Whether you need a license to sell maple syrup depends on your state, how much you sell, who you sell it to, and whether it's still only syrup. Wisconsin, a big maple state, draws the lines clearly. A sugarhouse used only to make and pack maple syrup, sold directly to consumers or to a licensed processing plant, isn't a food processing plant as long as those sales stay at or under $5,000 in any 12 months, so it needs no processing license. A farm stand selling mostly its own syrup, produce, honey or cider needs no retail food license either, as long as it isn't processing other food there. Past $5,000, or selling to stores, or making maple cream or candy, which are other food processing, the sugarhouse is a food processing plant and needs the license, renewed every March 31. Labels follow the usual food rules either way. In the example below, a Wisconsin sugarbush crosses the line when a co-op grocery asks for syrup and maple cream.
The short version
- Licensing for maple syrup is set by your state; check yours before the season.
- Wisconsin: syrup only, sold to consumers or a licensed plant, at or under $5,000 a year: no processing license.
- Wisconsin: a farm stand selling mostly its own syrup and produce: no retail food license.
- Over $5,000, sales to stores, or maple cream and candy: a food processing plant license.
- The license renews every March 31.
- Label the name, net contents, your name and address, and the grade if you use one.
- TaroStack keeps each boil as a lot and tracks the year's sales by customer. More below.
The lines, in Wisconsin
| You sell | To | How much | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syrup only | Consumers, or a licensed plant | $5,000 or less in 12 months | No processing license |
| Syrup only, at your own stand | Consumers | Primarily your own products | No retail food license |
| Syrup | Stores and restaurants | Any amount | Food processing plant license |
| Syrup | Consumers | Over $5,000 | Food processing plant license |
| Maple cream, candy, maple sugar | Anyone | Any amount | Food processing plant license |
What a gallon costs to make is in maple syrup business plan, and the same exemptions for honey in honey business license.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| The sugarhouse exemption | A place used solely to produce and package maple syrup or concentrated sap for sale directly to consumers or to a licensed food processing plant, with sales not over $5,000 in any 12 months, isn't a food processing plant (Wis. Stat. 97.29(1)(g)12) |
| The license | Every food processing plant is licensed; licenses expire March 31 (97.29(2)(a)) |
| The farm stand | No retail food license for a stand primarily selling its own produce, honey, cider or maple syrup and doing no other processing (97.30(2)(b)1.b) |
Other states draw the line elsewhere. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a sugarbush and a co-op grocery
Rib Mountain Sugarbush, a made-up maple producer near Wausau, Wisconsin, taps 300 trees and has sold syrup from its farm stand and online to customers who pick it up, about $4,200 last season, under the $5,000 line. This fall a co-op grocery asked for quarts of syrup and jars of maple cream:
| Product | Sold to | License needed? |
|---|---|---|
| Syrup, pints and quarts | Stand and pickup customers, $4,200 | No: under $5,000, direct |
| Syrup, quarts | Co-op grocery | Yes: a store isn't a consumer |
| Maple cream, 8 oz jars | Co-op grocery and stand | Yes: other food processing |
So the sugarhouse applied for a food processing plant license before the spring boil, with the March 31 renewal on the calendar. The stand keeps its retail exemption as long as it sells mostly its own syrup and does no other processing there; the maple cream is made in the licensed sugarhouse, not at the stand. The grocery asked for product liability insurance too. How the co-op prices a quart is in distributor margin.
Get the checklist
Download the maple syrup 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 $5,000 line is a running total over 12 months, across the stand, pickups and anything sold to a plant. A season's syrup also comes from a dozen boils, and a grocery that stocks it will ask which batch a jar came from.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each boil as a lot and tracks the year's sales by customer.
Each boil a batch. A boil is a batch, with its lot, date and yield in gallons, and each pack-off into pints and quarts takes syrup from that lot.
Sales by customer. Each customer's orders are recorded, and margins are reported by product and by customer, so what the grocery bought this year is a report.
Recalls. One report shows every customer who got a lot.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which boil a quart came from | A date on the cap | Lots from each boil |
| What the grocery bought this year | Invoices | Orders by customer |
| Who got a lot | Searching receipts | One recall report |
Batches, lots 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.