Jodi, just to chime in here with my halfpenny.

First of all--I go both ways ~~previously when my kids were little I worked from home and I've worked as a pro for many establishments.

See the problem for me with doing cakes under the radar is that cake is a giant tv screen so to speak--the purpose of celebration cake be it wedding or birthday or retirement etc. is to be the focal point, it attracts attention. Everybody gets a look at the cake, gets a bite of it.

Who are all these people?

Are they gonna tell their friends?

We kinda hope so.

We kinda hope not. kwim

So long as nobody in the crowd is with the authorites or has thier own shop or is related to anyone who has their own shop and might be struggling in the economy and could have used the business I just provided...and hasn't got a retaliatory bone in their body...and doesn't know the phone number for the health department...

<sigh>

Just in case you didn't have enough to ponder.

My cakes, honest, I do not like to be around when they are served. Sometimes I feel like a rock star hounded by groupies and I know other cakers get that too--I'm not alone in that I'm just weirded out by it. Some people soak it up--I wanna hide.

But again here's all this attention generated. and when you're running a cake speakeasy you gotta keep it on the down low. But do a cake that looks exactly like a Louis Vuitton purse or a piano or has magnificent florals and ...

It's lighting a fire you don't want anyone to notice...kinda sorta...

Ok...I don't think I've ever chimed in on this topic...EVER...because I'm a big giant chicken. After reading this entire thread I do feel more comfortable to pose this question to all you legal bakers. I have every intention of sometime getting a storefront, have begun the process of looking, checking #s, have talked to our HD, etc. However, I am at home right now. There are no bakeries in my area that I know of and I have checked. How do I know if I'm pricing myself right and not possibly underselling if there is someone out there that I'm not aware of undercutting? I hope that makes sense....it does in my head!! Course, lots of things make sense in my head and then they come out and ....yeah....not so much!

LOL that totally speaks to my mafia-obsessed self

Wow. I would like to give everyone on this thread a pat on the back. The discussion is very mature and informative. Thanks for keeping it that way and i hope the OP learns a lot from you guys. Keep it up!

I just got of the phone with my Family Services office. I am in the process of becoming a registered child care provider and discussed this exact situation of legal/not legal (for us it's called registered/unregistered).

They have been insisting for 3 months it's ok for me to do this unregistered with 3 children from multiple families or unlimited children from the same one. Doing it this way I have no certifications mandatory, no infant/child cpr licensed needed, no liability insurance needed etc. and no inspections.

True I can do it with zero investment but how can I look my potential clients in the eye and say "I don't need to any training for the first three children in my care.". Are those 3 children any less important than then when I get that 4th and then have to be regisgtered.

By becoming registered I can say "I care so much about doing this I have become trained in all areas of CPR including Infant/Child, I have become a state ordered mandatory reporter for chid abuse so your child as well as all in my care know this is a safe home for them, and I care enough to be sure that I have adequate fire extinguisers at all vital points in my hose in the event of a fire and most of all I am inspected regularly for a safe environment for your children."

If a child is hurt and I don't have liability because I didn't need it due to being unregistered I loose my home. If I am fully registered and insured and a child gets hurt or heaven forbid dies on my property for any reason be it my fault or just from a natural cause/sids type thing I have the insurance to cover the incident and I get to keep my home.

If you were a parent would you put your child in an unlicensed home day care because it was cheaper knowing what was/wasn't needed?

Baking cakes is no different.

Being unlicensed in a state that allows it/doing it illegally only set you up for disaster at some point. It's not a matter of if it happens, it's a matter of when. It might not be 2009, it might not be 2010. It might be in 6 years from now or it might be 60 but it will happen.

Regardless of the type of home business you have you are taken only as professionally as you take yourself and present yourself. Not being in compliance with the law basically tells your client base "I am not that serious over what I do." and you will be treated as such.

Most of the public will also know by not bieng legal you don't have much ofa legal leg to stand on in some circumstances and areas of the law and they'll take full advantage of it.

[quote="CarolynGwen"]
If you were a parent would you put your child in an unlicensed home day care because it was cheaper knowing what was/wasn't needed?

Baking cakes is no different. /quote]

Hell no I would not........and it's scary to know that some states allow people to be "unregistered" if they comply with the limitations.

Good luck with your process CarolynGwen!

I have to agree with you about getting licensed. It took me more then 20 yrs of giving away free cakes to my family and friends before I was able to move back to MA and get a licensed, insured kitchen in my home.

The risks WAY outweighed the rewards of selling before I was licensed. We've worked too hard to get where we are today to have risked losing everything because of a stupid lawsuit.

Hey, I look at it this way.......I was *in training* for 20 years!

CarolynGwen I completely agree with you. I'm in Ohio and we operate under cottage food laws so anyone can sell non-hazardous (doesn't need refrigerated) bakery items out of their home without any kind of licensing. I called the health department to get licensed and they basically gave me a hard time about coming out to inspect and get me licensed because I didn't have to. I insisted to them that yes I did have to have a license because it was important to me to be able to tell my customers I was licensed and insured to make their cakes. I'm not saying that anybody that doesn't do that is wrong, but it is definitely important to me.

Wow Mac, you certainly opened my eyes with your first post. I didn't know they would do that. I'm scared.

I only make cakes for friends and family and have a personal web page with my cake pictures on it for them to see. I've had people call me and say they heard about my web site from "Jill" or someone else I've never heard of before. They want me to make a cake for them but I have no idea who they are either. I always tell them that I really only make cakes for family and I stay pretty busy or some other excuse not to hurt their feelings but I NEVER thought that this is how the HD operates. Yikes!

Glad I didn't steer clear of this post, like I do most of the others on this topic.

Ahh ok, maybe that is what they do....thank you!

[/quote]Cupcake, I am in Ohio, too. I have read about the cottage law and about the home bakery license, and am confused about it....

If I sell only cakes, then I would qualify for the cottage law, but what about if I sell cakes that have fillings (which usually require refrigeration?) I know there is a debate about refrigerating some buttercreams that have cream or butter in them, and what about the fruit fillings, cream fillings for cakes, etc.? Wouldn't you have to have a home bakery license for that?

It's so confusing to me....because I don't know where I will fit in. LOL

Did they explain any of that to you, and if yes, could you explain it to this poor, lost soul....LOL[/quote]

I am in Ohio . Under the cottage law you cannot sell anything that requires refrigeration. No cream fillings, no cheesecakes, no fruit fillings (unless it's the kind you bought that comes in a sleeve).

I am like a PP - also called the Dept of Ag to get licensed and they gave me the whole "you can just operate under cottage food" thing. I decided to get licensed anyway. I feel (and this is just my own personal opinion/feeling - I don't begrudge anyone who doesn't want to get licensed) that it made me seem more professional that way.

If you choose to get licensed, you will then be able to sell items requiring refrigeration. But you cannot have any pets, and no carpet in the kitchen.

Gee Debi, I just don't see what that guys problem is... talk about overreacting. I mean, she wiped her hands on her apron!

Wow, k8! I wanna come to your house for dinner! When your son is cooking! And I'm bringing my autograph book! (Oh, and it's ok if you're there, too!)

We were at a famous ice cream place one time. I ordered 2 strawberry ice cream shakes.

The girl went through the motions of putting everything in one of those metal mixer things, turned it on, let it mix up. Then when it came time to pour the mixture into a to-go cup it was obvious by the big chunks of ice cream that she didn't mix it enough. Instead of putting it back on the blender, she stuck one of her fingers into the shake and started stirring it around.

I was right there watching the entire thing. She then walks over to the counter with the 2 drinks and I looked at her and said "you don't expect me to drink these after you had your finger in there do you?" her response......"my fingers are clean"

Obviously, I didn't buy the drinks and I did report her to her manager, who wasn't all that apologetic.

The disturbing thing about this was..........if she didn't think there was anything wrong with sticking her fingers into my drink right in front of me, what the heck does she and others do when there aren't any customers around?

I have been in food service managment for years and I could tell you so many horror stories about staff, incidents and the facilities. As an operations manager (for a large food service staffing agency)I was in and out of large kitchens and there will always be someone doing something that needs to be corrected.
It is truly unbelievable what I have caught people doing.

I was always on my staff. BUT......................... If there is anyone that can say they can always see and know what staff does they are not truthful.

I suffer from "food issues" I will not eat food that isn't prepared in my kitchen. Big reason I am doing cakes. I have seen enough in soooooo many kitchens I do not feel safe. And they were very well known chains and 5 star hotels with the well known chefs. They have to have support staff to prep thier food.

A health inspection is very misleading. Most of the time they were worried about safety issue like no cover on lightbulbs, tiles loose on floor, I never had any problems with the health dept but how can they possibly catch everything in every food establishment. Has anyone ever had an inspection durng Friday night Dinner Rush, Or Saturday morning when all your cakes are going out?

Keep in mind the wages for food service su**! So you are right most of them don't care.

I've only read a few pages, but have always wondered this (probably because I'm in the process of filing for a legal business, which is complicated)

How do non-licensed businesses claim income tax? Is there a place to put "extra" income where the gov't/state won't ask questions? I'd be more afraid of not paying taxes than being fined for not having a license, but I might not have all the facts...

(I'm not at all saying that non-licensed businesses don't pay taxes, I'm asking about the process...)

I know someone who has done this for 20+ years out of her house (trust me, it's not me as I'm only 25 years old). She has yet to be reported or found out. And I know she reports the income on her taxes. She barely makes a profit (although she charges quite well). She tries to be as legit as possible, she has taken food manager's courses. She just doesn't have the means to build a bakery and be completely legit in that sense.

Anywho...to answer the question she DOES claim in on her taxes and she DOES NOT get in trouble for it.

I haven't read all the replies in this thread but I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I live in MI where it's illegal to sell cakes from your home kitchen.

Recently I attended a wedding cake class at a local cake supplies store. The owner of the store has been making and selling wedding cakes illegally for years and even gave us a copy of a contract (obviously worthless) which she uses with clients.

She was positively encouraging the students to start cake businesses from their homes. She even told us that when a health inspector came to inspect her store (she sells dipped pretzels, etc) he told her that they never go after illegal bakers - they just don't have the time or the man power. I'm still not convinced though.

I was only wondering, it wasn't a judgment or anything like that. I know people who do cakes "under the radar" but maybe some just don't realize you need a permit to sell prepared food).

Luckily this state issues home baker's licenses.