Valerie Allensworth with The Donut Lady
Valerie Allensworth of Sitka, AK shares how she built a very successful cottage food business by focusing on consistency, despite living on a remote island in Alaska and facing many unique challenges
Jenifer & Tristan Hoke with The Drunken Chef
Jenifer & Tristan Hoke of Tecumseh, OK share how they used sheer persistence to overcome early sales struggles, and found a business model that works so well that they now can’t keep up with demand
Denae Spiering with The Sugar Shack
Denae Spiering of Bridgeville, DE shares how she realized her long-time dream of building a brick-and-mortar bakery despite life getting in the way and pausing her cottage food business for many years
Episode 100: Where Are They Now?
In this very special 100th episode, previous guests come back on to share an update of what’s changed since they were last on the show, what’s surprised them, and what they’ve learned along the way
Rolling In Cookie Dough with Amy Wong & Lawrance Combs
Amy Wong & Lawrance Combs of Cupertino, CA sell massive cookies and share how they went from launching their business on Instagram to raising over $150k to expand their wildly popular cookie bakery.
Cupcakes In Full Bloom with Sarah Thongnopneua
Sarah Thongnopneua lives in San Anselmo, CA and shares how she grew her “bouCAKES” (floral cupcake bouquets) business from her home kitchen into a commercial kitchen & won a Food Network competition.
Rising From The Ashes with Scot & Christine Steenson
Scot & Christine Steenson share how they used a unique marketing strategy to build a successful home-based coffee roasting company after their Paradise, CA home burnt down in 2018’s Camp Fire.
2021 Recap: A Record Year for the Cottage Food Industry
WOW… what a year it has been for our growing cottage food industry!
As I wrote about last year, the pandemic really highlighted the need for people to be able to sell their homemade food.
And in 2021, states responded in a BIG way! This year, more states improved their laws for selling homemade food than in any other year in history.
Mom By Day, Baker By Night with Daniela Zographos
Daniela Zographos of Anderson, SC shares how she niched down to only selling custom-decorated cake pops, which made her home bakery even more successful and gave her more time to spend with her kids.
Behind The Scenes Of A Cottage Food Bill
Last week, on September 16th, 2021, California’s governor signed AB 1144, a cottage food bill that will improve California’s cottage food law.
It is the last of 17 cottage food initiatives that have passed in 2021 (the most of any year, by far).
This amendment was long overdue, as California had not amended their law since 2013!
But did I ever think I would be the one spearheading CA’s next cottage food law improvement? Definitely not!
Crushing It With Caramel Corn with Kathy Sing
Kathy Sing from Visalia, CA shares how she sold almost $50k of homemade caramel corn, toffee, and other treats in a single year by wholesaling through retail stores.
2020 Cottage Food Industry Recap
2020 was not just a year full of changes for the nation and world.
It was also a year which changed the cottage food industry… sometimes for the worse, but mostly for the better.
There were a number of important storylines this year, and surprisingly, many of them were not pandemic-related.
In this year-end recap, I’ll give my take on the major events of 2020 that related to the cottage food industry.
Turning A Kitchen Mistake Into A Thriving Business with Nicole Pomije
Nicole Pomije of Minneapolis, MN shares how she infused her marketing skills into a unique cookie concept to grow a home food business into two brick-and-mortar storefronts in just a few years.
Wyoming Sets A New Standard For Food Freedom
It’s July 1st, 2020, and for the first time in over 7 years, I’ve added a new rank to Forrager’s map. I named it “freedom”, and Wyoming has the honor of being the first state to reach this status!
As of today, Wyoming’s new amendment (HB 84) to their food freedom law takes effect, and it’s a big one. Because although their 2015 law has always been the best food freedom law in the country, truthfully, it still lagged behind some of the best cottage food laws in some ways.
Stop Worrying About Your Sales Limit
People often wonder if the cottage food laws are too limiting. Should they use it to start their homemade food business? Is it worth their time?