Patricia Thornton

Oh okay… you’re definitely not going to find that info online! You need to be in close communication with the health dept.

You mean for building one? It’s super complicated and the rules a different for each dept. If you just want to use a commercial kitchen, you can do that, but you’ll still need to submit plans to the health dept. I’m not sure exactly what your question is, but I won’t have any definite answers because it depends on the dept.

You must follow Maryland’s laws, and I don’t think they will allow you to sell in PA.

You can’t sell those items if you make them at home. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

You can’t incorporate catering. Catering includes handling food outside of the home, and a CFO, by definition, must do all preparation and handling of food inside the home. So you do need to go the commercial route and talk to your health dept.

I’m sure you have to be licensed, but I’m not sure how. You should contact your health dept.

No — direct means that you are personally interacting with the buyer when the sale happens. But there are also rules about what a food establishment can sell — I don’t think you can even setup a table in a coffee shop and sell there directly.

I think the main reason is that they just don’t need to. Farmers markets are so popular that most of them have an abundance of sellers lining up. Some have a year-long waiting list. There are also some markets that only focus on produce, which is understandable.

Farmers markets that accept CFOs are usually ones that simply like the idea of…[Read more]

I haven’t heard of someone getting a barcode, but I’m sure it has been necessary for some indirect sales. If it were me, I’d wait until you have deals with the retail stores, and they can let you know if you need a barcode. They may not require one, or they may put a sticker on themselves.

Usually when rules state that business supplies need to be kept separate, it means that they need to be in their own cupboard or own shelf. You should have a designated area where you put them, though that area doesn’t need to be cordoned off from everything else. If you store things in the fridge, you usually don’t need to have a separate fridge…[Read more]

I don’t know and it’s best to talk to your environmental health dept. I’m pretty sure that you don’t need to worry about the ink on your labels. As for the packaging, I think it wouldn’t need to be food safe, but if you’re selling the items in the box, then maybe there’s a rule out there that states that it must be safe.

I don’t think they are. You can check with your environmental health dept, but they aren’t on the list so I highly doubt they will be allowed. (even though they are the combination of two allowed items)

No, you need a commercial kitchen for that. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Your homeowners insurance will almost certainly not cover your business. http://forrager.com/faq/#insurance