Cottage Food Laws: How to Sell Baked Goods From Home

Quick answer: Cottage food laws are state laws that allow certain lower-risk foods to be made in a home kitchen and sold under conditions. Five things vary by state: which foods qualify, whether you need a license or registration, how much you may sell, who you are allowed to sell to, and exactly what the label must say. Federal registration generally does not apply to a private residence, but selling across state lines changes the analysis.

The legal text is not hard to find. Every state that has a cottage food law publishes it. What almost nobody publishes is the translation: what those rules change about the sticker on your box, the wording on your order form, and the structure of your price list.

That translation is what this guide is for.

Cottage food laws exist because food risk is not uniform. Foods that do not require time or temperature control for safety, sometimes described as non-potentially hazardous or shelf-stable, are treated differently from foods that will grow harmful bacteria if left out.

That distinction drives nearly everything else. Breads, cookies, cakes without perishable fillings, jams, and certain confections commonly qualify. Foods requiring refrigeration commonly do not.

The practical implication arrives fast: the same product can move in and out of scope depending on the frosting. A vanilla sponge may qualify while the identical sponge with a cream cheese filling may not. Before designing a menu, check your category list against the actual recipes you intend to sell, not against the general idea of "baked goods."

Whatever your state, these are the five things to establish. Together they define your business model.

1. Allowed foods. Which categories qualify, and which are expressly excluded.
2. Permission. Whether you need a license, a registration, a training certificate, an inspection, or nothing at all.
3. The cap. Whether there is an annual gross sales limit, and what happens when you approach it.
4. The channel. Who you may sell to and where: directly to consumers, at markets, online, by delivery, by mail, or to shops and restaurants.
5. The label. The required elements and the required disclosure statement, often with formatting rules attached.

Get these five and you have your operating rules. Miss the fourth and you can build a whole business model that is not permitted.

Home food businesses often worry about the FDA first. Usually it is the least of the concerns.

Under the federal food facility registration rules, a private residence is generally not treated as a "facility" and so is not required to register with FDA, and separate exemptions exist for retail food establishments that sell directly to consumers. FDA's registration guidance and its How to Start a Food Business page set out the general framework.

Two cautions. A private residence has to genuinely be a private residence, not a commercial operation someone happens to live in. And selling across state lines is a different question from selling within your state, one that cottage food laws generally do not authorize. If you are contemplating shipping interstate, take advice before you list the product.

These illustrate how differently two states can structure the same idea. They are examples of structure, not statements about your state.

Georgia rewrote its program recently, which itself is instructive. The Department of Agriculture's FAQ on House Bill 398 explains that the bill was signed on May 13, 2025 and took effect on July 1, 2025, and that it removed the requirement to obtain a state cottage food license or pay a state licensing fee. It also expanded sales: where operators had previously been limited to selling directly to consumers, they may now also sell to retail food sales establishments such as grocery stores, restaurants, and convenience stores.

Two further details in that document are worth noticing, because they show how much operational nuance sits below the headline. Cities and counties may pass an ordinance opting out of third-party vendor sales in their jurisdiction, while general local requirements such as business licensing and zoning are unaffected. And operators uncomfortable putting a home address on their labels may request an identification number from the department to use instead. The department also noted that its regulations were still being updated to match the new law.

Texas takes a different shape. The Department of State Health Services cottage food production page describes an annual gross income threshold, a list of excluded food categories, permitted sales channels including farmers markets, farm stands, food service establishments, retail stores, direct online sales and personal delivery, a food handler training requirement, and a registration that allows a unique identification number to be used on labels in place of a home address. It also describes a specific rule for online sales, addressed below.

Verify current requirements with your own state's department of agriculture or health before relying on any of this. Georgia's own example makes the point: a rule that was accurate in June 2025 was wrong in July.

Even where a state removes requirements, local government is a separate matter. Zoning and home-occupation rules decide whether a business may operate at your address at all. Local business licensing may apply. Georgia's HB 398 FAQ makes this explicit by preserving general local requirements while restricting direct local regulation of cottage food.

The SBA licenses and permits guide is a useful reminder that the layers stack and must each be checked.

This is the part the legal text does not do for you.

Requirements vary, but the recurring elements are consistent enough to design around:

• the business name and a physical address, or an assigned identification number where your state offers one;
• the product name;
• the full ingredient list, conventionally in descending order by weight;
• an allergen declaration covering the major allergens present;
• net weight or volume;
• the state's required disclosure statement.

That disclosure statement is not paraphrasable. States prescribe the wording, and often the presentation too. Georgia's published guidance requires the statement "MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO STATE FOOD SAFETY INSPECTIONS," with formatting requirements covering capitalization, typeface, minimum type size, and contrast against the background.

Design your label template around the longest version you might need, including the disclosure at full size. It is far easier than discovering at the printer that the statement does not fit.

Most home bakers eventually notice that a label rule appears to require putting their home address into the hands of every stranger who buys a cupcake.

Some states have solved this. Both the Georgia and Texas programs described above provide for an identification number issued by the state that may be used on the label instead of the address. If your state offers this, apply for it before you print anything. If it does not, raise the question with the agency rather than quietly omitting a required element.

If you sell online, check whether your state imposes a timing rule, because this one catches people who assume the label is enough.

Texas provides a clear published example: for online sales, the operator must provide the required labeling information to the consumer before accepting payment, by posting a legible statement on the website, and must then provide the address or unique identification number on the label of the food after payment.

Read that as a website requirement, not a sticker requirement. In practice it means your product page or checkout flow needs to carry the ingredient and allergen information, and the required disclosure, at the point of ordering. A label applied at handover does not satisfy a rule about what the buyer must see before paying.

Even where no such rule applies, showing ingredients and allergens at the point of order is good practice. Allergen questions arriving after payment are worse for everyone.

Your price list and menu quietly encode your permitted channels. Review it for anything that promises something your rules may not allow:

• Wholesale or bulk pricing tiers imply selling to businesses for resale, which some states permit and others do not.
• Shipping options imply mail order and potentially interstate sale.
• Refrigerated or perishable items may fall outside your allowed categories entirely.
• Wedding and event packages often involve staffing, transport, on-site assembly, or venue rules that go beyond cottage food.
• Subscription or standing-order offers can push annual revenue toward a cap faster than expected.

Set out inclusions, exclusions, lead times, deposits, collection or delivery arrangements, and cancellation terms clearly. A specific menu prevents the request you cannot lawfully fulfill.

Where your state sets an annual gross sales limit, that number belongs in your records, not in your memory. Track cumulative sales against it monthly, and know in advance what your options are as you approach it, whether that means slowing, changing structure, or moving to a commercial kitchen. Discovering the limit in December is the expensive way.

The LaunchKit Price List and Service Menu and Business Documents pack provide editable structures for the menu, order form, and customer terms described here. The required disclosure wording for your state must come from your state.

1. Confirm every recipe against your state's allowed and excluded categories.
2. Establish whether you need a license, registration, or training certificate, and complete it.
3. Confirm your permitted sales channels, and design your offer to match.
4. Check zoning and local business licensing at your address.
5. Apply for an identification number if your state offers one.
6. Build the label template with the exact required statement and formatting.
7. Put ingredient and allergen information on the order page, not only the box.
8. Set up a simple sales record from the first sale, with the cap visible if one applies.
9. Ask an appropriately licensed insurance professional what cover is appropriate for food you make at home and sell to the public.
10. Keep dated copies of the official guidance you relied on.

That last item is genuinely useful. Rules in this area change, sometimes substantially, and a dated copy of what the agency published tells you what you were working from and when to look again.

This is general educational information, not legal, food safety, tax, or insurance advice. Cottage food rules are set by individual states and vary substantially in permitted foods, sales limits, sales channels, licensing, and labeling, and they change. The examples above are illustrations of how different states structure their rules, not statements of what applies to you. Confirm current requirements directly with your state department of agriculture or health and your local authority before selling food to the public.