Hi all! I was wondering if anyone here knows what it takes to be legal to decorate cakes in Kentucky. My boyfriend has a kitchen in his business that is being unused right now that I am thinking about using. It is inspected regularly by the health department and always receives a perfect score. What else do I need? Specific permits? The only other legal bakery in my county is the one at the local grocery store, which only does sheet cakes, and I think this would be a great opportunity for me to advertise and get a small business going. I would really appreciate any help that you could provide. Thanks!!!

Cookie_Brookie

Here's a forum on states that license - there IS information about Kentucky in there...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-32550.html

HTH!

I'm in Kentucky too and have just decided it's waay to expensive for me to become legal right now -so I'm just gonna keep practicing - trying out recipes until I have a "stock" of them, and learning new techniques while dec. for family and friends - although I do get paid for those types of cakes - but I'm sure I'm going to earn less than $600 making cakes, so I shouldn't be in trouble if I don't report that to the IRS! If I made even close to $600.00 in cakes I'd be surprised..... pleasantly, but still surprised....

Thanks for the link, it did help a little.

My next question is, what would you do in my situation? My boyfriend has a legal kitchen that I could rent for cheap, he wouldn't want me to pay but I insist, the kitchen I am working in now is getting to small since I am getting orders in, I still live with my parents and would keep another part time job to pay for personal expenses, and I would be the only legal cake decorator within my town and several surrounding towns. Not to mention I am the only one who works with fondant and willing to try different things and most of the other decorators don't do wedding cakes or even tiered cakes. I think I have the potential for a good business. I am planning on practicing my cakes a little more and getting more information gathered up, so it will be a few months before anything is decided. My parents seem to be behind me on this one and love that I can do something like this. It would make me feel better though to get others opinions. Thanks for your help!

Heck if I could find a kitchen, I'd bake in it! I'd love to have the space! I'm married but I have to bake and decorate at my parent's home b/c I can't store all of my stuff - nor do I have enough room to decorate! TINY kitchen! I'm not ready to "become legal" and accept a ton of orders yet so I'm still practicing - I'd say keep practicing until you have some recipes you know are consistently good, and keep developing a portfolio. Then - go for it! I hope to do it one day!

Heck if I could find a kitchen, I'd bake in it! I'd love to have the space! I'm married but I have to bake and decorate at my parent's home b/c I can't store all of my stuff - nor do I have enough room to decorate! TINY kitchen! I'm not ready to "become legal" and accept a ton of orders yet so I'm still practicing - I'd say keep practicing until you have some recipes you know are consistently good, and keep developing a portfolio. Then - go for it! I hope to do it one day!

Hi, I am in Ky too (Mercer Co) but I called our local health dept and they told me to do a home based bakery it had to be a second kitchen with 3 compartment sink, hand wash basin. It has to be inspected twice a year and must submit plans to be approved by them. Just call your health dept and they will send you info., its not that easy to understand all the legalities etc... But since you have the kitchen and it is inspected I think you are one step ahead! I dont have a basement so we are tinking of building another house so I can do it legally. Good luck!

Well when I got my permit {I'm renting from a tea room}they charged me $27. The kitchen has to have a 3 compartment sink, a handwashing sink and you have to have a mop or service sink. They are also picky about the lighting as well{for some reason, I'm not quite sure}. The woman who owns the tea room was getting her first inspection as well, but she had to pay $125. I'm not sure why. I would suggest calling your local health department though. Mine was really helpfull. The guy who helped me even found me the kitchen I'm using.

Thanks so much for the help, it is very encouraging to hear from others who have been through this. It was funny, the morning after I talked to my BF and posted this his mother asked him about me renting the kitchen as well, and we hadn't even discussed it w/ each other.

The kitchen was originally built for my BF's grandmother to serve breakfast and lunch out of, but that fizzled pretty quick for her, she only wanted to do it on days that she didn't have anything else to do (like work in the garden). On top of the cake decorating I would be serving hamburgers, hotdogs and other things like that for lunch, and maybe doughnuts for breakfast.

After talking about it, I think the only thing I would have to do is use it and get people to come in. I'm already doing well with the decorating and I just started taking orders.

Thanks again for all your input!!!