Cottage food rules
Do I Need a Permit to Sell Baked Goods From Home?
Get a real answer for your kitchen, in writing, before you take your first order.
On this page
If you have spent an evening on this question, you have probably found three pages that disagree with each other and none that mention your town. That is normal. The answer depends on where you live, so a page that gives you a flat yes or no is answering for somebody else’s kitchen.
The good news is that getting your own answer takes one phone call and about twenty minutes, if you ask the right questions.
What to remember
- The answer depends on your address, not on what worked for a baker in another state. - Call the food office that covers your kitchen, not a general hotline. - Ask about the permit, the kitchen, and the labels in the same call so you only do this once. - Get the answer in writing, even if it is just an email that says you are fine. - Do not take orders until you know. Refunding people you know is a rough first week.
Who to call, exactly
Start on your state health department website and look for the page about home food businesses or cottage food. Then call the county or city office that covers your kitchen and ask to speak to whoever handles food permits.
If the first person you reach sounds unsure, ask to be passed to the person who handles permits for home kitchens. Being transferred once is normal. Being told “I think so” is not an answer you can build a business on.
The questions to ask, in order
Ask whether you need a permit at all
Say what you want to do in one sentence: I want to bake cakes and cookies in my home kitchen and sell them to people in my town. Then ask what is required before you can do that. Write the answer down word for word.
Ask what you are allowed to sell
Ask whether there is a list of foods that home bakers may sell, and ask for a copy. This is the part that surprises people, because it can change what is on your menu. Our guide to cottage food approved foods shows what those lists usually look like and how to read one.
Ask what your kitchen needs
Ask whether your kitchen has to be inspected, what the inspector looks at, and whether pets or children in the kitchen change anything. Ask about sinks while you have them on the phone, since that is often the detail that decides whether a kitchen works.
Ask about labels and records
Ask what has to be printed on your labels, whether ingredients must be listed, and what records you have to keep. Ask them to say the required label wording slowly so you can write it down correctly.
Ask for it in writing
Ask them to send the requirements by email. If they will not, write down the date, the name of the person you spoke to, and what they told you, and keep it with your recipes.
Permit or license, and why the word matters
Some offices call it a permit, some call it a license, and some hand you both. Ask for the exact name of the thing you need and the form number, then write both on the front of a folder. If your head is spinning on the wording, do I need a license to sell baked goods from home walks through how the two words get used.
How specific this gets is worth seeing once. In some places the whole answer changes at the state line, which is why we keep separate guides like the one for Florida. Read the one for your state if we have it, then still make the call, because your county can add its own layer.
What to do with the answer
Put it in one place: what you may sell, what your kitchen needs, what your labels must say, and when your permit comes up for renewal. If the answer is that you need a permit, get it before you announce anything, even to your own Facebook friends.
Keep the email or your notes. If someone ever questions what you are selling, a dated email from the office is worth more than a good memory.
While you wait, get the rest of your shop ready
You can price your bakes, photograph your best work, and write your menu without a permit in hand. What you cannot do is take money. Use the waiting time so you are not starting from zero the day the answer comes back.
Then, once you are cleared, you need somewhere to take orders that is yours.
The short version
Call the office that covers your kitchen. Ask the five questions above. Get it in writing. Then bake, price, and sell with a clear head, because the last thing you want in your first month of orders is to find out you skipped a step.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules for home food businesses differ by state and county and can change. Confirm the requirements with the food office that covers your address before you sell.