Abel

Grace, you can accept credit cards with your mobile device and I would recommend Square or PayPal Here.

Hi,
You can opt for mobile payment services. Certain Merchant services provide mobile payment processing app that can accept payments online. The customer also receives an e-receipt. I am using the Virtual terminal for online payments. I think the process is pretty much the same.

Unless you are buying and reselling commercially made a pre-packaged fondant toppers, I don’t think this would be allowed. I’m pretty sure you need to use a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Correct, it’s almost always illegal for someone to operate a restaurant in their neighborhood, even a small one. When these services get large enough, they have to answer to regulators. One Bay Area service like this (Josephine) recently got shut down by the health dept because they were growing very quickly.

Self-employment tax includes social security tax. That’s the tax you pay in your quarterly estimated tax payments as a business. If you earn under a certain amount, you don’t need to pay quarterly.

You can buy premade items and use them, as long as those items would be allowed if you made them. For instance, if Colorado doesn’t allow frostings that contain dairy, then you couldn’t use a commercially-produced frosting that contains dairy, even if it doesn’t require refrigeration. At least that is my understanding… perhaps the health dept…[Read more]

Your state of Colorado is the only one that has this product-based sales limit.

From my understanding, it’s actually pretty broad, and I think that, at the very least, different flavors of cake would be considered different products. I also think that a chocolate cake and a chocolate cupcake would be considered separate products, but I’m not sure…[Read more]

You’re not going to be able to merge a CFO with a commercial operation. Since your friend has a commercial kitchen, I’d recommend skipping the cottage food law and getting certified as a regular food operation. But it’s sometimes a good idea to deal with the limitations of the cottage food law for the short term until you prove your business concept.

Yes, you need a license and you need to use a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Alex, it depends on where you live, but many states will not allow ganache, since it contains cream.