Can I Sell Baked Goods From My Home?

If you read suggestions for making extra money, or even for quitting your job to start your own business, you will surely come across articles that mention selling food from home. If you're wondering how to sell baked goods from home, the first thing you need to think about is legality. Ask your local municipality questions like "do I need a license to sell food from my home?" and "what are the health department requirements for home-based food sales?"

Once you get a "yes" for "can I sell baked goods from my home," or "can I sell food from my house," it's time to think about just how to sell baked goods from home. There are several answers to how to make money selling baked goods from home, but which ones actually work will depend a lot on your local market. If you're in a heavily-populated area, selling food from home is much easier than in a rural area. In the latter locales, you will likely do better by doing the actual sales at events that draw more potential customers.

How to Start Selling Baked Goods from Home

When you're thinking about how to start selling baked goods from home, the first thing to consider is your baking skills. This is a business for people who already have excellent skill levels, both at producing great-tasting food and in making that food look great. If your skills are only average, it’s a good idea to practice until you can make your product look and taste professional.

Assuming you already have the needed base skills, it's time to think of some home baking business ideas. Do you want to bake cakes, cookies, pies, or perhaps something savory? Some of the answers for how to start a bakery business from home will depend on this factor. For example, if you want to know how to start a cake baking business from home, "learn advanced decorating methods" may be high on the list. However, this won't be much of an issue if you bake pies.

When you cook a certain type of cake, scone, or bread, do you get lots of positive feedback from friends and family? Use these kinds of indicators to decide which products to sell from home.

Note that if you ask how to sell home cooked food online, your odyssey might become far more complex. That's because online business often involves interstate commerce. Whenever a business involves more than one state, federal regulations kick in. Because of this, many online food sellers restrict purchases to customers from their own state. Always research your local regulations regarding cottage food sales to ensure that you’re complying with local laws.

Selling Homemade Food Online

As previously alluded to, the regulations for selling homemade food online depend, in part, on where that food is shipped. If you provide food only within your own state, that state's health regulations will apply. Your local municipalities will typically have some health laws as well. However, if you ship out of state, the federal government will add its layers of regulation to the others.

Despite this, the basic answer to "can you sell homemade food online" is yes. To do so, you need to meet the requirements of all applicable regulators. Whether or not this will be easy depends on your current set-up as well as which regulations apply to you. The latter is determined both by your location and where you deliver or ship.

With all of that in mind, the answers to how to sell cookies online and how to sell baked goods to coffee shops are surprisingly similar. You must produce a product worth buying, at a price people are willing to pay, and ensure that your target customers know about it. In some areas, you'll also need to pass health inspections.

Do You Need A License to Sell Baked Goods from Home?

In many cases, the answer to "do you need a license to sell baked goods from home" is yes – but this is not always the case. Some areas grant exemptions for certain categories of goods as long as the business is home-based, and your sales volume does not pass an amount set by your local government. If such an exception exists in your area, it may be referred to as a cottage food law or have a similar designation.

For preliminary research, you can check a list of cottage food laws by state. These usually aren't exhaustive, but are a good start. You should also call your city or township office and your county office to be sure. Just ask "do I need a license to sell homemade food," and they should be able to answer.

The answer to how to get a permit to sell food from home also varies, but if a permit is required, you will generally have to meet your local health department requirements. These include things like using non-porous, sanitizable surfaces, having a good way to sanitize your cooking dishes, and having a food preparation area that can be closed off from the rest of the house.

In many areas, selling baked goods from home is easy from a regulatory standpoint. However, selling home cooked food to the public is something that is not universally accepted, or is only accepted for certain categories and volume levels. Checking which food operations do not need permits in your area first, rather than making assumptions, will ensure that your entry into this business will go smoothly.

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Additional Resources

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