Cottage food rules
Colorado Cottage Food Laws: What Home Bakers Need
The plain version of Colorado's cottage food rules, so you can bake and sell with confidence.
On this page
What to remember
- You can sell homemade foods that do not require refrigeration, sold directly to the people who will eat them.
- A food safety training course comes before your first sale.
- Cottage foods sold under the Act do not need a license or an inspection.
- A bill in the Colorado legislature would add foods that need refrigeration and foods with meat, but it is not the law yet.
If you bake from your own kitchen in Colorado, the rules are short and the path is fairly simple. They still matter, because selling without meeting them can cost you the business you are building. Start with Colorado cottage food law requirements for the full checklist, then use this page for the plain version.
What the Act allows
Colorado passed the Cottage Foods Act in 2012. It allows a limited range of homemade foods to be sold directly to consumers without licensing or inspection. The limit that matters most to a baker is refrigeration. If your bake has to stay cold to be safe, it sits outside the Act. Breads, cookies, and other shelf stable bakes are the heart of what Colorado home bakers sell.
The food safety course comes first
Colorado requires producers to complete a food safety training course before starting a cottage foods business. Do it before you take your first order, not after you have taken a deposit. It is the step people skip when they are eager to start selling, and it is the first thing anyone will ask you about when they want to know you are set up properly.
Where you can bake and who you sell to
Colorado law says a producer may use a home kitchen, or a commercial, private, or public kitchen, to make foods for sale, but only when those foods are sold directly to informed end consumers. That gives you room. Your own kitchen works, and so does a rented or shared kitchen, as long as the sale stays direct.
In practice, direct means you are selling to the person who will eat the bake, and that person is told what they are buying. When you are not standing there to explain, a label does that work for you. What to print on a Colorado cottage food label covers the wording.
What might change
A Colorado bill, HB26-1033, would expand the Act to allow the sale of homemade foods that require refrigeration, and foods that include meat and meat products. It has not become law. Build your menu on what is allowed now, and keep an eye on the bill if you want to sell custards, cheesecakes, or meat pies later.
Colorado is one of the more workable states for a home baker, but it is not the only one. If you are comparing places to live or sell, best cottage food law states puts them side by side. And if you ever outgrow cottage foods, how to apply for a home bakery license walks through the next step.
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None of this is complicated once it is written down in plain words. Finish the course, keep your menu to shelf stable bakes, sell to the people who will eat what you make, and label what you hand over. That is the whole of it, and it is enough to get you selling.
Common questions
Do I need a license to sell baked goods from my home in Colorado?
Under the Cottage Foods Act, a limited range of homemade foods can be sold directly to consumers without licensing or inspection. The foods covered are the ones that do not require refrigeration.
Do I have to take a course before I sell?
Yes. Colorado requires producers to complete a food safety training course before starting a cottage foods business, so finish it before you take your first order.
Can I sell cakes that need to be kept cold?
Foods that require refrigeration fall outside the Act as it stands. A bill, HB26-1033, would expand the Act to cover them, but it has not changed the law yet.
Can I sell to a cafe that wants to resell my bakes?
The Act covers foods sold directly to informed end consumers. A resale arrangement is a different situation, so check it before you agree to it.
Can I bake in a kitchen that is not my own?
Colorado law allows a home kitchen, or a commercial, private, or public kitchen, as long as the foods are sold directly to informed end consumers.
Sources
This is general information about Colorado cottage food rules, not legal advice. Rules can change, so confirm the current requirements with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment before you sell.