Cottage food rules
Cottage Food Laws on Long Island: What Home Bakers Need
A plain walk through the New York registration that lets you sell your bakes from your Long Island kitchen.
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What to remember
- New York uses the Home Processor Exemption, a registration-only path out of the broader Article 20-C food processing license rules.
- Registration with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets is free.
- Certain baked goods, jellies, and snack mixes can qualify you to work from a home kitchen.
- Everything must be pre-packaged and labeled at home, and sold within New York State.
- There is no sales cap under the Home Processor framework.
Long Island sits inside New York, so the state rules are the ones that decide what you can bake and sell. That is good news for a home baker: the path is short and it costs nothing to register. Read this once, then keep it handy the week you start taking orders. If you want to compare notes with bakers in the city, the New York City guide covers the same framework from a smaller kitchen.
What the Home Processor Exemption covers
New York’s broader food processing license lives in Article 20-C. The Home Processor Exemption is a registration-only carve-out from that, set out in New York Agriculture and Markets Law and 1 CRR-NY 276.4. In plain terms, it lets you prepare and sell certain shelf-stable foods from a home kitchen without a commercial license. Foods such as certain baked goods, jellies, and snack mixes may qualify you. Not everything does, so check your specific item against the state’s list before you build a menu around it.
There is also no sales cap under the Home Processor framework. You are not limited to a dollar amount per year, which matters if you are baking for regular customers, weekend markets, and holiday orders all in the same season. What limits you instead is the packaging and labeling rule below, and the fact that your sales stay inside New York.
Register, package, label, sell
Confirm your bakes qualify
Check your items against the allowed list. Certain baked goods, jellies, and snack mixes may qualify you for the Home Processor Exemption and let you work from a home kitchen.
Register with the state
Register for free with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. This is a registration, not a license, and it is the whole of the state approval step.
Package everything at home
All home-processed items must be pre-packaged in your home kitchen. Nothing gets bagged or boxed at the market.
Label every item
Home-processed items must be properly labeled. Get your labels printed and applied before the bakes leave the house.
Sell inside New York
All home-processed items must be sold within New York State. Long Island customers, city customers, and upstate customers are all fine. A shop in Connecticut is not.
Selling to shops and restaurants
The exemption is not only for direct sales. Wholesale sales to New York restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores are allowed under the Home Processor exemption, provided the products are on the allowed list. That opens a real second income for a home baker, one batch of muffins going to a local cafe every Tuesday rather than a table you have to staff. Keep the packaging and labeling rules in place for those orders too, because they travel further than a farmers market does.
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- Cottage Food Laws in NYC: What Home Bakers Need
- Cottage Food Laws in CT: What Home Bakers Need to Know
- Home Bakery App: A Fair Roundup for Home Bakers
Common questions
Do I need a license to sell baked goods from my Long Island kitchen?
No. New York uses the Home Processor Exemption, which is a free registration with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets rather than a license. It is a carve-out from the broader Article 20-C food processing license requirements.
What does the registration cost?
Nothing. Home processors register for free with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
Can I sell at a farmers market or craft fair?
You can sell there, but every item must already be pre-packaged in your home and properly labeled. Packaging of food items at an agricultural event such as a craft fair or farmers' market is not permitted under the home processing rules.
Can I sell to restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores?
Yes. Wholesale sales to New York restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores are allowed under the Home Processor exemption, as long as the products are on the allowed list.
Is there a limit on how much I can sell?
No. New York's Home Processor framework has no sales cap.
Can I ship or deliver to customers in another state?
No. All home-processed items must be sold within New York State.
Sources
This is general information for home bakers, not legal advice. Rules change, and your town may have its own requirements, so confirm the details with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets before you sell.