Granola is one of the easiest foods to sell from a home kitchen: oats, nuts, seeds, honey and oil, baked dry, with nothing that needs refrigeration. Michigan names granola among its cottage foods; California's approved list includes it; Minnesota allows food that isn't potentially hazardous, with a yearly registration and training; and North Dakota allows sales straight to the customer. What matters is the label, with the allergens, nuts above all, and where it's sold: most cottage food laws mean selling to the person who eats it, not to a coffee shop to resell. In the example below, a Michigan home granola maker sets up its market table.
The short version
- Granola is shelf-stable: a cottage food in all four states here.
- Michigan and California name it.
- Minnesota: a yearly registration and approved training.
- North Dakota: direct to the customer.
- Label every bag, with the nut allergens.
- Selling to a coffee shop to resell is a different question.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Granola, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maple pecan granola | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Granola bars | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Granola with a yogurt coating | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
The business beyond home is in granola business plan, and bags and labels in how to package granola for sale.
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 market table
Huron Valley Granola, a made-up home granola maker in Ann Arbor, Michigan, bakes maple pecan granola and granola bars at home and sells them at a Saturday market, each bag labeled with the ingredients, the pecans and the home kitchen statement Michigan requires. A coffee shop asked to stock the bags; Michigan's cottage foods go straight to the customer, so the shop waits for a licensed kitchen. Michigan's rules in full are in michigan cottage food law.
Get the checker
Download the home granola 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
The rules decide what can be sold. Three flavors, two markets and online orders are where a bag goes out from the wrong batch, or a nut-free order gets the pecans.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each bag 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 bags is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each bag 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 bag 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.