Launch a legal home bakery under cottage food law

  1. Find the statute and agency that governs cottage food in your state
    45 min

    This step produces a one-page summary naming your state's cottage food statute, the agency that enforces it, where the application form lives, and a phone number or email for questions. The trap is vocabulary: states call the same thing “cottage food,” “homemade food,” “home-based food business,” or “baked goods law” — search under all four.

    1. Open the Forrager state-by-state index (link below), click your state, and note what it lists: statute, agency, form, and contact.
    2. Cross-check with the agency itself: search “[your state] cottage food department of agriculture” and “[your state] homemade food health department”. Most programs sit with the department of agriculture; New Jersey's sits with the department of health.
    3. Record the statute or regulation number — Florida's is § 500.80, California's is Health and Safety Code § 113758, New Jersey's is the Cottage Food Operator rule at N.J.A.C. 8:24-11.
    4. Bookmark the agency page that publishes the rules and the application form, and save the agency's phone or email.
    5. Write the one-page summary: statute, agency, form location, contact, and the program's official name.