Holly

To make even $1 of profit, you need to follow the cottage food law described on this site. That will entail talking to the health dept, registering, submitting labels, etc.
http://forrager.com/law/california/

Sorry, you can’t sell homemade salsa in CA. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Thanks David – even though it wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear ;). What kind of license would I need to obtain to be able to sell homemade salsa at fairs and festivals?

That’s correct — salsa is not allowed.

I did research on it awhile ago, and I recall experts saying that having an LLC doesn’t completely eliminate the owner’s liability. I’m not sure what that refers to, however. I know that an LLC protects the owners much more than a DBA, but the bigger question is whether or not protection is really necessary. If you follow all of the rules, on what…[Read more]

I’m not sure if they would be legal, though I’d like to know the answer to that question. My guess is that they are not, because everyone I know that is required to put nutrition info on their label has sent a sample into a lab. The calculators are still pretty accurate and are good for quickly determining the approximate nutrition facts for a recipe.

I’m not a macaron specialist, but if egg white is absolutely essential, then one possibility would be to use pasteurized eggs. However, my guess is that people selling macarons either have them approved with egg white, or do not use it in their fillings. You can check with your health dept to see what they would approve.

Angela, as Jenny noted, I think you really need to know your market before committing to a corporation structure. She has very good and specific reasons for choosing it. The $800 franchise tax has been a big wake up call for some CFOs that over anticipated their success, later realizing that they didn’t really need an LLC. My personal…[Read more]

Thanks for the info Jenny. I recently came across a site called ReciPal that has really affordable nutritional labeling. In case you haven’t heard of it, it may be worth checking out.

You would no longer be able to make your products from home, and you’d need to get a commercial license: http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

I really have no idea. When you make a health claim on the label, you need to get the nutrition facts for it, but in this case, I think you should call the health dept for more details.

They just released an amendment and it was not added, which tells me that it’s unlikely to ever get added by the health dept.