Julie Malone

You need to contact your health or ag dept. The requirements are different in every area.

It is possible that you can sell them at private events and make them in your home kitchen, but it entirely depends on what state you live in. Where do you live?

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.

I think that using a convection oven (but not a microwave) to bake would be fine. Items that are not baked, like fudge, no bake cookies, and no bake candy, would not be allowed.

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.

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]