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Talk with others about the cottage food industry in California
Store front
This topic contains 14 replies, has 1 voice, and was last updated by 
David Crabill 9 years, 6 months ago.
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KrystleSo I’m working on my class b CFO permit in Ca. My mom us opening a store in order to sell the goods I make. I will sell to her then her to customers. I was told by the health dept I cannot “work for her” ….which makes no sense. Our jntent was to open as a partnership as we are both involved olin making the goods. I cannot find anything saying I can’t work in a store that sells my CFO goods.. Anyone have any info that might help me?
The health dept is correct. You are a CFO, and your mom would have to be a food processing establishment. Since a CFO can’t be a food processing establishment (by definition in the law), you can’t both be in the same business. It is possible to do what you want to, but you need to create two separate businesses — one for you and one for your mom. Your mom will have to adhere to much stricter standards than you will, and it should be much harder and more expensive for her to setup her business.
It’s possible that your mom could still be your employee and help you make the food product at home, but I’m not sure about that.
KrystleHey David
Thank you for your responce. I recieved my CFO Class B last week, and we are currently setting up under the two seperate businesses, my main problem now is the health dept saying I “can’t work there”. If I am creating a documented paper trail of the transfer of goods from myself as Le Bon Gateau(CFO) to her as Bon Gateau(Store front), then it shouldn’t matter if I’m at the shop working with/for her, correct or incorrect?
If I can’t work there, I’m having a hard time understanding why…for example, if someone works at a cafe and makes pasteries, and the owner wants to sell their pasteries, per what the Health Dept says, that employee would have to quit or be fired, but that doesn’t make any sense…I believe they don’t understand the transfer of goods part. I will not be directly selling to the customers, I will be selling to my mother and she will be making the markup profit. I will not recieve the funds from her sales. i may be rining up the goods, but I am not sellin them for myself. Help? :(
KrystleOh! And a little about her side of the business. The health dept is only going to inspect the shop for pests/vermin and to ensure there is a functional bathroom. As nothing is requiring refridgeration (although we will have it), it’s not too hard to pass. they are classifying her more like a convenience store. her big battle is the Keurig machines. she wanted to see K-Cups and local dried tea, then the gusts could use the keurig machine to brew their own and customise it with syrups and sauces etc to their liking. the dept is not allowing the Kuerig machine w/o a 3 compartment sink and floor drian, even though submerging a kuerig would destroy it…so she’s working with them on that right now, presenting the cleaning instructions and such hoping they will understand what we are doing.
As for fees, she is required to pay for their inspection which will be 125, and a business lisence though the city, about 250, as well as the zoning office inspection, also 250. So 625 for her side. My CFO was 285. ah….money….. O_oKrystle, am I understanding correctly that you want to make your CFO products at your mom’s shop? That wouldn’t be allowed. You can only make products for your CFO from your own home. In fact, the entire production process, including packaging and labeling, should be contained to your home and shouldn’t happen in your mom’s shop. Then you would sell them to her and deliver them to her shop, ready to resell. So that’s how your business will need to operate — entirely separately.
Now assuming that your CFO stuff is all done at home, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t help your mom in her shop and work for her. As far as I know, it would be possible for a CFO to run their own side business and also work as an employee at a bakery, for instance. If that CFO then started selling their products to the bakery and ended up effectively reselling their own product, I don’t see why that would be a problem… if anything, it would be much closer to a direct sale, with a personal interaction with the producer and which the health dept generally sees as being safer.
If a CFO cannot also be an employee of a food establishment, then I’d be interested to know what law supports that interpretation. It’s actually very common for employees to choose to branch out and start their own business on the side.
And thanks for sharing the info about your mom’s business… that’s a side of the food industry that I’m fairly ignorant of, and it’s good to learn more.
KrystleHello again. We are producing goods in the home, not in her store.
Well in that case, my latter comments stand. She should be able to help you because she’s family, and you should be able to be her employee. If I’m mistaken about this, I’d like to know. But sometimes health depts are mistaken too.
KrystleHello again:
my mom met with the health dept today, and again she tried to say it was “illegal” for me to work there. she called her on it and pointed out in no laws does it say this and the worker adjusted her statment to, “it’s a conflict of interest”. it seems to be Kings County’s opinion only. In the end she gave us a pass for me being there by saying, “i have to say that”. So i guess we’re good to go!That’s great to hear, Krystle. Sometimes the health dept just doesn’t like the laws the way they are written. But it could also be that they thought they knew what they were talking about and didn’t want to admit that they were wrong. I’m glad they finally chose to allow it.
KrystleI came up with another question. As my mom is “buying” items from me and selling them from her store, do I need to label everything or can she just display a sign saying items are from a home kitchen? I believe it applies to this “In a permitted retail food facility (such as a restaurant, market, or deli), cottage food products served without packaging or labeling shall be identified to the customer as homemade on the menu, menu board or in another easily accessible location that would reasonably inform the consumer that the food or an ingredient in the food has been made in a private home.” that I found in #17 of this FAQ. http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Documents/fdbCFOfaqs.pdf
I’m sorry for so many questions. We are one of the first CFOs in our area so I’m kindof flying blind :/
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