A Quick Guide to Cottage Food Laws

Learning your state’s Cottage Food Laws will show you what baked goods you can legally sell from your home.

You make delicious cookies, you love baking in your free time, and your friends and family are always telling you that you need to sell your creations. But how do you get started?

What Are Cottage Food Laws?

Cottage Food Laws are the laws overseeing cottage food bakers (home bakers). These laws determine what you can sell, where you can sell it, and how you can sell.

Most of the states in the U.S. have these special laws for home bakers so they can bake and sell food to the public from their home, instead of opening a storefront bakery or working out of a commercial kitchen.

These laws give bakers a low cost way to start their home bakeries and grow their customer base without spending all the money needed to open a storefront bakery.

If a storefront is your goal, this is a great way to test your products and make sure people want to buy from you.

These laws will be different in each state, and some states even have different laws for every county.

What Foods Can I Sell From Home with Cottage Food Laws?

This answer will change with every state, but most states allow you to sell these items:

• Baked goods that don’t require refrigeration (cookies, breads, cakes, pies, macarons, etc.)
• Dry mixes for cakes and cookies
• Dry nut mixes and dry cereals
• Granola
• Popcorn
• Candies

Some states allow more foods and some less. For example, Florida laws also allow vinegar and flavored vinegars, homemade pasta, honey, and jams/jellies/preserves. And California laws allow things like mustards, fruit tamales, candied apples, and other desserts.

Check the laws in your state to know for sure. Google “(your state) cottage food laws” and see what’s listed on the “allowed” list and check what’s also prohibited.

I want to emphasize this: just because a baked good is not listed, does not mean it’s not allowed to be sold in your state. Some baked goods, like macarons, are allowed in most states, but are not listed on the health department’s website because they are categorized with cookies.

If you think the baked good you want to sell qualifies but isn’t listed, contact your local health department and just ask.

Where Can I Sell My Baked Goods?

This is another question that has a different answer for each state, but these are some of the options for some states:

• Directly to the customer from your home through telephone orders, email orders, delivery, and pickup
• Farmers markets, pop ups, and events
• Wholesale (selling to a business where they resell to their customers)
• Online (but most states only allow you to sell in state lines)

Is There A Limit to How Much I Can Sell in A Home Bakery?

A lot of states limit how many sales you can make as a home baker.

I asked my local health inspector why they did this and he said once a home bakery hits a certain amount in sales, they want them to move into a commercial location so the inspectors can do a full food safety inspection. Because more sales equals more people eating your food, and that could potentially be a bad thing if all the health codes aren’t checked and followed.

Here are some of the states and their sales limits (these can sometimes change):

• Alabama Cottage Food Laws have no sales limits. It used to be $20,000, but that limit has been lifted.
• California Cottage Food Laws have a $75,000 annual sales limit for Class A and a $150,000 sales limit for Class B. Check this often because the annual limit is supposed to go up.
• Florida Cottage Food Laws have a $250,000 annual sales limit.
• Indiana Cottage Food Laws have no sales limits.
• Illinois Cottage Food Laws have no sales limits.
• Kentucky Cottage Food Laws have a $60,000 annual sales limit.
• Maryland Cottage Food Laws have a $50,000 annual sales limit.
• Michigan Cottage Food Laws have a $25,000 annual sales limit.
• Minnesota Cottage Food Laws have a $78,000 annual sales limit.
• Mississippi Cottage Food Laws have a $35,000 annual sales limit.
• New Jersey Cottage Food Laws have a $50,000 annual sales limit.
• Ohio Cottage Food Laws have no sales limits.
• Oregon Cottage Food Laws now have a $50,000 annual sales limit that just took effect on January 1, 2024. The limit used to be $20,000.
• Texas Cottage Food Laws have a $50,000 annual sales limit.
• Washington Cottage Food Laws now have a $35,000 annual sales limit that just took effect on July 23, 2023. The limit used to be $25,000.
• Wisconsin Cottage Food Laws have no sales limits.

Do Cottage Laws Require Home Inspections?

You’re going to hate me for another “it depends” answer, but this depends on your state. Most states don’t require a home inspection though.

Here are some (not all) of the states that do require a home kitchen inspection:

• Pennsylvania Cottage Food Laws require a home kitchen inspection.
• Utah Cottage Food Laws require a home kitchen inspection.
• Vermont Cottage Food Laws require a home kitchen inspection.
• Washington Cottage Food Laws require a home kitchen inspection.
• Virginia Cottage Food Laws require a home kitchen inspection.

How Do I Label My Baked Goods?

Now, labels are required in almost every state. This shows the customer the ingredients, any allergens included, and that they are produced in a home kitchen. Here’s a list of what is required on some state’s (check your state’s health department website) required labels:

• Statement of identity (the name of the food)
  • Ex. Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Net weight of the food
  • Ex. Net Wt. 4oz (113 g)
• Name and address of the business
  • Ex. Michelle Adams, 124 Conch St, Bikini Bottom, Florida 33040
    • Putting your home address on your labels can be a little scary. Some states allow you to only list the permit number (if available), instead of your full address.
• Ingredient list: all the ingredients and sub ingredients in descending order by weight
  • Ex. Almond flour, powdered sugar (sugar, cornstarch), granulated sugar, egg whites, and vanilla extract (vanilla bean extractives in water, and alcohol)
    • Everything has to be included here. For example, if you use Fruity Pebbles cereal in your macarons, you have to list “fruity pebbles cereal” in your ingredient list and all the ingredients included in the Fruity Pebbles cereal.
• Statement of home production in 10-point type
  • Ex. “This Product is Home Produced”
• Allergen information: some states require you to list any major food allergens (milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, treenuts, wheat, peanuts, and soybeans) separate from the ingredient list.
• Permit or registration number: some states require you to put your permit or registration number on the label (if a permit or registration number is required in your state).

I have a premade label template to make this a little easier for you. Download the label template here.

What Other Requirements Are There to Start A Home Bakery?

Some other requirements (depending on your state) are listed below:

• Food safety training: some states require that you get certified with a food handler training course. Most of these can be done online. ServSafe is a highly recommended course, and I recommend it to home bakers (especially home bakers who have never worked in the food industry) even if it’s not required by your state.
• No pets in the food preparation and storage areas: some states don’t allow any pets in the home, and some other states only require a door to keep pets out of the food prep areas.
• Recipe approval: some states require you to submit every recipe to the health department for approval before you can begin selling.
• Business license: some states require you to get a business license from your city.
• Business registration: some states require you to register your home bakery name.

Other Options For Bakers

If you looked up your state’s laws and see that you aren’t able to sell what you want, don’t be discouraged. There are other ways to sell your baked goods that doesn’t require opening a storefront bakery just yet.

If you want to sell a food that’s prohibited to sell from home in your state, many cities have commercial kitchens you can rent. These kitchens offer a fully licensed kitchen for you to bake in. It will depend on the kitchen, but most provide everything you need and you just show up with your ingredients.

For example, if you live in Oregon and want to start selling cheesecakes, you can’t do that from home because cheesecakes require refrigeration. BUT, if you rent a commercial kitchen a few times a month, you can bake your cheesecakes from there and sell them as a commercial baker could. That means that as a commercial baker, you would no longer be bound by the Cottage Food Law requirements.

Renting a commercial kitchen can be pricey in some cities, but it’s a good way to build up a clientele and save money before opening a storefront bakery.

Get Started

So what do you think? Are you ready to start your home bakery business?

This website is a good place to start and see what the laws are in your area, but make sure you also look at the rules on your state’s health department website.

If you’ve got the Cottage Laws figured out and want to start selling your baked goods, download my Free Home Bakery Training here. You’ll get a free home bakery workbook sent to your email, along with a free 90 minute training that will show you how to get your first home bakery customers.