Cottage Oven
@cottageoven
active 5 days, 17 hours agoForum Replies Created
- Posts
Only fruit-filled empanadas are allowed. Products with meat fillings must be refrigerated and are not allowed.
Since cheesecake must be refrigerated, it is not allowed under cottage-food laws.
A while back, I called the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and spoke with Melissa Durkin (who has since moved to another position).
At the time, she said that, officially, there is nothing in Florida’s cottage-food law specifically prohibiting shipping out of state – only that the current law (contrary to the past) now allows shipping.
When I asked her whether there were FDA (i.e. interstate commerce) considerations or, at least local regulations in the states to which one would be shipping, she did not have an answer that could be documented, but said that, in her opinion, cottage food is such a small percentage of the many, many things that get shipped every day that she didn’t believe anyone would bother with the time and work necessary to look into it (i.e. they have bigger fish to fry).
That said, it would still be good if we could get a more definitive answer and it is probably best to look up the laws in the state(s) to which you may be shipping. Most probably don’t even address the issue, but places like California (where there seem to be laws and/or taxes for even the minutest details) may prohibit, regulate or limit incoming shipments.
Since this is in the Florida forum, rather than California, I’ll throw in my two-cents’ worth.
In Florida, you can register an LLC quickly and easily online at Sunbiz and it only costs $125.00 each year (with a couple of options that could add up to $35.00 more). Far less than the California numbers mentioned in the Forrager FAQ.
One of the things to consider is the name under which you will be doing business. Without the LLC, there would be two choices. First, you would have to do everything under your full, personal name. Aside from potential privacy issues, this could also be a little trickier when opening a business checking account (since business and personal funds are supposed to be handled separately and not mixed in the same account).
Your second option would be to register a DBA (Doing Business As…) name. To do so, however, you must first take out an ad in a newspaper in your county along the lines of “Intent to file fictitious name: Rebecca Q Smith will be conducting business under the name ‘Becky’s Bakery’.” Only after the ad has been published are you allowed to file your fictitious name registration with Sunbiz. They don’t ask for proof, but if you file without having published the ad, it’s a third-degree felony and would definitely be a problem if someone replies to the add saying that the name is already in use by someone else. A fictitious name registration is NOT required for forming an LLC, and you would be able to do a simple search for the name and, if is not already in use, you could put that right into your LLC application.
Regardless of what you do, you should still go to the IRS website to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). Although you’ll hardly ever actually use the EIN, the one important use of it will be in opening your business checking account at the bank. By then using that account’s debit card for all of your business-related expenses and having Square (or the like) deposit payments to that account, you won’t have to have business transactions mixed into your personal account. This also makes it much easier to keep track of business income and expenses when tax time comes along.
Anyway, when it comes to the LLC, it certainly is NOT necessary, but it does have some advantages over having to do everything under your personal name, especially in Florida, where the LLC is not that costly.
For a definitive answer, go to FreshFromFlorida.com, search for “cottage foods” and download the PDF file they have there. In it, you will find a Tallahassee phone number you can call to get an official answer to your question.
Apart from that, if it is a powdered non-dairy creamer, the resulting glaze should probably be okay for cottage food. If it is a liquid, refrigerated non-dairy creamer, you’ll probably need to check with Tallahassee.
Either way, don’t forget to include all of the ingredients from the label of the creamer in the list of ingredients on your product’s label and, just in case, also include milk in the “contains” (i.e. allergen) part of your label.
As Davide mentioned: Definitely nothing with garlic in oil unless properly acidified, due to the risk of botulism.
THIS and https://extension.psu.edu/how-to-safely-make-infused-oils have instructions for the acidification, but you should check your own state’s requirements, just in case.
Not sure about Indiana but, in general (using Florida as an example), you may need to get what some places call and “occupational license” or other places call a “business tax receipt” for conducting business in a certain city and/or county. If you sell in multiple locations that are not all in the same city or county, you may need business tax receipts for each one.
Depending upon exactly how things are structured (both with the municipalities and the farmers markets) you MAY already be covered if the farmers market has its own business tax receipt and the individual vendors are considered part of the market rather than separate, individual entities. It may even be that way at one market and then, in a different market, you may need to have your own business tax receipt.
To find out, contact the appropriate city and/or county tax collector. In many cases, they are available online and you can pay online and receive a printable receipt by email.
Good luck! Hope you do well.
From the “Cottage Food Guidance” PDF file available from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website:
Can I make and sell foods with meat fillings such as empanadas?
No. Meat products or foods with meat fillings are not allowed.Thus, she may NOT sell them from her home. The sale of meat-filled empanadas requires a commercial kitchen and a proper license (e.g. mobile food vendor).
Sorry, Carol, there never was a reply to this and I have not found any pre-printed labels that were inexpensive enough for me to switch from using my laser printer.
Maybe we’ll be lucky and these two new messages in the thread will catch the eye of someone who can point us to a good source.
You should probably check with a lawyer or someone in Tallahassee, just in case, but, as far as I know, when you register the name of your LLC on Sunbiz, it’s already done, but a DBA is a separate thing if you are using a name other than your own without having an LLC (or Inc).
I don’t know if there’s any rule against using your LLC’s name without the actual “LLC” after it.
It’s probably unlikely that you could use a DBA (or LLC) name that’s already registered, even if it’s in a different county, since I believe that’s done at the state level, not just within a county. Then again, since you would want your business to stand out and NOT be mistaken for another, it would probably be a good idea not to use another company’s name, even if it would be allowed in a different county. After all, what would happen if you expand? For that matter, with the new change to the cottage-food law that now allows us to ship our products, it would be better to have as little potential for confusion as possible.
Good luck with your endeavor.