Every chef working with Cheffy picks one of two roles. Below is what each role needs.
Role 1
You cook from the client's groceries. You come to the client's home and cook from food the client has already bought and has in the kitchen. You may bring your own tools — knives, a chopping board and so on.
Role 2
You bring the food with you. You come with groceries you bought yourself and with components you prepared in advance: sauces, marinades and so on.
Last updated 25 September 2026
Step 1 · VMI
The right to be paid. Register your activity with the tax authority. Required of every chef.
Step 2 · VMVT
The right to buy groceries and to bring the client sauces, marinades and other components you prepared in your own kitchen.
Do VMI first — the economic activity must be lawful. That is VMVT's own first point in its reply of 15 September 2026.
Two forms exist, and which one fits depends on how you work.
Individual activity certificate (individualios veiklos pažyma), form FR0468. Activity code under EVRK 2.1: 96.99.00 — other personal service activities not elsewhere classified. Registered through Mano VMI, free of charge; you choose the codes yourself and can add or change them any number of times.
Or a business certificate (verslo liudijimas), activity type 034 — household activity, which explicitly covers hosting and cooking at private events and includes EVRK class 56.21. You buy it for the days you need, which suits weekend work.
Individual activity certificate only. A business certificate does not cover this kind of work.
VMI information centre
+370 5 260 5060
Portal
vmi.lt · Mano VMI
Rates, reliefs and the VAT threshold change from year to year, so this page does not quote them. Ask VMI — a phone consultation is recorded and counts the same as a written one. Cheffy does not give tax advice.
The Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service answered this for Cheffy in writing.
You cook with the client's groceries. The client buys the food, you cook it in their kitchen. This is not food handling in the regulatory sense, so no registration is needed.
You buy the groceries, prepare sauces and marinades at your own kitchen, and bring them to the client. Registration with VMVT is mandatory — including when you buy at the client's request, with the receipt in their name, and they reimburse you exactly, with no markup.
The health check applies whichever way you work. The hygiene certificate only comes in once you buy the groceries or cook at your own kitchen.
Every chef
Examination for tuberculosis before you start working and every year after that, with the conclusion entered in your personal medical record, form No. 048/a.
Registered with VMVT only
Two programmes exist: H10 for people who prepare and process food directly, and HBB for those who work around food without cooking it — cleaners, drivers, suppliers. A chef needs H10. Take it before you start working with food and repeat every five years; some providers issue both certificates together, which is fine.
One open point. In its reply of 23 September 2026 VMVT listed the V-69 and HN 15:2021 requirements for "persons handling food" without saying whether a chef cooking only with the client's groceries falls into that group. Our reading of the acts is that the training is not legally required in that case, but we do not have that in writing from VMVT. We asked them on 24 September and will update this page with their answer.
Every chef
Clean working clothes, hand hygiene, and no work while ill with anything transmissible through food. Before cooking, satisfy yourself that the kitchen is suitable for preparing the meal safely.
Training may only be run by a holder of a public health activity licence covering mandatory hygiene skills training (V-69, clause 3), supervised by NVSC. Ask any provider about that licence before you pay.
Konstitucijos pr. 6 · +370 678 60028 · higienoskursai.lt · weekdays 9:00–18:00
Their profile matches this work exactly.
Konstitucijos pr. 12 · sveikatospazymos.lt
Next building along; they also issue medical certificates, so both documents may be possible in one trip — call ahead to confirm.
Konstitucijos pr. 23-22 · +370 686 16749 · svarbuszingsnis.lt
The only one here open on Saturdays until 14:00, which helps if you work weekdays.
S. Žukausko g. 35 · +370 610 00141 · militra.lt
Teaches in several languages, useful if Lithuanian is not your working language.
Studentų g. 45A · +370 5 262 4583 · hi.lt
Not a course for individuals — the state institute. Worth calling if providers give you different answers about which programme you need.
Any ratings you find for these providers are Google's, not Cheffy's, and for some of them reviews are mixed. Choose on the licence and the language of instruction, not on stars.
"Helping with the shopping" is three different things, and only one of them needs registration.
| What you do | Who may do it |
|---|---|
| Plan the menu and send the client a shopping list | Every chef |
| Help the client place a delivery order from a shop — ordered in the client's own account, paid by the client, delivered by the shop's courier | Every chef |
| Buy the groceries with your own money and bring them, then get reimbursed | Registered with VMVT only |
The third line is exactly the arrangement VMVT was asked about and ruled on. Paying from your own pocket and being reimbursed does not make it the client's purchase.
Once you are registered with VMVT, tell us and the platform opens the option.
Start from the "I want to start an activity" section on the VMVT website, or call them — contacts below.
A short email to team@cheffy.lt is enough — no documents needed. We verify your registration in the public VMVT register ourselves.
An admin ticks "VMVT registered" on your profile once the registration is confirmed.
Your card and profile show a "Can shop for you" badge, and the Grocery Delivery option appears when a client books you.
Grocery Delivery adds one hour of your time to the booking. The groceries themselves the client reimburses at exact receipt cost, so keep every receipt.
Questions about your own registration go to VMVT directly — Cheffy cannot register you.
Starting a food activity — VMVT guidance →
This page explains, in plain English, two written replies Cheffy received from VMVT and publicly available information about registering an activity. It is not legal or tax advice. Where this page and the original replies or the law differ, those prevail.