Whether you can sell a pie from home depends on the filling. Fruit pies, such as apple, cherry and blueberry, keep at room temperature because the fruit is acidic and sugared, so they fit cottage food laws written for foods that don't need refrigeration. Pumpkin, custard, cream and meringue pies are a different food: their fillings are eggs and milk, baked, which the FDA Food Code treats as time/temperature control for safety food. In states whose cottage law covers only foods that don't need refrigeration, such as Michigan and Minnesota, those pies are out from a home kitchen, and so is anything with meat, like a chicken pot pie. A few states allow them on conditions: North Dakota's law names pumpkin pie and baked goods with cream, custard or meringue, and allows them kept and delivered frozen, with safe handling instructions and a statement that they were kept frozen. In Michigan and North Dakota, cottage food is sold straight to the person who'll eat it, not to a café or store. In the example below, a Michigan home baker sorts its Thanksgiving pie list.
The short version
- Fruit pies: allowed in all three states here.
- Pumpkin, custard, cream and meringue: need refrigeration, so many cottage laws leave them out.
- Michigan and Minnesota: only foods that don't need temperature control.
- North Dakota: refrigerated pies allowed if kept and delivered frozen, with the labels.
- Meat pies are out in all three.
- Sell straight to the customer; stores and cafés take a licensed kitchen.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each bake's lot. More below.
Pies, by filling
| Pie | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple, cherry, blueberry | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pumpkin | No | No | Frozen, with labels |
| Lemon meringue, coconut cream, custard | No | No | Frozen, with labels |
| Chicken pot pie | No | No | No |
The Michigan law in full is in Michigan cottage food law, Minnesota's in Minnesota cottage food law, and how foods are sorted by risk in TCS foods list.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Michigan: what's covered | Food that isn't time/temperature control for safety, including baked goods that don't need it (MCL 289.1105(k)) |
| Michigan: how it's sold | Prepackaged and labeled, with "Made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the Michigan department of agriculture and rural development." in 11-point type; straight to the consumer, no consignment or wholesale; a yearly sales limit, $50,000 until October 1, 2026, adjustable each October (MCL 289.4102) |
| Minnesota | Food that isn't potentially hazardous (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| North Dakota | Pumpkin pie and baked goods with cream, custard or meringue, labeled with safe handling instructions and as kept frozen; no uninspected meat (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02) |
| Why the fillings differ | Animal food that's been heat-treated is time/temperature control for safety food (Food Code 2022, 1-201.10) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Thanksgiving pie list
Leelanau Loaf, the made-up cottage food baker in Suttons Bay, Michigan, I use in these examples, takes Thanksgiving orders after its summer market. Customers asked for six pies:
| Pie | Needs refrigeration? | Under Michigan's law |
|---|---|---|
| Tart cherry | No | Yes |
| Apple crumb | No | Yes |
| Blueberry | No | Yes |
| Pumpkin | Yes | No |
| Lemon meringue | Yes | No |
| Chicken pot pie | Yes, and it's meat | No |
The order form went out with the three fruit pies and an apple cranberry in place of pumpkin, and a line saying why. Each pie goes out boxed with its label, the home kitchen statement in 11-point type. With the year's sales already near the limit, the baker counts every order against it. Pumpkin waits for the day the business moves into a licensed kitchen. What a pie costs and sells for is in how to price pies.
Get the checker
Download the home pie checker. Two sheets: your pies, whether each needs refrigeration and whether it contains meat, and how Michigan's, Minnesota's and North Dakota's cottage food laws treat it; 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
Sixty pies for one Wednesday is a bake list, a box count and a sales total close to the limit, all on paper. One order written on the wrong day's sheet and a customer has no pie at the table.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each bake's lot.
Orders. Each customer's pies go in as an order for its pickup day, with a picking list.
Each bake a batch. A bake of cherry pies is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each pie is costed from its recipe and the batch, at what the ingredients actually cost.
| The job | Paper | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets which pie on Wednesday | Order sheets | Orders by pickup day |
| Which bake went to which customer | Not recorded | Lots on each order |
| What a pie 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.