Calling All Florida Home Bakers - Lets Get The Law Changed!
Business By janelwaters Updated 20 Nov 2013 , 3:43pm by LoveMeSomeCake615
I am not sure why but the Dpt of Agriculture regulates Bakeries in FL not the same as who regulates restaurants and hotels. I decided to go legit and work out of a licensed kitchen myself. I own Sugar N Spice and Everything Iced LLC. We are very very small because we are just starting out, but we are regulated through the Dpt of Ag just to let you know. I am down with changing the law, it will save me on rent and the hassle of having to cart my supplies around!!
Hi all. I'm new to the cake decorating fun (not nearly ready to start a business), but would love to help out in this quest!
Tray2 - I think thats exactly how ALOT of us feel! It sure would make things a whole lot easier to stay right here at home! And cheaper too!! But for now ... wheel on! And BTW: I LOVE the name of your Biz! Too cute!!
Welcome Helen!! I'm glad you found us!! The more the better for this quest it seems!! Its gonna take ALOT of letters and calls to get this thing even rolling ... I've been watching the Texas thread and whew .. it seems this quest will get quite exhausting!! =) But Im in for the long haul!
This is a great site to belong to Helen esp. if your just starting this obsessive adventure! So much to learn its hard to take it all in sometimes! So enjoy your ride and dont forget to post us some pics when you can!
Kayla - Just wanted to say YOU ROCK GIRL! Linedancer too!!
Janel - Your Pirate cake turned out awesome!! Love it! Gonna leave a comment when I get another quick sec! Just wanted you to know that I LOVE that cute little thing!! Not as cute as that little girl of yours BUT still CUTE!
Hello everyone! This is the first time I've come across this thread and I'm VERY interested in helping out! I live in Gainesville, FL (2 hours from Orlando and Tallahassee). I'm sorry but I don't have time to read the 11 pages of posts from this thread...can someone catch me up on where it stands now??? How can I help?
mkm25 here are the links to get the iformation
CHNG FL LAW
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgmntv26_0ckx9cdw Trying to Do
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgmntv26_1c6574vcm Consolidated
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgmntv26_2hdkhpkgv NJ
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgmntv26_3xz6v4nfm Non baking
you have to sed in a letter to your local legislator. Have your friends and family send in letteres 2
i cant attah the links to my sigature because i cant get into my account
I forgot to mention, its better to mail your letters in and wait until mid may because they are closing a session right now
Thank you so much GayeG - I was pretty proud of that cake too! And although I am a little big biased - I think my little girl is the cutest darn thing EVER!! althought lately she looks more like this..... haha!
I am SO ready for this session to be OVER so we can get these letter out!!
Kayla, thanks for the PM. Will start compiling the info I have been researching for the last year,trying to find a way around the Florida dept. of Ag. rules. like six sinks !!!
You know it's funny I have a friend locally who said our zoning gave conflicting stories. One said if you are residential, the stipulation is that you can't advertise the address etc and of course the entry ways to the home was a potential issue but fixable. I called and asked (maybe just my county?) and they said as long as it's ok with Dept. Ag. it's fine with them....who knows the person probably was not correct. My girlfriend on the other hand was told it was not a possibility. I don't know seems to me one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. It may depend on where you are. I was going to move to St. Augustine and the location actually allowed you to have a home-based business. Again, it depends on where and what type of community you live in. HOAs probably may be more difficult.
Anyway, yeah, I hope this venture works out. It would be good given the economy. I had a retail store with a bakery before and sold it in the knick of time before the economy took a dump. I don't mind because the retail aspect had a lot of overhead. I still like doing my cakes and can't seem to get away from it. We don't have any local commesary kitchen's here that we can rent like out in Largo but I have a friend with a bakery who's been kind enough to allow me use of their kitchen. Plus my husband is a chef as my plan B. Still and yet, it would be awesome if we could do it at home without the red tape. Would save me a big headache.
The other lower cost alternative is rent in a warehouse district and of course there is an investment but then you can rent out your kitchen and charge rent. Just a thought. My mental wheels are always turning.
Keep us posted on your valiant effort. Again, given the economy this would be very helpful to a lot of cake folks. I know far too many cake places that are closing because things are slower these days and it's hard to pay retail rent and make a living.
So, I just checked my email and I got an email back from Governor Christ - (or someone in his office on his behalf). I think its a pretty generic - thanks for your comments etc, the Governor will keep you opinions in mind when signing legislation regarding this matter...blah blah blah.......
I am leaving for a cruise on Saturday but when I get back I am going to flood some mailboxes and really hit up friends and family as well as the local cake decorating supply shops etc.
The most important thing, once the session is over, is to find a sponsor for the bill!!!
Let us know if anyone else got any responses....
Hi guys,
I'm pretty new to cakecentral but i will be moving to florida by christmas of 2009 to marry my fiance in Florida and i would love to be able to bake out of my home as well.
Any help you guys need please keep me posted and i'll try to do what i can.
I'm in Montreal, Canada right now but will be living in Palm Beach County once I move to Florida.
Let's get the laws changed!
I just called the number in Tallahassee and received a message. It says that if you are calling when they are not in session or scheduled to be in the office. Please call there District office in Jacksonville, FL. at 904-381-6000. I hope this helps
I just got an email from congressman Mica who suggested that I contact my local representative (which I have already). Basically, I think that the session must be over and it is now time to get those letters out!! I am going to go print out all my letters and get them in the mail. I am also going to the cake decorating store tomorrow and plan on dropping off some of the sample letters and friends and family support letters.
What are you guys up to???
Also - I don't know if you are aware - but Texas did not get the vote this session. Basically it was left to "die" and they have to wait until 2011 to try again. My heart breaks for all of them and for all the hard work that they put in. Kelly sent me a PM and is sending me the package that they sent out to get support for their bill. Hopefully I will get that in the next couple days. Thank you Kelly for all your hard work!
Just a reminder to all, that our Jacksonville guild meeting is this coming Wednesday night @ 7pm. Janel has graciously agreed to speak and hopefully will have plenty of handouts too. If anyone is interested, here is the web site link:
www.sagnfl.com
Jacksonville's Guild Meeting is tonight!!! Just a reminder!! Hope to see you there in an hour and a half!!!
My mom is a Judge here in Florida and I also want this to become legalized so let me know if there is anything I can do. Any letters/actions I can do or ask my mom and other people in that circle can do to help.
When will this come in front of legislation?
I would love to help in any way that I can also...Please let me know where we are with this..Janel, What happened at the meeting? Did it help?
Sarah
Please count me in! I have just started designing cakes & would love to work from home. I live in the Panhandle, let me know how I can help!
Is anybody going to respond to these posts asking what is going on so far and how we can help. In florida our hands are tied as far as this goes - in most places you can't even convert a garage or detached bldg - they won't allow anything! And as everyone knows you have to build a business you can't just instantly come up with tons of money to start a business/buy a building when you don't even have customers - its a little ridiculous. So we all want to help in any way we can.......
I am so sorry that I have been a little MIA since the meeting. Here is a rundown of where we are -
Kelley from Texas mailed me a copy of the package of information that they used to get reps on board with the law.
The meeting went well - everyone is on board and we are all working on different areas - starting with getting copies of all the actual cottage food laws currently in place in other states.
I went by our local cake decorating supply store and the owner has agreed to post some information in his shop - I need to go back with printouts of the letters etc to help him out and follow up - I cannot thank him enough for his support, so if you are in the Jacksonville area please shop at Create A Cake in Orange Park!
If you want to help - please click on the links in my signature and write a letter to your representative. Print out as many "family and friends" letters as you can and have everyone you know (that lives in Florida) fill them out. MAIL (do not email) the letters - follow up with an email or a phone call.
We are in desperate need of a sponsor for this bill - if we don't get a sponsor we have NO bill to be voted on.
GET THOSE LETTERS OUT!!
Thank you all so much for all the support and interest - I feel each and every one of your pains - I am in the EXACT same boat as I think are most cake decorators in Florida.
Thanks so much!! Janel
hey all! I would love to take part in this!!
I actually have a contact (Adrienne Arsht) who is VERY widely known in South Fl (and Washington aka Obama) and has all sorts of "friends" who might be able to help!! I used to be her assistant until she sold the bank I work for a few years ago... I used to bake her all sorts of goodies and she would always tell me how I need to start a business.... I am going to e-mail her and ask her if we can meet and I will tell her all about our efforts... I will go ahead and bring her some "samples" to remind her how much she loved my baking... I KNOW she will help us!!!
AHHH sooo excited!! anything else going on???
Thanks!!!!
BTW - just e-mailed Adrienne... see below for the e-mail that I wrote...
Hi Adrienne,
I just wanted to follow up with you in regards to the e-mail I had sent you back in May... I would really appreciate your advice and your help in pursuing my dreams. I know you have been really busy traveling between Washington and Miami so I will try my best to keep this as short as possible.
I have been baking cakes and treats for about 5 years as a "hobby" and would love to start my own business. I remember when I was working with you I made some treats during the Holidays and you had mentioned how much they were enjoyed by your friends. I also remember that you mentioned that I should consider opening my own business... I took those words to heart and have been researching ways to do so since then.
I don't have the money to rent or buy a space to start up my bakery, (which is what I plan on doing after business increased and I had a "steady flow" of customers) so I decided to work from home until I can start a full fledged business. After doing plenty of research on how to operate a home based bakery, I have found that it is illegal to sell a cake made in a home residential kitchen in the state of Florida, as mentioned in Florida Statute 500, Food and Drug Administration Food Code as adopted in Rule 5K-4, and all of 5K-4 Florida Administrative Code, (Poultry 5K-5, Eggs 5K-6 and Water Vending Machines 5K-9). 6-202.111 states "Private Homes and Living or Sleeping Quarters, Use Prohibition. A private home, a room used as living or sleeping quarters, or an area directly opening into a room used as living or sleeping quarters may not be used for conducting FOOD ESTABLISHMENT operations." Pg 154. (http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/fs/permitrq.html). The law is in place to protect the public from unsafe foods, however, cakes and other baked goods (i.e., cookies, pies, brownies) are considered low-risk for spoilage and contamination due to their high sugar content.
Since learning of the legal issues of trying to start my baking business, my dream feels like it will not happen. I have invested time and money in learning my craft. However, for me that is all that it is right now, a craft. Because I want to abide by the laws, I only bake for family and friends. I constantly have people come to me that want to buy baked goods and I have to turn them away. Although many people would just give up thinking they have used all of their resources, I plan on doing everything I can to make my dream happen!
I am currently trying to get some support from our local representatives to co-author a bill that will allow the sale of home baked goods in the state of Florida. I would really appreciate it if you could help in getting some of your friends to support me in my endeavors to make it legal to sell home baked goods in the start of Florida or if you have any advice/resources that you can offer that will help me out in starting my business. Right now, I feel like you are my last glimmer of hope in my efforts to start my own bakery. I would love to meet with you to further explain what I am trying to accomplish and give you some samples of my baked goods to share with your colleagues. Please let me know if you will be able to do anything to help. I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you for everything.
Sincerely,
Annette
CROSSING MY FINGERS that she replies with good news!!!
so do we need to mail petetions to someone? What is the address? I really hope that they can change the law.
I've been lurking for a while, this is my first post. I live in Florida and LOVE to bake and decorate. Right now I give everything away and would love to see the laws changed.
So, what do I need to do to help everyone out? Just let me know and I will do it!
Thank you everyone for such great comments!!
Is it better to send letters to all of the state reps? Just mine? the house and senate? which do you think will be most productive?
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