Lauren Cortesi

It depends on what state you live in. Have you read about the laws for your state? http://forrager.com/laws/

Yes, you need a license. I’m not sure if truffles would be allowed under the cottage food law, but if they are, you can register that way: http://forrager.com/law/minnesota/. Otherwise, you need to make your truffles in a commercial kitchen.

I’d say it’s pretty doubtful they would allow it, but I’m not sure. You can contact the ag dept at 800-292-3939 or MDA-Info@michigan.gov.

David, I can assure you that most (if not all) of the CFOs in LA County have not had to spend $1,000+ on a business license. You can ask your health dept if you need a business license, but regardless, a business license should be a fairly simple process that shouldn’t cost more than a couple hundred for a small business.

I just looked up…[Read more]

No, you can only sell food from your home if your cottage food law allows it. A few states do allow CFOs to use commercial kitchens if they want to, but the items you can sell from home would still be limited to those your cottage food law allows.

Well I have no experience with melting pots, but I know that chocolate melts at 90 degrees or below. I found some info online that indicates that you probably don’t have a faulty machine:

“There are two “on” settings, one is “melt” and the other is “warm”, although they are not labeled (the furthest to the right is the higher of the settings).…

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Every county is a little different. You probably do need to register a business to get a Class B permit in LA, but it shouldn’t be hard to do. At the very least, you can just become a sole proprietorship under your name. When you submit your permit application to the health dept, they will tell you whether you need to get registered with the county first.

Unless you are only selling dried herbs, spice mixes aren’t allowed in Missouri. http://forrager.com/law/missouri/
I believe you need to prepare them in a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

It depends on the state. They’re allowed in a number of states.

Dylan, thanks so much for getting in touch with me. I’ll address each point below, but first, I think it’s important to note that Forrager is not intended to be totally comprehensive of all information for starting a CFO. There is plenty of additional info that could go on any given law page, but I’ve just tried to include the essentials so that…[Read more]

Sorry, I don’t have any experience with those. Have you tried asking on the Wilton discussion forums?

In general, yes, you need to follow the same rules. But in this case, I haven’t confirmed that dry mixes are allowed under the cottage food law in Massachusetts, so it might be harder to start that type of business. You can contact the ag dept to determine what they will allow.

The best way to protect a name is through trademarking, but first, I would highly recommend that you don’t worry about that until you are making substantial revenue from your business. Unless you are making waves in your industry, you don’t give people much reason to steal your name. You should be so lucky for people to care about your business…[Read more]

No — pasta sauce needs to be made in a commercial kitchen. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Hi Elise, I’ll send you a PM.

No, you need to use a commercial kitchen to produce cheese for sale. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial