Hello again! So the newest version looks like it is the result of the agrigultural committee making changes. It isn’t as great as the original version. I am pretty sure this is the most recent recommended bill for voting, and I am not entirely sure when it will be voted on.

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(rtlf0mgl1g4bwe5cycvmur0x))/documents/2021-2022/billcurrentversion/House/PDF/2022-HCVBS-5671-0N295.pdf

Under these changes, the gross sales limit would be increased to $40k, online and food delivery service would be allowed as long as the customer has an opportunity to video chat, or chat face to face with the seller, and the business can register with the MDARD or Michigan State University to get the number to put on their labels instead of their home address.

The bill in this form actually specifically calls out consignment and wholesale as being prohibited, so perhaps that changed from the original bill? Michigan’s version of the cottage food law, to me, has always seemed like it is replacing the normal food safety requirements with a face to face meeting – so the consumer knows exactly who they purchased the food from in case of some ill effect from it. This bill seems to be an effort to modernize with modern technology for meeting people, as well as a concession that $25k in gross sales is not very much…

In some of the variations I read from the original up until this current version, it looks like $100k was the proposal, which got changed to $40k in NET sales, and now seems to be $40k in GROSS sales. better than a sharp stick in the eye I guess!

I appreciate the comment back! I am still hopeful this passes, it would really do wonders for increasing the window of opportunity for me to bootstrap my way out of my day job and make a real go at coffee roasting. Getting into a commercial kitchen and getting licensed is still going to be the end game in order to scale, but something like this law feels like it adds a couple of stepping stones before I would really have to make that leap.