CA Cottage Food Approved List: How to Check It Before You Sell

On this page

1. Get the list from the state, not from a group post
2. Read it as a yes list
3. Check your best sellers first
4. If one of your recipes is not on the list
5. Label and track every order
6. Price the items that made the cut
7. When the list changes

If you bake from home in California and you are ready to start selling, this list is the first thing to sort out. Not your logo. Not your boxes. The list decides what you are allowed to make, and everything else in your business sits on top of that answer.

Get the list from the state, not from a group post

The version that counts is the one on the state’s own page. Screenshots get passed around for years, and a screenshot does not tell you when it was taken.

When you find the page, save it. Print it, or save the file, and write the date at the top in pen. That date is your record of what you were working from.

Read it as a yes list

An approved list works one direction. If a food is on it, you have your answer. If a food you love is not on it, treat that as a no until the state tells you otherwise.

So read it with your menu in front of you. Not with a general idea of your menu. Write down every single item you sell and check them one at a time. The item you forgot is the one that causes trouble.

Check your best sellers first

Start with the three or four things that pay your bills. If those are on the list, you have a business. If one of them is not, you want to know that today, not after you have taken deposits for a wedding.

Then look at your seasonal items and your holiday trays. Those sneak past you, because you only bake them twice a year.

1. 1

   Open the state page

   Go to the state department that handles cottage food operations and open the approved list on their own site.

2. 2

   Save it with the date

   Print it or save the file, and write today’s date on it so you know which version you checked.

3. 3

   Write out your full menu

   List every item you sell, one per line, including the seasonal ones.

4. 4

   Check each line

   Mark yes or no next to each item. Anything that is not a clear yes gets set aside until you confirm it.

5. 5

   Set a reminder

   Put a note in your phone to pull the list again in a few months.

If one of your recipes is not on the list

You have three real choices, and none of them is “sell it anyway.”

You can change the recipe so it fits something that is approved. You can swap it for an item that is on the list. Or you can look into a different kind of license when your menu has outgrown a home operation. That last one is a bigger step with different rules, so ask the state or your county before you assume anything about it.

Label and track every order

Whatever the state’s rules say has to be on your label, copy that wording exactly. Do not shorten it and do not make it prettier. Write it once, print it, and use the same label on every box.

Then keep a simple record for each order: the date, what you sold, how many, and what you charged. That record is what lets you price next month better than you priced this month, and it is what you can hand over if anyone ever asks what you have been selling.

Price the items that made the cut

Once you know your approved menu, price it properly. Flour, butter, eggs, and boxes all move. A price you set last spring may not cover you now.

When you are ready to take orders, you want one place for them. Brevl is one flat $20 a month with no cut of your sales, a 14 day free trial, and it works on your phone and on a computer. You take card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and cash. Your shop is yours to customize, with your photos, your colors, and your own web address. We set it up with you and move your old shop over, and a real person answers, usually within minutes.

When the list changes

Treat the list as something that can move under you. Save the date every time you check it, and check it again before a big season. If something you sell drops off, you want to hear it from the state page, not from a customer.

The short version: the list is the state’s, the date matters, and your menu should be built on top of it. Everything after that, the pricing, the orders, the getting paid, is yours to run.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Cottage food rules are set by the state and can change, so confirm what applies to you with the state department that handles cottage food operations, or with your county, before you sell.