Victor

Christian, if you are a Class B CFO, then you can sell to commercial businesses, and it is my understanding that they can sell your product by the same means that they sell their own. So assuming that the farmers market vendor is a commercial food business (and not simply a farmer that sells produce), then I would think that they could resell your…[Read more]

Michelle, I’m not surprised that they wouldn’t allow canal water. Usually private water allowances are in regards to underground wells that are not in proximity to animals, waste, etc. Private wells are allowed after they have been tested. Perhaps you could offer to have your water tested, though they might still not allow it because there are too…[Read more]

First of all, I just want to clarify that the Home Kitchen Operation law is only in a select few counties. If your county is one of the ones that allows homemade baked goods to be sold under that law, then I’d assume that you would still have to package and label the product. The reasons for packaging and labeling are based on health and safety…[Read more]

Yes, you can start any kind of food business if you use a commercial kitchen, but you’ll also need to get the necessary licenses to run your business, which can be complicated.

No, I haven’t heard anything.

Here’s a blog post I wrote about pricing: http://forrager.com/2016/05/the-price-is-wrong/

I do not think that any cottage food law is sophisticated enough to specify bartering transactions as monetary transactions that count against your sales limit. If it were me, I’d only count monetary transactions against the sales limit, and I’d be highly surprised if ignoring bartering transactions were illegal.

From what I have heard, it would be legal for a commercial food business to ship a product after they have purchased it from you.

This website has the most comprehensive statewide directory available: http://forrager.com/cfos/?regions=california

There isn’t any statewide, govt initiative to list all CFOs, but there are a few health depts that have lists of CFOs in their counties. Off the top of my head, I think Sacramento, LA, San Bernardino, Orange, and a few others have a list.

There are some counties that will not approve anything that isn’t explicitly on the approved list, and it sounds like you’re in one of those counties. In that case, you either need to adapt your products or go the commercial route.

MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY, I would never recommend spending hundreds of dollars to get unvetted recipes approved. I can…[Read more]

I’m not entirely sure why they haven’t yet approved chocolate-covered strawberries, but it may have something to do with their shelf life. It also may be because chocolate-covered fresh fruit typically falls under catering. You can sell whole, uncut strawberries without a license. http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial