Cottage food rules
Cottage Food License in Colorado: What Home Bakers Need
What Colorado actually requires, in plain steps, before you sell your first bake.
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What to remember
- Finish a food safety training course before your first sale.
- Register with CDPHE, and renew the registration every year.
- Sell only directly to informed end consumers.
- Selling from a physical store or across state lines needs a retail food establishment license from your county.
- A cottage food business still owes Colorado income and sales tax.
If you have been searching for a cottage food license in Colorado, the wording is what trips most people up. Colorado handles this with a training course and a registration rather than a paper license you hang on the wall. The rules sit with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and they are worth reading in full before you take your first order. If you sell in more than one state, or you are comparing how this works elsewhere, our guide to cottage food laws in the USA lays out the general shape.
What Colorado asks of you before you sell
Take the food safety training first
The Colorado Cottage Foods Act requires producers to complete a food safety training course prior to starting a cottage foods business. Do this before you bake a single thing for money.
Register with CDPHE
Cottage food producers are required to register with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. That registration must be renewed annually, so put a reminder in your phone the day you get it.
Sell direct, and keep buyers informed
You may produce in your home kitchen, or in a commercial, private, or public kitchen, but only if you sell the foods directly to informed end consumers. Your buyer should know the food came from a home kitchen.
Keep your tax records from day one
A cottage food business is subject to income and sales tax obligations in Colorado. Keep every receipt and every order record from your very first sale, not from the day it gets busy.
Call your county before you go beyond direct sales
If your plan involves a store shelf or shipping out of state, your plan involves a different license. Confirm it with your local county health department before you print a single label.
Where you can sell, and the line you cannot cross
The direct to consumer part is the heart of the act. Selling straight to people who know what they are buying is what lets you work from your own kitchen. The moment you want to sell from a physical store, or sell across state lines directly to consumers, you need a retail food establishment license issued by your local county health department. That is a different process with different inspections, and it is not something to sort out the week before a market.
When you are unsure whether something you read online is current, go to the source rather than a comment thread. Our guide to the cottage food laws website shows you which pages are worth trusting, and cottage food laws on Reddit explains how to tell good advice from old advice.
Taxes, renewals, and the parts that outlive the paperwork
Two things in Colorado quietly catch bakers out. The first is the annual renewal on your CDPHE registration. The second is tax. A cottage food business is subject to income and sales tax obligations, which means your order records are not just for your own math, they are the thing you file from. Set up one simple habit now, whether that is a notebook or a spreadsheet or an app, so that a January morning does not turn into a scramble.
What may change next
The act has been in motion. Colorado HB25-1190 expands the act by allowing for the sale and consumption of homemade foods that require refrigeration. Colorado HB26-1033 would expand the Colorado Cottage Foods Act further, by allowing for the sale of homemade foods that require refrigeration and foods that include meat and meat products. A bill is not the same as a rule you can bake under today, so check where each one stands before you build a menu around cheesecake or meat pies.
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Common questions
Do I need a license to sell baked goods from my home in Colorado?
What you need is a food safety training course completed before you start, plus registration with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. That registration has to be renewed every year.
How often do I renew my Colorado cottage food registration?
Annually. The registration with CDPHE must be renewed each year, so set a reminder for the date you registered.
Can I sell my bakes at a shop or in another state?
Selling from a physical store, or across state lines directly to consumers, requires a retail food establishment license issued by your local county health department. That is separate from cottage food registration.
Do I have to deal with taxes as a cottage food business in Colorado?
Yes. A cottage food business is subject to income and sales tax obligations in Colorado, so keep your sales records from your first order.
Can I sell foods that need refrigeration, like cheesecake?
Colorado HB25-1190 expands the act by allowing for the sale and consumption of homemade foods that require refrigeration, and HB26-1033 would also allow foods that include meat and meat products. Check the current status of those bills before you plan a menu around them.
Who can I sell to under the act?
You may produce in your home kitchen, or a commercial, private, or public kitchen, but only if you sell directly to informed end consumers. Your buyers should know the food was made in a home kitchen.
Sources
This is general information for home bakers, not legal or tax advice. Rules change, so confirm the current requirements with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and your local county health department before you sell.