Vendor Help
VENDOR FAQ
Everything vendors need to know about selling on Gorge — fees, payouts, orders, permits, and more.
Getting Started
Go to eatgorge.com/vendor/apply and fill out the 3-step application — your info, your business details, and your operating hours. It takes about 5 minutes. Our team reviews all applications within 24-48 hours and you'll get an email with your decision.
We accept food trucks, street carts, pop-up vendors, market stalls, and small independent food businesses. You must have a valid LA County Public Health permit. We currently operate in Los Angeles but are expanding to other cities soon.
No upfront cost, no monthly fees, no setup fee. You only pay when you make a sale — and even then it's just a 10% platform fee deducted from your payout. Zero risk to get started.
At minimum you need an LA County Public Health permit and a City of LA Business License. Food trucks also need a Mobile Food Facility permit and a Commissary Agreement. Permits & Licenses below has every one of them, what it costs, and where to apply.
We review all applications within 24-48 hours. Once approved you'll get an email with your login link and you can set up your store immediately.
Yes — you need a smartphone to manage orders. The Gorge vendor dashboard works in any mobile browser — no app download required. We recommend keeping your phone nearby and the sound on when your store is open.
Permits & Licenses
Required for all food vendors. Proves your food is prepared safely.
$150-$800/yr · Based on operation type · publichealth.lacounty.gov →
Required to operate a business in the City of Los Angeles.
$75-$200/yr · Based on revenue · finance.lacity.gov →
Certifies that you and your staff know safe food handling practices.
$15-$25 · Online course, 3 years valid · statefoodsafety.com →
Required if you operate from a truck, cart, or trailer.
$200-$500/yr · Based on vehicle type · publichealth.lacounty.gov →
Food trucks must operate from a licensed commercial kitchen.
$400-$800/mo · Varies by facility · Search on Yelp →
Required if you sell taxable goods. Most prepared food is exempt, but register to be safe.
Free · cdtfa.ca.gov →
Advanced certification for food managers.
$125-$175 · 5 years valid · servsafe.com →
Protects you if a customer gets sick or injured.
$300-$600/yr · $1M coverage recommended · Hiscox →
Fees & Payouts
When a customer pays $12 for your burrito, they pay exactly $12 for the food. Gorge never adds a platform fee on top of your prices; the 10% ($1.20) comes out of your payout, so you receive $10.80. The 10% is charged on the food subtotal only. Gorge takes no commission on sales tax or tips, so both pass through to you. The one exception is card processing: the card networks charge a percentage of everything a customer pays, tips included, so Gorge may pass through the credit card transaction fee on the tip amount. On a $12 order with 9.5% sales tax and a $2 tip:
$12.00 food + $1.14 tax + $2.00 tip = $15.14 customer pays → Gorge fee: -$1.20 → You receive: $13.94, less any card fee on the tip
Gorge takes no commission on tips. Customers can tip 10%, 15%, 20%, or a custom amount when placing their order, and the tip reaches you in your payout. The only deduction that can apply is the credit card transaction fee on the tip amount, which Gorge may pass through.
Payouts are processed every 2 weeks on Fridays via Stripe. You must connect a bank account through Stripe Connect in your vendor dashboard to receive payouts. There is no minimum payout threshold.
In your vendor dashboard, go to the Financials tab and click "Connect via Stripe". You'll be taken through Stripe's secure onboarding to link your bank account. Stripe is used by millions of businesses and is fully secure.
Yes — the Financials tab in your vendor dashboard shows your total earnings, this month's revenue, average order value, and a full transaction history with every order and the exact fee deducted.
In California, most prepared food sold for immediate consumption is exempt from sales tax. However, you are responsible for your own tax obligations. We recommend consulting a CPA and registering for a free CDTFA Seller's Permit. Gorge does not collect or remit sales tax on your behalf.
Managing Orders
When a customer places an order, you'll hear a sound alert and see it appear in the Orders tab of your dashboard. Make sure your store is toggled OPEN and your phone sound is on. Orders also appear instantly without needing to refresh.
5 minutes. An order still sitting in Placed 5 minutes after it arrives is cancelled automatically, the customer is refunded, and it counts as a missed order. A second limit applies once you have accepted: if an order goes 1 hour with no status change, it is cancelled the same way. That hour runs from your last action on the order, so moving a card along resets it.
Not accepted within 5 minutes, or untouched for 1 hour after that, and the order is auto-cancelled and counted as a miss
Each card shows how long it has been waiting rather than a countdown: green under 10 minutes, orange under 15, red under 20, dark red beyond that. Orders are swept once a minute, so a cancellation lands within a minute of the deadline.Missed orders build up a strike count, and at 10 your account is suspended automatically and you get an email. Suspension does not shut your store: you can still finish the orders already in your queue, but you drop out of search and cannot take new ones. A Gorge admin has to reinstate you, which also clears the count. Contact us at vendors@eatgorge.com. Manually declining an order does not count as a miss, and opening your store resets the count to zero, so strikes never carry over from an earlier shift.
Closing cancels every order that has not reached Ready for Pickup, however recently it was placed, and each one counts as a missed order. Clear your queue first: move orders to Ready for Pickup, and decline anything you cannot make, since declining costs you nothing.
Yes. Decline any order with the Decline button and the customer is refunded and notified automatically. Declining never counts against your miss count. Only the cancellations the system has to make for you count: orders that time out, and orders still open when you close your store.
Your dashboard is a board of four columns. Drag a card to the next column, or use the button on the card:
Placed → ACCEPT → In Progress → MARK READY → Ready for Pickup → MARK FULFILLED → Fulfilled
There is no separate acknowledge step: accepting an order moves it straight into In Progress. Customers see their status update in real time on their tracking page. When you mark an order Ready, the customer gets a sound notification and email.Each order has a unique 4-digit pickup code shown on the customer's tracking page and in their email. When the customer arrives, they show you this code and you match it to their order in your dashboard.
Menu & Store
In your vendor dashboard, go to the My Menu tab. Create sections (e.g. "Burritos", "Drinks"), then add items to each section with a name, description, price, and photo. You can reorder sections and items, mark items as unavailable, and add modifier groups.
Yes — you can add modifier groups to any menu item. For example: "Choose your protein" (required, pick one) or "Add toppings" (optional, pick multiple). Each modifier can have its own extra price. Customers see these when they add an item to their cart.
When adding or editing a menu item, you can upload a photo from your phone or computer. Photos are stored securely and shown to customers on your menu page. Good photos significantly increase orders — use bright, clear images of your actual food.
Go to the Location & Hours tab in your dashboard. You can drop a pin on the map by clicking your current location, or tap "Use my current location" to use your phone's GPS. Update your pin every morning before opening so customers can find you.
Toggle the OPEN/CLOSED switch in your dashboard — it's in the sidebar on desktop or at the top on mobile. When your store is OPEN, customers can see you and place orders. Toggle it CLOSED when you're done for the day or sold out.
Yes — just toggle your store to CLOSED. You can reopen anytime. There are no penalties for closing your store — only for missing orders while you're open.
Account & Support
Currently each vendor account has one location pin that you update daily. Multiple location support is on our roadmap. For now, update your pin each time you move to a new spot.
Currently one account per vendor. Multi-user support with different permission levels is coming in a future update. You can share your login with trusted staff for now.
Email us at vendors@eatgorge.com and we'll close your account. Make sure all pending payouts have been processed before closing.
No contracts, no minimum commitment, no cancellation fees. You can close your store or leave the platform anytime. We only make money when you make money.
Email us at vendors@eatgorge.com — we respond within 24 hours. For urgent issues like your store being wrongly closed or payment problems, mark your email URGENT and we'll prioritize it.
READY TO START SELLING?
Apply in 5 minutes. No upfront cost. Start taking orders within 48 hours.