Colorado

The law says that only direct sales are allowed, which I take to mean that the producer needs to hand the product to the consumer. It may be okay for a family member to deliver the product, but maybe not. The upcoming amendment specifies that an LLC can have no more than two owners, and in that case, I would think that either owner could deliver…[Read more]

Thanks so much for the update! It appears that the bill was amended before it got passed. The final version increases the sales limit to $10,000 per product and does not allow small businesses to resell cottage food products. It allows CFOs to become LLCs and it removes unnecessary language about what “direct sales” means. The final version:…[Read more]

You can only sell to customers in CO, but you can’t ship to anyone. However, you can sell online, with local fulfillment. Many CFOs run successful businesses with this local approach, without needing farmers markets. However, it may take more marketing effort and outreach on your part.

You need to take a food handlers course that is approved by your health dept. You should contact them for more info.

CO has said that anything that’s not in the list is not allowed. Therefore, I assume that you would need to use a commercial kitchen to produce popcorn. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Reselling of your products is not allowed in any way. I’m not sure if they can offer your pretzels without reselling them… you should contact the health dept to ask about that.

Rebecca, I’m pretty sure that your fondant would be allowed, especially if you’re using commercially-produced (store-bought) marshmallows. However, I really don’t know what will be allowed for variations in terms of the sales limitations. It’s true that the law is more setup for producers with a few fixed items, rather than custom ones, which is…[Read more]

You would not be able to use the cottage food law. You would have to get a commercial license and rent a commercial kitchen.

I have heard that CO requires all of it’s CFOs to be sole proprietorships, and if so, it is the only state to do so.

If that’s not true, then you probably already have a lot of what you need to get started. You’ll need to check again with your local depts to see if any food-specific permits are required, as well as make sure your business is…[Read more]

I would say that getting insurance will protect you more than an LLC would. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to read these FAQs:
http://forrager.com/faq/#insurance
http://forrager.com/faq/#llc

I do not think you can do what you suggested. However, it’s worth noting that the “no LLC” info came from this report, which seems extremely wel…[Read more]