Connecticut licenses cottage food. A home baker gets a Cottage Food Operator license from the Department of Consumer Protection: $50, applied for online after confirming local zoning allows it, finishing an approved food safety course, and testing a private well if you have one. Then each product is approved on the application, from a list of foods that don't need refrigeration: breads, cakes without perishable frosting, cookies, candy, fruit pies, jams, dried fruit, granola. Sales go directly to consumers only, never to a wholesaler, broker or store for resale, and total gross sales stay under $25,000 a calendar year. Connecticut is strict on details: buttercream made with butter, chocolate-covered fruit and pumpkin pie are all out. Every package carries a label with a set statement in 10-point type. In the example below, a Windham County baker sorts six products. Below are the steps, the foods, the label, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Confirm local zoning allows a cottage food business, and keep the written approval.
- Complete an approved food safety course and keep the certificate.
- Test a private well for E. coli, total coliform, nitrates and nitrites, within a year of applying.
- Apply online through eLicense: $50; each product is approved during the application.
- Up to $25,000 in gross sales a calendar year; past it, get a food manufacturing license or stop.
- Directly to consumers only; no wholesalers, brokers or distributors.
- Label: product name, business name and address, ingredients, net weight with metric, allergens, and "Made in a Cottage Food Operation that is not Subject to Routine Government Food Safety Inspection."
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and the year's sales against $25,000. More below.
The steps
| Step | What DCP asks |
|---|---|
| 1. Zoning | Confirmation that local zoning allows cottage food, kept in writing |
| 2. Training | An approved food safety course, with the certificate uploaded |
| 3. Water | A private well tested for E. coli, total coliform, nitrates and nitrites, within a year |
| 4. Products | Choose your foods; DCP emails for detailed product descriptions |
| 5. Application | Online through eLicense, with the $50 fee |
The steps are on DCP's application page, updated March 2026, and the $25,000 limit and its consequence are in the Department's cottage food regulations. DCP also says a cottage food operator can't sell to a wholesaler, broker or distributor. This is general information, not legal advice.
What you can make
| Accepted | Prohibited |
|---|---|
| Plain loaf breads, rolls and biscuits; brownies; cake pops | Pickled vegetables, salsa, relishes, hot sauce, other acidified foods |
| Cakes without perishable frosting, including celebration cakes | Cheesecake, flan, tres leches |
| Pastries, cookies, candies, confections, chocolates, fudge | Buttercream, cream cheese and whipped cream frostings |
| Fruit pies, not pumpkin | Chocolate-covered or caramel-covered fruit |
| Jams, jellies and preserves to the 21 CFR 150 standard | Pepper and mango jams, applesauce, syrups, extracts |
| Dried and freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, freeze-dried candy, fruit leathers | Dehydrated meat and poultry |
| Dry herbs and seasonings, dry tea and coffee, dried pasta without egg, cereals, granola, nuts, popcorn, vinegar | Beverages, ice cream, soups, infused oils, fresh produce |
Buttercream is allowed only as a commercial or shelf-stable frosting, fondant, or a recipe without butter, eggs, cream, milk or cream cheese, or after testing. New products can be requested later. Which foods need refrigeration is in TCS foods list.
The label
| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| Product | The name, visible |
| Business | Name and address, with city, state and ZIP |
| Ingredients | In descending order by weight, with sub-ingredients, such as soy sauce (wheat, soybeans, salt) |
| Net quantity | Net weight or volume with the metric equivalent, largest unit first, such as 1 lb 2 oz |
| Allergens | In the ingredients or a Contains line right after them |
| Statement | "Made in a Cottage Food Operation that is not Subject to Routine Government Food Safety Inspection." At least 10-point |
Handwritten labels are fine if they're legible, in permanent ink, and as large as 10-point type. How to work out the allergens in a recipe is in allergen matrix template.
An example: a Windham County baker
Quinebaug Kitchen, a made-up cottage food operator in Putnam, Connecticut, I use in these examples, sells at a farmers market and to customers who order ahead:
| Product | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Apple pie | Yes | Fruit pies, not pumpkin |
| Cupcakes with shortening icing | Yes | Shelf-stable icing |
| Cupcakes with butter buttercream | No | Not unless tested and approved |
| Chocolate-covered strawberries | No | Chocolate-covered fruit is prohibited |
| Fudge | Yes | On the accepted list |
| Cookies for a farm store to resell | No | Direct to consumers only |
The baker switched the cupcake icing to a shortening recipe to keep cupcakes on the menu. By September Quinebaug Kitchen had sold $20,500, 82% of the $25,000, with the holiday orders ahead. How a home food business starts is in how to start a cottage food business.
Get the checklist
Download the Connecticut cottage food checklist. Three sheets: the label, each line with a column for yours; products, each with whether it's allowed and why; and sales by month against $25,000, red past 90%. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Connecticut's $25,000 is low enough that a good fall reaches it, and going over means a food manufacturing license or stopping for the year. Market cash and order-ahead customers in two places make the running total a guess.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and the year's sales against $25,000.
Each batch dated. A batch of pies gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with it.
Recipes by version. Each approved product's recipe is versioned, so the icing change is a new version on a date, and each batch records which version it used.
The year's sales. Market and order-ahead sales sit together, with Square connected for market sales, so the total against $25,000 comes from the records; every list exports to CSV.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| A batch's date | Written on the box | The batch's lot and dates |
| The approved recipe | Remembered | A recipe version on a date |
| The year's gross sales | Added up by hand | From the orders, exported to CSV |
Lots, batches, versioned recipes and orders 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.