Jim Belliveau

I recently came across this, which should give you a pretty good idea for what’s required: https://ag.tennessee.edu/foodscience/Documents/Getting%20Started%20in%20a%20Food%20Manufacturing%20Business%20in%20Tennessee.pdf

Lindsay, the law isn’t really clear about that, and that’s why I hadn’t specified it on the site. My guess is that the intent of the law is not to allow online sales.

I just re-researched both the home-based exemption and the domestic kitchen law, so those now have quite a bit more information. I’m now confident that you can sell online if you’re…[Read more]

Usually you have to talk to the health dept about getting licensed. There is a lot of paperwork and plans you need to fill out to start a commercial food business, and there may be some training required as well. The letter of the law typically states that food cannot be stored at home, but I know that health depts are lenient about that sometimes.

(Sorry to dig up an old post!)

Just to clarify, could you take orders online and then customers pick them up from you? I know we can’t ship.

I think you will once again need to rent or build a commercial kitchen. Cut, fresh fruit is not allowed under the cottage food law, and you can’t sell interstate. I also don’t think you can ship products under the cottage food law.

The cottage food law only pertains to food items, and I’m not sure if it allows extracts. You should contact the ag dept about making those.

I don’t know about other laws. I would expect anything that’s applied to skin to be regulated by the health dept. Laundry supplies… I have no idea. What I do know is that anytime you’re starting a…[Read more]

Making a nonperishable item, like a baked good, should be allowed under an exemption, but making hotdogs is probably not allowed. You don’t have to worry about the cottage food law, since this is for a nonprofit, but you should still call your ag dept to determine what is allowed under the exemption for donated food. http://forrager.com/faq/#nonprofit

Try calling the ag dept in your county.

You need to use a commercial kitchen and your business won’t have many limitations: http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Business licenses are usually very county or city-dependent. I’d never heard about a minimal activity license, but after a little searching, it looks like it’s available in some counties for businesses with gross sales of under $10,000. In TN, as a cottage food operation, there is no sales limit, so it depends on what your yearly revenues are. It…[Read more]