I am opening a business in my home. I was wondering for those of you that sell cakes, cupcakes, candies, etc from home, how are you doing this? The health dept. in my county says no items may be sold from home unless it is from a farmer's market or roadside stand. We cannot afford a commercial kitchen with a separate entrance, oh how I wish my little business were that busy I needed and could afford that! But it is not. What do you have your business registered as? When I said cake pops and cupcakes, they sent me to the health dept and I was not able to obtain a business license. What type of business do you say you are? Am I going about this all wrong? What am I missing? I am also doing candy buffets, so some of that is totally purchased prepared, I am just setting it up. I have done parties where I made the chocolate pretzels, or cookies, etc, but a lot of time they stick with 100% candy. They told me at the health dept, I cannot do this either from home. Help! And thank you! (I am able to get insurance, but having trouble getting the license to operate) I am in Lake Co, IN.
In my town there is a commercial kitchen that you can rent by the hour. Small businesses such as yours (and caterers) use it when they need to, and that kitchen is checked and verified by the health department.
I don't know about starting a business in particular, but I have seen where such businesses have work in conjunction with a local church that does have a regulation kitchen, and done so at minimal cost...something to look into??
If your health department has regulations about businesses involving food, you need to either get a commercial kitchen, don't get a business license and do it all under the table, or lie about the type of business so you don't get sent to the health department every time.
You're not doing anything wrong, really, you're just wrong in thinking that you can have a home based business involving food. Sorry!
The ones that I know of that have done a food based business out of their home have not gotten licenses. They do it mainly for friends and family. I think they are just very fortunate that no one has turned them in. To me, if I know the person and know how they keep their house, I don't care if they have a physical license or not. But according to the law - anyone preparing or selling food must have a health license. I hope you can work it out !
You might try seeing if a local church will let you use their commercial kitchen during the week. Many will allow this, and they meet code, so you are good to go. Some won't if you aren't a member, and others won't just because they don't want the hassle of more inspections which are possible. But, some do gladly. Call around. It saves you a ton of money that way.
You can't do it legally, you MUST prepare all foods for human consumption in a health inspected and approved kitchen. Some people do it illegally and it they get caught you can get huge fines.
Please call your local Vo-Tech and find out what cooking classes they offer and see if they have some small business classes to, about starting a home business. They may have some information about where to look to do the cooking and such. The teacher that does cake decorating and other cooking classes like foreign foods may have good info too.
