Wendy Reinoehl

You can sell dry tea with the cottage food law, but you can’t sell homemade brewed tea. If you want to sell (non-homemade) brewed tea outside of your home, you’d need a commercial license: http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

You should call your ag dept to make sure there aren’t any exemptions you can take advantage of.

You will probably still need a business license if your county requires it. However, using the cottage food law will help you bypass a lot of the strict requirements from the health dept, like inspections. I’m not entirely sure if they will allow buttercream frosting, though… check with your ag dept.

The short answer is, most likely, yes. You would not be using Virginia’s cottage food law. Here is the longer answer: http://forrager.com/faq/#nonprofit
Let me know if you need more info.

That’s correct.

Salads do not fall under the cottage food law… you need a commercial license: http://forrager.com/faq/#commercial

Yes — you should contact your planning division and see if there are any local requirements, like a general business license.