Candy is one of the easiest things to sell from a home kitchen. Cooked sugar candies, brittle, toffee, caramels, fudge and chocolate-dipped nuts keep at room temperature, which is what cottage food laws are written for. Michigan names candy in its law, California puts candy and chocolate-covered nonperishable foods on its approved list, Minnesota covers food that isn't potentially hazardous, and North Dakota allows almost anything sold straight to the customer. The exceptions are candies that need the fridge: cream-filled truffles, fresh-cream ganache and anything with cream cheese. Those are out in Michigan, Minnesota and California, and in North Dakota they have to be kept and delivered frozen with safe handling instructions. And cottage food is sold to the people who'll eat it; a shop or café takes a licensed kitchen in most of these states, though California's Class B allows sales through shops.
The short version
- Cooked sugar candy, brittle, toffee, caramels and fudge fit cottage food laws.
- Candy that needs refrigeration, like fresh-cream truffles, doesn't in Michigan, Minnesota or California.
- North Dakota: refrigerated candy only kept and delivered frozen, with labels.
- California's approved list names candy and chocolate-covered nonperishables.
- Sell straight to the customer; California's Class B also allows shops.
- Label each package as your state requires.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and what each box costs. More below.
Candy, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peanut brittle, toffee, caramels | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Chocolate fudge | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Chocolate-dipped almonds | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Fresh-cream truffles | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
The licenses a candy maker needs are in license to sell candy, and pricing in how to price fudge.
The rules
| State | Rule |
|---|---|
| Michigan | Food that isn't time/temperature control for safety, including jams, candy, dried fruit, granola, dry mixes, vinegar, dried herbs and baked goods; not meat or poultry, milk products, beverages, salsa, or canned foods other than standardized jams (MCL 289.1105(k)); prepackaged, labeled with the home kitchen statement, sold straight to the consumer (MCL 289.4102) |
| Minnesota | Food that isn't potentially hazardous, and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits at pH 4.6 or lower or water activity 0.85 or less; registration every year and approved food safety training (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| North Dakota | No state license for cottage food sold directly to an informed end consumer; foods that need refrigeration labeled with safe handling instructions and as transported and maintained frozen; no uninspected meat, poultry only from the seller's own birds (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02) |
| California | Cottage foods are nonpotentially hazardous foods on the approved list, among them baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings, candy, chocolate-covered nonperishables, dried fruit, dried pasta, granola, herb blends, honey, standardized jams, nut butters, popcorn, vinegar and mustard, roasted coffee and dried tea (HSC 114365.5); Class A sells directly, Class B also through shops and restaurants (HSC 113758) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Michigan candy maker's holiday list
Mitten Sweets, a made-up home candy maker in Traverse City, Michigan, takes holiday orders for five candies. Under Michigan's law the brittle, toffee, caramels and fudge are cottage foods, packaged and labeled with the home kitchen statement. The fresh-cream truffles need the fridge, so they came off the list, replaced by a shelf-stable chocolate bark. A downtown shop asked to carry the toffee; Michigan cottage food can't be sold wholesale, so the answer was no until the business moves into a licensed kitchen. What the business looks like over a year is in candy business plan.
Get the checker
Download the home candy checker. Two sheets: your products, whether each needs refrigeration, is meat or poultry, a milk product, a canned food other than jam, or a drink, and whether it's on California's list; how Michigan's, Minnesota's, North Dakota's and California's cottage food laws treat it fill in; and each state's rules as read for this article. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Holiday candy is dozens of batches in six weeks, each with its own date, and boxes that mix three candies. When a customer asks which batch was in their box, paper doesn't answer.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each box costs.
Orders. Each customer's order goes in for its pickup or market day, with a picking list.
Each batch a lot. A batch of boxs is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each box is costed from its recipe and the batch, at what the ingredients actually cost.
| The job | Paper | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets what on market day | Order sheets | Orders by day |
| Which batch went to which customer | Not recorded | Lots on each order |
| What a box costs | A guess | True cost from the recipe and batch |
Orders, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.