Lauren Cortesi

I have heard that you can have a dog if you can prevent your pet from EVER accessing the kitchen area, as well as any area/path that will be used to transport food/supplies to the kitchen. You should discuss this with the ag dept.

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

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 should be able to do this from home with PA’s cottage food law, but if you want or need to rent a commercial kitchen, then you need to contact the ag dept to determine what’s required. You should also contact the farmers market manager to learn about additional requirements they may have.

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.

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