A chocolate business needs the ordinary business layers, a registered name, a sales tax registration, local licenses where required, and then a food path. Chocolate bars and candy are allowed under cottage food laws in a lot of states, for direct sales from a home kitchen. Selling to shops means a licensed kitchen, often a shared one, and the facility registers with FDA unless it's a retail food establishment. Chocolate also has a rule most foods don't: its names are standards of identity. Bittersweet or semisweet chocolate has at least 35% chocolate liquor, milk chocolate at least 10% plus milkfat and milk solids, and white chocolate at least 20% cocoa butter, and a coating made with other vegetable fats has its own name. In the example below, a Boise chocolate maker sorts its licenses before selling to shops. Below are the layers, the names, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Business layers: a business name, sales tax registration, local licenses where required.
- From home: your state's cottage food rules, if they allow chocolate, for direct sales.
- To shops: a licensed kitchen, and FDA registration unless you sell mostly to consumers directly.
- Bittersweet and semisweet: at least 35% chocolate liquor.
- Milk chocolate: at least 10% chocolate liquor, 3.39% milkfat and 12% milk solids.
- White chocolate: at least 20% cocoa butter, 3.5% milkfat, 14% milk solids, at most 55% sweetener, no color.
- Coatings made with other vegetable fats aren't plain "chocolate".
- Your couverture's spec sheet shows which standard it meets.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, and which couverture lot went into it. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | State or county | An LLC filing, or an assumed name for a sole proprietor |
| Sales tax | State revenue department | Registration before selling |
| Local business license | City or county | Where one is required |
| Cottage food | State or local health department | Whether chocolate is allowed from home, and the sales rules |
| Food license | State or local health department | For a commercial or shared kitchen |
| FDA food facility registration | FDA | For a facility that makes, packs or holds food, unless it's a retail food establishment |
In Idaho, the example's state, the Direct-to-Consumer Commerce Act lets producers sell directly to consumers without a license, but wholesale isn't exempt, as the state's food safety page says. Registration is explained in FDA food facility registration. Every state and city differs; this is general information, not legal advice.
The names
| Name | What it must contain |
|---|---|
| Sweet chocolate | At least 15% chocolate liquor; less than 12% milk solids |
| Semisweet or bittersweet chocolate | At least 35% chocolate liquor |
| Milk chocolate | At least 10% chocolate liquor, 3.39% milkfat and 12% milk solids |
| White chocolate | At least 20% cacao fat, 3.5% milkfat and 14% milk solids; at most 55% sweetener; no coloring |
| Sweet or milk chocolate and vegetable fat coating | The chocolate's standard, with vegetable fats other than cocoa butter |
The standards are 21 CFR 163.123 for sweet, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate, and 163.124, 163.130, 163.153 and 163.155 in the same subpart for white, milk and the coatings. The standards don't define "dark chocolate". A bar made from a couverture keeps the couverture's name when nothing else changes, and inclusions such as almonds are added to the name and the ingredient list. The rest of the label is in food labeling requirements for small business.
An example: a Boise chocolate maker
Sawtooth Chocolate Co., the made-up chocolate maker in Boise, Idaho, I use in these examples, makes 2 oz bars from couverture with inclusions in a shared kitchen, for shops, gift stores and online:
| Layer | Status |
|---|---|
| Business name, an LLC | Done, January 2025 |
| Idaho seller's permit | Done, January 2025 |
| Food license, Central District Health | Done February 2025; renews December 31, 2026 |
| Shared kitchen agreement | Done, February 2025 |
| FDA facility registration | To check with the kitchen |
| Product names | Done: the couverture's spec sheet says it meets the bittersweet standard, so "bittersweet chocolate with almonds" |
| Allergens | Done: milk and soy from the couverture, tree nuts from the almonds |
| Nutrition Facts | To check: the small business exemption |
| Prop 65 warning | Not needed: fewer than 10 employees |
| Product liability insurance | Done February 1, 2026; renews February 1, 2027 |
The milk chocolate bar's couverture meets the milk chocolate standard, so it keeps that name; a seasonal bar made with a vegetable fat coating is named as a coating. Prop 65's under-10 exclusion is in Prop 65 warning food, and the bars' costs in chocolate business plan.
Get the checklist
Download the chocolate business license checklist. One sheet: each layer, who issues it, what it is, whether you need it, the cost, the date done and the renewal date; the status and the total cost fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A shop's question about a bar, an allergen on a new inclusion, or a couverture lot recalled by its maker has to lead to the right batch. A license checklist doesn't know which couverture lot went into which bars.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, and which couverture lot went into it.
Each batch a lot. A batch of bars records the couverture and almond lots it used, automatically, gets its lot and best-before date, and lot labels print for the cases.
Couverture received with its lot. Each delivery is received with the supplier's lot and date, so a supplier's recall leads straight to your batches.
Where it went. Each shop's order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows every shop a batch reached.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which couverture went into a bar | Not recorded | Lots recorded on the batch |
| A supplier's recall | Search the invoices | Supplier lot to your batches |
| Which shops got a batch | Invoices | One recall report |
Lots, 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.