A charcuterie board company needs the same licenses as any food business that prepares food: a business registration and local license, a sales tax permit where your state taxes it, and, the one that matters most, a health permit for a licensed kitchen. Boards generally can't be made at home. Cottage food laws were written for foods that keep at room temperature, and meat and cheese boards need refrigeration: Minnesota's law covers only food that isn't potentially hazardous, and North Dakota's, one of the broadest, still says no uninspected meat, and anything needing refrigeration must be kept frozen. The meat itself has to come from inspected sources; slicing it for customers is exempt from federal inspection when a licensed retail kitchen does it. Grazing tables add one more rule to plan for: food set out without temperature control can stay out for up to 4 hours under the FDA Food Code, which states adopt in their own versions, with written procedures and a discard time marked. In the example below, a Reno board company sets up a wedding table.
The short version
- Business registration, a local license, and a sales tax permit where it applies.
- A health permit for a licensed kitchen; boards aren't cottage food.
- Meat from USDA or state-inspected sources, cheese from licensed makers; keep the invoices.
- Slicing inspected meat for customers in a licensed kitchen is exempt from federal inspection.
- Grazing tables: up to 4 hours out of temperature control, with a written procedure and a marked discard time.
- Ask your county health department what it requires for tables set up at venues.
- TaroStack keeps each wheel and salami as a lot, so every board traces to what went on it. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | For a board company |
|---|---|---|
| Business registration | Your state | An LLC or a registered trade name |
| Local business license | Your city or county | To trade from your address |
| Health permit | The county health department | For the licensed kitchen where boards are made |
| Event setup | The county health department | Ask whether a venue table needs its own permit |
| Sales tax | Your state | A seller's permit, where boards are taxed |
| Food safety training | The county | Handler or manager training, where required |
What it costs to rent the kitchen is in how to rent a commercial kitchen, and how boards are priced in how to price charcuterie boards.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Cottage food, Minnesota | Covers only food that isn't potentially hazardous (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| Cottage food, North Dakota | No uninspected meat; foods needing refrigeration kept frozen, with safe handling instructions (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02) |
| Slicing meat | Cutting and slicing at a retail store or restaurant for consumers is exempt from federal inspection, using only inspected meat (9 CFR 303.1(d)) |
| Grazing tables | Up to 4 hours without temperature control: written procedures, starting at 41 °F or below, marked with the time 4 hours later, served or discarded by then (Food Code 2022, 3-501.19) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a wedding grazing table in Reno
Silver Sage Boards, the made-up charcuterie company in Reno, Nevada, I use in these examples, builds boards in a licensed commercial kitchen and was booked for a grazing table for 50 at a wedding:
| Step | Time |
|---|---|
| Meat and cheese leave the venue's cooler, at 39 °F | 4:30 p.m. |
| Table set and guests arrive | 5:00 p.m. |
| Discard time on the card at the back of the table | 8:30 p.m. |
| What's left goes in the bin, not in boxes for guests | 8:30 p.m. |
The company keeps its written time-control procedure in the van and gives the venue a copy. Every salami, prosciutto and cheese came from inspected or licensed suppliers, with the invoices on file, and the county health department told the owner that boards made in the permitted kitchen and set up at the venue needed no separate event permit, which the owner wrote down with the date and the inspector's name. The table was priced at $785, as in the charcuterie business plan.
Get the checklist
Download the charcuterie business license checklist. One sheet: each layer, who issues it, what it is, whether you need it, what it cost, the date done and when it renews; the status shows done, to do, not needed or renewal due. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The checklist covers the licenses. An inspector, or a guest who got sick, asks a different question: which salami and which cheese went on that table, from which supplier, and where else they went that weekend.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each wheel and salami as a lot, so every board traces to what went on it.
Receiving with lots. Each delivery is received from its supplier with its lot and date.
Each board a batch. A board or grazing table is a batch from its recipe, taking cheese and meat off stock by their lots, with your own fields for the time it left the cooler.
Recalls. If a supplier recalls a cheese lot, one report shows every board that used it and every customer who got one.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which cheese went on a table | Remembered | Batches by lot |
| Time out of the cooler | A card on the table | A field on the batch record |
| Who got a recalled lot | Searching orders | One recall report |
Lots, batches and recalls 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.