled eggs, gari, shito, spaghetti (talia), salad or fried plantain.

Recipe for about 40 portions (a starting point, example quantities): 4 kg rice, 2 kg beans (black-eyed peas or red beans), a big handful of waakye leaves, salt.

1. Pick and wash the beans; soak them for some hours in safe water (soaking shortens cooking).
2. Boil the beans with the waakye leaves until almost soft.
3. Wash the rice until the water runs clear; add it to the pot with salt and enough water.
4. Cook on low heat, covered, until the rice is soft and the water is absorbed. Do not stir hard or it goes mushy.
5. Remove the leaves.
6. Hold hot above 60 °C in a covered pot or food warmer; check with the thermometer every hour.
7. Serve with a clean spoon; keep the stew and the egg pan covered.

Jollof rice

Jollof is rice cooked in a sauce of fried tomato, pepper and onion. Ghanaian jollof usually uses jasmine rice; the cook fries onions, pepper, tomato paste, tomatoes and spices, then adds the rice and cooks it through; it is often served with chicken, beef or fish, fried plantain, shito and salad.

Recipe for about 10 plates (example quantities): 1.5 kg jasmine or perfumed rice; 0.5 L vegetable oil; 4 onions; 1 small tin tomato paste; 6 fresh tomatoes; 4 cloves garlic and a piece of ginger, blended; pepper to taste; 1.2–1.5 L stock or water with seasoning; bay leaves, thyme and curry powder; salt.

1. Wash the rice and drain it.
2. Heat the oil; fry the sliced onions until soft.
3. Add the blended garlic, ginger and pepper; fry 2–3 minutes.
4. Add the tomato paste and fry, stirring, until it darkens and the oil rises (about 10 minutes; this removes the sour taste).
5. Add the blended fresh tomatoes and spices; simmer until thick.
6. Add the stock and salt; bring to the boil; taste.
7. Add the rice; stir once; cover tightly (foil under the lid helps) and cook on low heat until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is soft.
8. Check the middle is hot (above 70 °C), then hold above 60 °C or cool fast.

Common mistakes. Rice burnt at the bottom and hard at the top: too much heat or too little liquid; lower the heat and sprinkle a little hot stock. Mushy rice: too much liquid or stirring. Bitter, sour taste: tomato paste not fried long enough.

Red-red

Red-red is black-eyed peas cooked into a stew with palm oil, onions, tomatoes and pepper, often with tinned mackerel, and served with fried ripe plantain and gari.

1. Pick, wash and boil the beans until soft; drain.
2. Heat palm oil gently (do not let it smoke); fry onions, then pepper, ginger and tomatoes, until thick.
3. Add the fish if used and the beans; simmer 10 minutes; season.
4. Hold hot above 60 °C.

Kelewele

Kelewele is cubes of ripe plantain seasoned with ginger, pepper and salt (sometimes onion, anise, cloves or nutmeg) and fried until the edges brown and caramelise. The plantain should not be too soft, or it soaks up too much oil.

You need: firm-ripe plantain (yellow with some black spots), fresh ginger, pepper, onion, salt, oil, a deep pan, a thermometer, a slotted spoon, a tray with paper.

1. Wash your hands and the plantain skins; peel and cut into small cubes.
2. Blend ginger, pepper, onion and salt with very little water; toss the plantain in it.
3. Heat oil to about 170 °C (thermometer); fry small batches until golden brown.
4. Lift out, drain on paper, serve hot.
5. Check: brown outside, soft inside, not greasy. Greasy means the oil was too cool or the plantain too soft.

Sobolo and drinks

Sobolo is popular with every meal, but a study in Sekondi-Takoradi found most makers used cold extraction and poorly washed bottles, with harmful bacteria in every sample. Make it by the boiled method in the hub's Food Processing and Cold Vending manual, and keep it below 5 °C.

Check yourself

1. How long is banku dough usually fermented?
2. What gives waakye its red colour?
3. Why is greasy kelewele a sign of a mistake?

Competency standard

Range. Bread rolls, meat pies, bofrot, chin-chin, a pound-style cake. Evidence. Products; batch records with weights, times and temperatures; observation.

Flour, sugar and the price of baking

Wheat flour in 50 kg bags was advertised in Ghana in October 2026 at about GH¢495 to GH¢690 depending on the brand, including Takoradi Flour Mill hard flour at GH¢690. In 2024 a baker in Accra said flour had risen from GH¢170 a bag in 2017 to GH¢660, and bofrot sellers had raised the price of one ball from GH¢2 to GH¢3, or GH¢5 in some places. Prices move: check your own market every month.

Weigh, do not guess

Bakers use baker's percentages: flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is a percentage of the flour weight. A common bread formula is 100% flour, 60% water, 1% yeast, 2% salt and 1% fat. To find each weight, multiply the flour weight by the percentage. For 1,000 g of flour: 600 g water, 10 g yeast, 20 g salt, 10 g fat.

Steps: soft bread rolls

You need: kitchen scale, mixing bowl, clean table, dough scraper, baking tray, clean cloth or plastic sheet, oven, probe thermometer. Ingredients: 1,000 g bread (hard) flour, 600 g lukewarm water, 10 g instant yeast, 20 g salt, 10 g margarine; for a sweeter Ghana-style roll add sugar (for example 80 g, an example amount; taste and adjust).

1. Scale: weigh every ingredient.
2. Mix: flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl; add the water; mix until it comes together and pulls from the bowl.
3. Knead on a clean table for about 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy; add the margarine and knead it in.
4. First rise (bulk fermentation): cover the dough so it does not dry and leave it in a warm place until about doubled.
5. Divide: weigh pieces of the same size (60 g for small rolls); round each into a tight ball.
6. Rest 10–20 minutes, covered.
7. Shape and place on a greased tray with space between.
8. Prove in a warm place for 30 minutes to 2 hours, until doubled and the dough springs back slowly when touched.
9. Bake in a hot oven until golden. Most loaves and rolls are done when the centre reaches about 190 °F (88 °C).
10. Cool on a rack before bagging; bagging warm bread makes it sweat.

Baking loses about 10–13% of the dough weight, so a 60 g piece of dough gives a roll of a little over 50 g.

Meat pies

Short pastry. Rub butter or margarine into flour, chill the dough for 30 minutes, fill with cooked minced beef, onion, carrot and seasoning, and bake at about 200 °C for 20–25 minutes.

You need: flour, margarine, salt, cold water; minced beef, onion, carrot, seasoning; rolling pin, round cutter or saucer, fork, brush, egg for glazing, baking tray, oven, thermometer.

1. Rub cold margarine into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs; keep the fat cold so it does not melt.
2. Add cold water a little at a time; press into a dough; do not knead hard.
3. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
4. Cook the filling fully: fry onion, add mince, carrot and seasoning, cook until no pink remains and the centre is at least 70 °C. Cool it before filling.
5. Roll the pastry thin and even; cut circles.
6. Put a spoon of filling on each; fold; seal the edges with a fork.
7. Brush with beaten egg; bake at about 200 °C for 20–25 minutes until golden.
8. Cool on a rack; store and display covered.

Common mistakes. Pies burst: too much filling or edges not sealed. Hard pastry: dough kneaded too much or too much water. Soggy base: filling was wet or warm.

Bofrot (puff-puff)

Mix flour, sugar, yeast, nutmeg and lukewarm water; let it rise 1–2 hours until doubled; fry at about 160–170 °C. If the oil is too hot, the outside browns but the inside stays raw.

1. Mix 2 kg flour, sugar, yeast and nutmeg; add lukewarm water to make a thick, sticky batter.
2. Beat well by hand for 5 minutes.
3. Cover; leave in a warm place 1–2 hours until doubled.
4. Heat oil to 160–170 °C (thermometer).
5. Squeeze batter through your fist (clean hands, or wear a glove) and drop balls with a wet spoon.
6. Turn them so they brown evenly; lift out; drain on paper.
7. Check: break one open; it must be cooked through, light and not doughy.

Chin-chin

Chin-chin is a crunchy snack made from flour, sugar, butter and milk, sometimes with egg, nutmeg or baking powder; the dough is kneaded, cut into small squares and usually deep-fried.

1. Mix flour, sugar, a pinch of salt, nutmeg and baking powder.
2. Rub in margarine; add beaten egg and milk to make a firm dough.
3. Roll about 5 mm thick; cut into small squares or strips.
4. Fry at about 170 °C, stirring, until golden; drain and cool completely.
5. Pack only when cold in airtight jars or sealed bags; warm chin-chin sweats and goes soft.

A simple cake (pound-style)

A traditional pound cake uses equal weights of flour, butter, sugar and eggs. It is made by the creaming method:

1. Have all ingredients at room temperature; weigh them.
2. Grease and line the tin; heat the oven.
3. Beat the margarine or butter until smooth.
4. Add the sugar and cream on low to medium speed for 5–10 minutes until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing each one in before the next.
6. Add the flour (and baking powder if used) and milk in turns, starting and ending with flour; mix only until just combined.
7. Bake. Do not open the oven until the cake has risen and set.
8. It is done when it pulls from the sides of the tin, springs back when touched and a skewer comes out clean.
9. Cool 15–20 minutes in the tin, then on a rack.

(Steps 3–9: Source: LibreTexts Cakes)

Faults. Cake fell or did not rise: oven too cool or door opened too early. Top set too early and cracked: oven too hot. Tough cake: over-mixed after the flour went in.

Check yourself

1. In baker's percentages, which ingredient is always 100%?
2. What happens if the bofrot oil is too hot?
3. Name two signs that a cake is done.

Competency standard

Range. One dish and one pastry from Units 4 and 5. Evidence. Recipe costing sheets; portion test; one day's sales record.

Same portion, every time

• Use a standard scoop or ladle for rice and stew, and weigh a few portions each day.
• Use the same size banku ball, meat pie and bofrot.
• Use a set number of pieces of meat or fish per plate, and a set size of egg.
• Write the portion on your recipe card: for example "1 scoop rice (about 250 g cooked) + 1 ladle stew + 1 egg" (example).

For planning, one South African cooking guide suggests about 170 g of mince per person for pies and 180–200 g of fish fillet per person, and 300 ml of soup as a starter. Ghana plates are usually bigger, so weigh your own portions and those of good sellers near you.

Steps: cost a recipe

1. Write every ingredient and the amount used for one batch.
2. Find the price you paid for each (from receipts).
3. Work out the cost of the amount used. Example: a 50 kg bag of flour at GH¢650 costs 650 ÷ 50 = GH¢13 per kg (example price).
4. Add gas or charcoal, packaging (boxes, leaves, bags), and water and soap.
5. Add the batch costs together.
6. Divide by the number of portions you actually get.
7. That is the cost per portion.

Steps: set a price

1. Know your cost per portion.
2. Check what sellers near you charge for the same size.
3. Choose a price that covers your cost and leaves profit. A simple rule: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). For a 40% margin, price = cost ÷ 0.6.
4. Round to a price customers can pay easily with coins or MoMo.
5. Remember waste: food you throw away is a cost.

Keep a daily sales record

Keep it every day. At the end of the week, add up money in and costs paid. The difference is your rough profit. The hub's Money Skills manual teaches the cash book in more detail.

Check yourself

1. What is the formula for a price with a 40% margin?
2. Why must gas and packaging be in your costing?
3. What happens to profit when food is wasted?

Competency standard

Range. Real or planned sites near the trainee. Evidence. Location report; one-page plan; catalogue; oral questions.

Location settings that give good returns

Nearly half of Accra's street-food vendors sell next to schools. In Takoradi, the Assembly cleared the streets around Market Circle, and allowed trading at its edges only on Saturdays and after 4 pm on weekdays. The Assembly also runs a weekend on-street market at Ahenfie Hotel, Port Quarters, Baptist and Zenith.

Small business ideas and ingenuity

Market yourself

• Look clean. Customers judge the food, the stand and the vendor, and choose neat vendors. Apron, hairnet, covered food, clean cloth, clear price list.
• Show your permit when you have it (Unit 3).
• WhatsApp Business catalogue: up to 500 items with photos and prices.
• Google Business Profile is free and puts your stand or kitchen on Google Maps.
• A name and a sign. Short, easy to say, painted clearly.
• Same taste every day. Use your recipe cards.
• Separate money and food. Have one person take money and MoMo and another serve, or wear a glove on the food hand and change it after touching money (the author's advice).
• Ask for referrals: "If you liked it, tell your office."

Accessibility

Persons with disabilities can do much of this work. Seated tasks include peeling, cutting, mixing dough, shaping balls and pies, decorating cakes, packing chin-chin, taking WhatsApp orders and handling money. The Sekondi-Takoradi Assembly gave deep freezers and ice chests to persons with disabilities in 2025. Adjustments that help (the author's suggestions): a seated work table about 71–86 cm high with knee space; a talking or large-display thermometer and scale; timers with sound and light; picture recipe cards; a buddy at the stove and fryer; level ground and a ramp at the stand. Deaf workers can use picture order cards and a WhatsApp order line. WHO notes that people with some physical or cognitive disabilities face a higher risk of burns, so plan hot work carefully.

Check yourself

1. Name three places where food sellers do well.
2. Name two free ways to market yourself.
3. Name two adjustments that help a wheelchair user work in a kitchen.

1. Name the WHO Five Keys to Safer Food.
2. What is the temperature danger zone?
3. For how long must you lather your hands with soap, according to the FDA code?
4. Name two illnesses or symptoms that mean you must not handle open food.
5. Where must the gas cylinder be kept?
6. What do you do when a pan of oil catches fire?
7. How long does an FDA Food Hygiene Permit last?
8. Which diseases does the food handler's test cover?
9. Why is slowly cooled rice dangerous?
10. At what oil temperature is bofrot fried, and what happens if it is too hot?
11. What is the bread formula in baker's percentages taught in Unit 5?
12. A batch costs GH¢300 and makes 50 portions. What is the cost per portion, and the price for a 40% margin?

Best next reads: WHO's Five Keys to Safer Food; the FDA's Code of Hygienic Practice for Food Service Establishments; the hub's Food Processing and Cold Vending and Money Skills manuals.

What this module does not cover: bottled and packaged products (see Food Processing and Cold Vending), event catering for large numbers, a full food-safety plan, bakery production, registering a business and keeping full accounts (see Levels 2 and 3).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.