Jim McHaney

You need to use a commercial kitchen to produce and sell chicken salad. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Texas is very specific about what’s allowed and since syrups are not on the list, I don’t think they’re allowed.

The purpose of the home address is so health officials can find where a product was made if there is a complaint. This is a common practice across the nation, and I’ve never heard of anyone who had an issue with it (though many have…[Read more]

Probably not. Texas has a very specific list of foods, which doesn’t include seasonings. It does allow dry mixes (combined commercially-produced ingredients), dried produce, and dry herbs, but flavored salt really doesn’t fall under any of those. You will need to contact the health dept to get approval. I don’t think the type of flavoring would…[Read more]

The law says that you cannot “sell” online, and that’s all it says. I’d say that if you’re not collecting money online, then you’re not making a sale. If you do a preorder over your website with no money changing hands, and then exchange the money face-to-face, that should be legal.

Both shipping and online transactions are prohibited for a cottage food business. You would need a standard commercial license to ship. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Yes, you always have to pay yearly income taxes.

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.

That’s correct — no homemade food may be sold on Etsy or anywhere else online.

I don’t see any problem with that, as long as the food prep isn’t happening in a bedroom.