To start a cottage food business, read your state's cottage food law first: it says which foods you can make at home (almost always foods that don't need refrigeration to stay safe, like baked goods, jams and candy), whether you need a registration, permit or training, how the label must read, where you can sell, and how much you can sell in a year. Then take any required training, set up your label, price your products from what they cost, and keep simple records from day one: a lot code and date on every batch and a sales log. Below is each step in order, a jar costed at home, and what to keep track of as you grow.
The short version
- Read your state's cottage food law: allowed foods, sales cap, where you can sell.
- Take any required food safety training and register if your state asks.
- Get your label right: your state's home-kitchen statement, ingredients, allergens, your name and address.
- Price from cost: ingredients, packaging and your time.
- Start where your state allows: markets, stands, online orders, sometimes shops.
- Keep a lot code on every batch and a running sales total against the cap.
- TaroStack keeps lots, dates and sales from the first market. More below.
Step 1: what your state allows
Every state writes its own cottage food rules, and they change often. Most allow foods that don't need time or temperature control for safety, the category the FDA Food Code calls TCS food, which includes things like cut melons, cut tomatoes, cooked rice and most meat and dairy (FDA Food Code 2022). So baked goods without cream fillings, jams and jellies, candies, granola, dry mixes and roasted nuts are common; anything that needs a fridge usually isn't.
| Usually allowed | Usually not |
|---|---|
| Breads, cookies, cakes without cream fillings | Cheesecake, cream pies, custards |
| Jams and jellies from high-acid fruit | Low-sugar spreads, pepper jelly without a tested recipe |
| Candy, fudge, brittle | Meat, jerky, dairy |
| Granola, dry mixes, roasted nuts | Canned vegetables, salsa |
Selling directly to consumers also keeps a home kitchen out of FDA's facility registration, because a business whose food sales go mainly straight to consumers counts as a retail food establishment (21 CFR 1.227). Hawaii's rules, as one state's example, are in Hawaii cottage food law. This is general information, not legal advice; your state's health or agriculture department has the last word.
Step 2: training and registration
Some states need nothing more than following the rules; others ask for a registration, a permit, a fee or a food safety course. Do what yours asks before the first sale, keep the certificate, and check whether your city or county adds a business license.
Step 3: the label
Cottage food labels usually need your state's exact statement that the food was made in a home kitchen, plus the product name, ingredients in order of weight, major allergens, net weight, and your name and address. Use the state's wording word for word. Adding a lot code and a best-by date costs nothing and pays off the first time someone asks about a batch.
Step 4: price from cost
| Per jar of guava jam, made at home | Cost |
|---|---|
| Guava, sugar, pectin, lemon | $0.61 |
| Jar, lid and label | $1.23 |
| Your time, 2.5 hours at $20, over 37 jars | $1.35 |
| Cost per jar | $3.19 |
Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, started this way. At home, without a rented kitchen, the jar that costs $5.22 in a shared kitchen (worked through in starting a jam business) costs $3.19, and at $9 at the market leaves $5.81. That's the cottage food advantage, and why the sales cap matters: it's the point where you'd need the kitchen.
Step 5: where to sell
Farmers markets, roadside stands, events and orders picked up from home are allowed almost everywhere. Online orders, shipping, delivery and selling through shops vary by state; some now allow them, some don't. Start with direct sales, where you meet your customers and learn what sells.
Step 6: what to keep track of
| Record | Why |
|---|---|
| Each batch: date, product, quantity, lot code | A question or complaint points to one batch |
| Ingredient lots used, where you can | So a supplier recall leads somewhere |
| Sales by day and product | Your running total against the cap |
| Training and registration certificates | Inspectors and market managers ask |
The records each state asks for, with a filled-in month, are in cottage food record keeping.
Where this stops working
A notebook works for the first season. Then there are four products, two markets a week, online orders, and a running sales total that matters because the cap is getting close. Batches from last week and this week mix in the same bin at the stall, the notebook doesn't say which flour went into which bread, and when you outgrow the home kitchen, every cost changes at once.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps a cottage food business's lots, dates and sales tidy from the first market, and grows with you into a licensed kitchen.
Lots and dates from day one. Every batch of stock carries its lot code and its best-by date, and lot labels print with the code, the date and a barcode. Oldest date goes first everywhere stock is picked, and TaroStack forecasts what will expire before it sells, so last week's loaves go out before this week's.
The market counts too. Counting runs on a phone, even at a stall with no signal, and sends itself when you're back. Sales and orders are recorded by product and day, TaroStack connects to Shopify or to Square if you sell online, and every list exports to CSV, so your running total against the cap is a sum, not a shoebox of receipts.
And when you outgrow the kitchen. Recipes, batches that take ingredients off stock by lot, and costs per product on what they actually cost come in at Standard, alongside a second site for the rented kitchen and the market stall, so the records you started with carry straight on.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Lot and best-by on each batch | Written on, sometimes | On every lot, printed on labels |
| Last week's stock first | Remembered | Oldest date picked first |
| Sales against the cap | Added up from receipts | Sales by day and product, exported |
| Moving to a rented kitchen | Start again | The same records, more sites |
Lots, best-by dates, counting at the market, and a Shopify or Square connection are on every plan, from $49 a month; recipes, batches and more than one site are on Standard at $99. 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.