denise o. mercado

Since you are making the sale, this is an indirect, out-of-state order. She needs to have a license that will allow indirect and out-of-state sales, which may not be allowed with a TN domestic kitchen license. There’s a very good chance that she will need to open a commercial bakery in order to do this. Unfortunately, I can’t give a definitive…[Read more]

Ashley, you won’t be able to transfer it. You will just need to start up a new business in Florida under their cottage food law, just the same as if you had initially lived there. It’s actually much easier to start a CFO in FL, but also much more restrictive, as you can only sell $15K of product per year.

How to close down your business in GA…[Read more]

No — to sell pet food in Illinois, you need to use an approved facility, and you need to contact the ag dept.

I highly doubt it, but I suppose that if the baker was a licensed TN domestic kitchen, then the ag dept for the county of the Indiana farmers market might allow those indirect sales.

Sales need to be made directly between the customer and producer. A farmers market wouldn’t be able to take orders on the behalf of a vendor. A producer could probably do a paper order (pre-order) one week at the farmers market and collect money then, and then fulfill the order at the next week’s market. But I don’t think anything beyond that…[Read more]

No — you need to go through the health dept and use a commercial kitchen, unless you are merely assembling unopened, commercially-prepackaged items and/or uncut produce. If you are selling anything perishable, like meat, cheese, cut vegetables, etc., you can’t do this from home.

An alternative may be to become licensed as a private chef and do…[Read more]

Ryan, thanks for posting that info. Just in case it’s not clear to someone reading this, that info provides a definition for vanilla extract, but you’d still need to contact your ag or health dept to determine the licensing required to sell it.

They are not. I think you have to prepare them in a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Kristin, my assumption is that bone broth would not be allowed, but you should check with the ag dept.

What I’ve heard is that it’s okay to ship within the state of Ohio. However, in Indiana, orders need to be fulfilled in-person.

Thanks so much John… you’re completely right, and I should have double-checked the law. I see that my initial comment was posted before the most recent amendment.

For anyone stumbling upon this thread, it’s worth noting that canned goods need to meet certain requirements, so not all BBQ or marinara sauce recipes would be allowed. You should…[Read more]

If you can get into a farmers market, that would be a great starting point for all of your items. And also ask around about other markets, like artisanal markets.

Regarding the GF baked goods, I’d say that the success of that is a combination of the GF demand in your area and the types of baked goods you’re offering. Some people have been quite…[Read more]

It is a non-PHF, but your state probably has different rules for vendors producing on-site at a market (the cottage food law is for items prepared at home). You should check with your area’s ag or health dept.

You wouldn’t be able to use Etsy, unless the buyer on Etsy came to your farm stand to pick up their purchase.

Sarah, this would probably be fine as long as you are producing the food yourself and selling the items yourself. The “retail store” prohibition is referring to indirect sales being disallowed. Also, commercial food establishments probably cannot sell homemade food, so installing a commercial kitchen may actually prohibit you from using the…[Read more]

No — you need to produce it in a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Hi Lauren, I think that’s totally dependent on what you are selling! For instance, custom cakes are best done from home. What are you planning to make?

Hi Anita, I’m very sorry to hear about your sister.

I’m sure there are some organizations in SoCal, but I don’t personally know of any. There are a couple of Facebook Groups for cottage food operations in CA, and I think that would be a better place to get ideas. It would probably be best for you to become a member of those groups (Group 1; Group…[Read more]