Tom

If something contains meat or requires refrigeration (or you plan to cook on-site), a food license is required and everything must be prepared in a commercial kitchen. Homemade is not a legal option for such products.

If your home kitchen meets all of the requirements of a commercial kitchen (three-compartment sink, fire-prevention hood system,…[Read more]

1. You ARE allowed to sell from your residence. Whether a stand in your yard would be okay or not is something you should check with your county or municipality zoning and/or your HOA.
2. Since those other items are not things that you produced under the cottage-food law, you may need to check with your county or municipality because the sale of…[Read more]

Thanks. I always thought you couldn’t but I obviously read the cottage laws wrong

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]

That’s great!

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.

That makes sense.
From what I’ve been reading, most states do not allow interstate commerce. I may be wrong, but it seems Florida is the only one allowing mail deliver across state lines.
I think the issue may arise if there are complaints made about the CFO on other states, and that could fall under FDA.

A while back, I called the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and spoke with Melissa Durkin (who has since moved to another position).

At the time, she said that, officially, there is nothing in Florida’s cottage-food law specifically prohibiting shipping out of state – only that the current law (contrary to the past) now…[Read more]

Since this is in the Florida forum, rather than California, I’ll throw in my two-cents’ worth.

In Florida, you can register an LLC quickly and easily online at Sunbiz and it only costs $125.00 each year (with a couple of options that could add up to $35.00 more). Far less than the California numbers mentioned in the Forrager FAQ.

One of the…[Read more]