Michelle Mckinney

You can use commercially-produced oils in your baked goods. The “no oils” category means that you cannot sell oils (like infused oils) to consumers.

It is not. The dough would have to be baked to be allowed.

Yes you can make yeast breads but I’m not sure about pre-ferments. I’m guessing it would be fine.

Yes, you can have both. You would need a separate permit to use the commissary kitchen, of course. Can you confirm that St. Louis County does not allow this law: https://forrager.com/law/missouri-individual-stands/

Melanie is correct. It is specified in the law under the CFO definition:

“Cottage food operation” means an operation conducted by a person who produces or packages food or drink… in a kitchen located in that person’s primary domestic residence or another appropriately designed and equipped kitchen on a farm for direct sale by the owner, a family…

[Read more]

That would not be allowed, and would require a commercial kitchen.

Hi Paige, sorry for the late reply!
1. They should be allowed. I don’t think it matters whether vegetables come from land or sea.
2. Depends on the county, but if it was rejected, I would escalate it up to CDPH, and they should be able to tell your county that your products are approved.
3. I believe veggie chips that are baked or fried are allowed.

I would recommend talking with the health dept about what they’d be okay with. Some officials are more strict than others.

Also, I’ll add that despite the ridiculous requirement (IMHO) of having a startup submit every possible label variation before they’ve even started their business, in my experience most people do tweak their recipes…[Read more]

I wonder if you could get a used one. Also I just checked WebstaurantStore and they have one for $100: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/14309/legal-for-trade-scales.html?order=price_asc

Wow that’s surprising that they’re that strict! I have never looked into NTEP scales, so I’d be interested to hear what you learn.

No, quiches would need to be produced in a commercial kitchen. Eggs can only be used in baked goods that don’t require refrigeration.

Actually I think you will find that setting a schedule will increase your business! With bread it’s pretty easy, because people typically want bread on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Most cottage bread bakers choose a pickup/delivery day of the week, and then have the same baking schedule every week. It’s your business, you make the rules……[Read more]

Yes, many people do this. Usually the barriers to entry for selling non-food items are lower. You could likely do it under the same general business license that you get for your cottage food business, but you might need a different sellers permit depending on what you’re selling. Also the sales tax requirements are likely different. I’m not…[Read more]

Hi Susan, here’s the tutorial: https://forrager.com/learn/website/

It’s a gray area to be sure. All we know for sure is that FL, AR, and OK allow interstate shipping. So shipping between those states should be allowed.

In general, I think an LLC is overkill for most cottage food businesses. You can read more here: https://forrager.com/faq/#llc

Jonathan, you can sell perishable baked goods at farmers markets by producing them in a commercial kitchen and getting a different license from the health department.

There is no legal way to sell them from home, or to sell homemade perishable baked goods, except for building a commercial kitchen on your property (which is very complex and costly…[Read more]