Cottage food rules
Cottage Food Laws in GA: What Home Bakers Need to Know
What Georgia allows now, where you can sell, and how to stay on the right side of the rules.
On this page
What to remember
- No state cottage food license and no licensing fee since July 1, 2025.
- You can only make food that is not potentially hazardous.
- HB 398 added grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants as places you can sell.
- A city or county may pass an ordinance prohibiting third-party cottage food sales.
- Subject 40-7-19 sets the minimum food safety practices for cottage food production.
If you bake from your home kitchen in Georgia, the rules you answer to changed in a big way in 2025. The short version is that the paperwork got lighter and the selling got wider. The longer version is worth reading once, slowly, before you print a single label or knock on a cafe door. If you sell in more than one state, or you just want to see how Georgia sits next to everywhere else, start with cottage food laws by state and come back here for the Georgia detail.
What changed on July 1, 2025
House Bill 398 took effect on July 1, 2025, and it changed Georgia’s cottage food rules in two directions at once. It removed the state cottage food license and the licensing fee, so there is no state permit to buy or renew before you bake. At the same time it widened where your bakes can go. Cottage food operators sold directly to consumers, and after HB 398 they can also sell to grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants.
That second change is the one worth sitting with. A shelf at a small grocery or a standing order with a lunch spot is a different kind of business than a Saturday market table. It means steadier volume, and it means the people selling your cake have their own expectations about how it is packed and labeled. Read the state’s cottage food guidance before you pitch anyone, because the labeling, hygiene, food safety, nutrition and ingredient rules apply to that sale too.
Where you can sell, and where you might not
Direct sales to customers are still the backbone, and for most home bakers that is where the first year happens. Third-party sales through stores and restaurants are allowed under HB 398, with a catch. Each city and county in Georgia may choose to pass an ordinance prohibiting cottage food operators from selling cottage food items through third-party vendors such as grocery stores and restaurants. So the state allows it, but your address does not guarantee it.
Food safety and labeling, in plain terms
Georgia’s cottage food regulations sit in Subject 40-7-19, and the state describes them as the minimum best practices required in the production of cottage food products. That word minimum is doing real work. It is the floor, not a suggestion, and it is what a customer or an inspector would measure you against. The state’s Cottage Food Safety directives are excerpted from Agriculture Rule 40-7-19-.08 and cover the food safety side of the same ground.
The other half is what goes on the package. Georgia’s cottage food guidance for vendors covers labeling along with hygiene, food safety, nutrition and ingredients. What exactly has to appear on your label is set by that guidance, so pull it up and read it against the label you are using now instead of copying a label you saw on someone else’s jam. If your bakes include cream cheese frosting or another filling you are unsure about, cream cheese and cottage food rules is a useful next read, because potentially hazardous food is the line Georgia draws.
Once you are selling to a store as well as to customers, the money side gets more interesting. Cottage food laws and taxes walks through what to keep track of, and cottage food laws and regulations is the wider picture if you want the general shape of these rules rather than the Georgia version.
Your first three moves
Read the state guidance
Georgia’s cottage food guidance for vendors covers labeling, hygiene, food safety, nutrition and ingredients. Read it once before you sell anything.
Check your city or county
Ask whether a local ordinance prohibits selling cottage food through grocery stores and restaurants.
Confirm what you make is allowed
Cottage food operators in Georgia are permitted to make only food that is not potentially hazardous.
Work out your prices before you quote a store
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Common questions
Do I need a license to sell cottage food in Georgia?
No. Georgia removed its cottage food license and licensing fee effective July 1, 2025 under House Bill 398. You still need to follow the state's cottage food guidance, and local rules can affect where you sell.
Can I sell my bakes to a grocery store or restaurant in Georgia?
Yes. After HB 398, cottage food operators can sell to grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants in addition to selling directly to consumers. Check first, because each city or county may pass an ordinance prohibiting third-party cottage food sales.
What foods am I allowed to make?
Only food that is not potentially hazardous. That is the limit Georgia sets on cottage food operators.
Where do the food safety rules come from?
Georgia's cottage food regulations are in Subject 40-7-19, which the state describes as the minimum best practices required in the production of cottage food products. The Cottage Food Safety directives are excerpted from Agriculture Rule 40-7-19-.08.
What has to go on my label?
Georgia's cottage food guidance for vendors covers labeling along with hygiene, food safety, nutrition and ingredients. Follow that guidance rather than copying a label from another seller.
Sources
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change, so confirm the current requirements with the Georgia Department of Agriculture and with your city or county before you sell.