Florida Cottage Food Act Update
Decorating By KrazyAboutCake Updated 26 Feb 2015 , 12:27am by ibspunky
You have my support Barbara. Regardless of whether it is legal or not, I'm going to continue to bake and sell cakes from my home. So are thousands of other decorators in this state. The state might as well put laws into effect that are going to require us to get the training to do this legally. They should make it legal so the state can receive the taxes from the sales.
I would love to own a commerical bakery one day. That is a dream of mine. But right now, I don't make enough cakes to justify quitting my full time job and opening a business. I make maybe 3 cakes per month. Right now I do charge less for my cakes because the sale is "illegal." If I were allowed to have a home based business, I would charge market value. I'm not a fool. Of course I want to make as much money for my product as possible. I'm a good Capitalist that way 
I also agree that food borne illnesses are not as rampant as people make it sound. If it were, people would never go to a friend's house for dinner. I currently work for a government agency that has allowed me into a lot of commercial and residential kitchens. I have seen some restaurants that are so dirty (majority of fast food Chinese restaurants), that I cannot see how they are posibly selling food legally. I have been into homes in the projects that were so clean, I could see my reflection in the floors.
The point is that if you care about your name and your product, you will put your all into your busness regardless of where you produce the product.
Nellical, you are not the bad guy. I do understand your frustration and that part about the employees just make me very upset. I run into the same problem in my nail salon and now, I choose to work alone.
Anyhow, in my opinion, if you are going to be in business, any kind of business, you must follow the rules, laws. As a consumer, I do want to know the product I'm buying (eating in this case) was produced in a safe facility. Regardless if it is a retail bakery or Mary Jane house around the corner. If the laws and requirements are there for public safety, it should not change or get more lenient because somebody doing from their home may not do the same volume as a retail bakery. That would level the plane field. If the Nellical and other retail places get fined for not complying with the requirements (because is for the safety of the public) the home kitchens should have to follow the same rules.
I don't have a problem with a Cottage Law if its done fair. I think a lot of people here is not really aware of what that entitles or how it works. We don't have one, so I can just go by other States.
It would not work for me, although the concept of working in my pj's really appeals to me. 
I'm not a farmer nor I live in a rural area.
I got dogs and you better believe me, I'm not getting rid of them
The level of business I want to do I could not do out of my regular kitchen without interfering with my household life
I sure dont want strangers in my house for tastings
My target clientele don't go to peoples houses for cakes.
With that said, I don't think a Cottage Law that keeps the safety requirements the same for ALL bakers are not going to put any retail bakery out of business. If you choose to have a place with big overhead, you will have to work much harder just to break even than someone with a much smaller place.
I will tell you makes me real mad, last nigh, after I read the posts here, I went on Craigslist to see about this people advertising there. Personally, I would not put a add there. Anyhow, it was as eye opener 
I don't know how I can describe it to you guys without writing a novel...lets just say that aside from a lady selling $5 cakes to pay for her electric bill ( she will be owning more in electric with her $5 cakes) I came across two individuals here in Florida that are doing illegal and they know it and in their adds they mentioned " why should you fill the pockets of custom bakeries when you can come to me and save money"! That got me HOT! 
people like that hurts legal business and they will continue to do it illegally even after any Cottage Law is passed.
I'm going to stop here...it is turning into a novel, Just as a last word...times are hard and we all are looking for ways to make our lives a bit better and help provide for our family. As times and economy changes, we must adapt in order to survive. Unfortunate, some of us won't and this is due to different factors in business not just one. Sometimes, this topics get really heated and I tend to put myself in other peoples shoes. I believe in being fair in business and in life.
You all have a great day! I will be baking my Christmas cookies for my family today.....in my pj"s.
One more thing about licensing. Having a license doesn't make someone a professional or make someone better than an unlicensed person. Take a look at the drivers in this state. They have driver's licenses, and the majority of them have no idea what is going on when they are behind the wheel of a car. I give out traffic citations left and right for stuff that should be common sense. Florida just celebrated it's 10th anniversary for being 2nd in traffic fatalities in the country. That's 10 years of bad driving that is killing people. But hey, they were all LICENSED drivers.
One more thing about licensing. Having a license doesn't make someone a professional or make someone better than an unlicensed person. Take a look at the drivers in this state. They have driver's licenses, and the majority of them have no idea what is going on when they are behind the wheel of a car.
Actually, according to the study below, unlicensed drivers are more likely to engage in risky driving behaviors, and are more likely than licensed drivers to be at fault and more seriously injured when involved in a crash.
Source:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16087463
To borrow a quote from Tom Hanks in a League of Their Own "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great".
Gatorcake, youre quoting my favorite movie! Seriously, I love that movie, it makes me cry. But Tom was talking about professional womens baseball. Not cakes.
Seriously no one is a victim. No one has suffered a serious injury or has been deceived or cheated. That the laws may be too stringent does not mean you are victim of over regulation. And frankly why should it be "easy" to open a cake baking business?
Because my government exists to serve me. My government should be making it easy for me to start a small business that is not a public health threat.
Are liscences a guarantee of quality work? Of course not, but then again I would rather eat in establishments that have been inspected (even after having watched Kitchen Nightmares) than to eat in restuarants in an environment where there was little concern over food safety.
Youre welcome to eat where you like. Most cottage food laws require clear labeling of the home produced food. Consumers always have a choice. But just because you would rather eat in a restaurant than in a home doesnt mean that home produced foods are unsafe. 80% of food borne illness originates in commercial facilities. Thats a mighty powerful statistic.
Save the victomology rhetoric. There are legitimate positions for and against the change in law in Florida but no one is a victim simply because they a desire to bake out of their home. There is a cottage law where I am, I cannot afford to make the changes I need to my kitchen to make it legal, to bake out of home, I am not a victim. It is what it is. That people want to change the law in Florida is understandable but they are not victims.
Whoa! Victimology rhetoric? To me, a 55 year old woman who exhausts her retirement savings to be able to open a legal cake business is a victim of over-regulation. This is, of course, my opinion and only my opinion.
I am a passionate advocate of cottage food laws, and everyone here knows that. I will not rest (maybe literally) until Texas has one. Michigans new law is an indication that the tide is turning. Im off to the Capitol now, happy baking everyone!
Well, thank you Kelly for your empathy but I certainly do not feel victimized by any stretch of the imagination. And to say it was tragic that we chose to invest our retirement savings is also not how we feel. We are bummed that ittook so much money and part of that is that we did not have all of the information we should have had to do things in a way that would have cost us less. We did encounter contractors who have licenses but were also very inept. We were told we were a pain in the butt because we got upset when the plumbing contractor had the oven hooked up to a pipe to nowhere! The gas company man was PO'd when he came in to give us the final and there was no gas. Then the plumber got mad at my husband when he told the plumber the definition of "assume" after the plumber said he had assumed the pipe was hooked up to the city gas. Doh!
I am also not saying that every home baker will be unclean. But there will be some and those are the ones who will make trouble for the rest.
BTW Kelly, I am one of your customers.
What I hope you all understand is that in my area I see a lot of crappy work from supermarkets, other small cake operations the size of mine, and from some home bakers. They all charge about $2 - 3 a serving. The customers get used to paying this price. We can't afford to sell cakes at that price when you consider the cost of ingredients per serving (thanks Cake Boss for your software), the cost of overhead such as rent, utilities and advertising, and the cost of labor. But let's take cost of employees out of the mix and just say it is just me making the cake. I still get a salary every month and I only pay myself enough to pay the bills at home. My husband works for free doing the dishes, janitorial and all of our website work. I still need to sell those cakes for at least $5 or $6 a serving minimum. Plus there is the labor that goes into making gumpaste decorations and flowers.
So even if you take food safety and sanitation out of the argument and let's just look at prices, we can't ever compete with $3 a serving whether it comes from Publix or a home baker. But then we use real European butter in our bc, Belgian chocolate in our cake and choc BC, we use IMBC and all of our cakes are made from scratch. We make most of our flowers since those flowers we make cannot be bought from Caljava or are more intricate.
Well, whatever. Our product is like Saks compared to Walmart but trying to educate the public is an uphill battle, never mind trying to get any understanding from other cakers.
All I can say is that I understand your position. I just hope you can understand mine.
In my 10 years of law enforcement, I have given 100x more citations to people with licenses than no licenses. I have been to more traffic fatalities with licensed drivers. Therefore, I can only go with my own experience which is that a license does not make one person more skilled than an unlicensed one.
In my 10 years of law enforcement, I have given 100x more citations to people with licenses than no licenses. I have been to more traffic fatalities with licensed drivers.
That's because there are many, many more licensed drivers than unlicensed drivers, so your observations do not speak to the relative safety of licensed vs. unlicensed drivers without an empirical comparison between the citation multiplier and the percentage of unlicensed drivers on the road.
To me, a 55 year old woman who exhausts her retirement savings to be able to open a legal cake business is a victim of over-regulation.
Sounds more like a victim of poor planning or a lack of local resources to me. The biggest roadblock for most home-based commercial bakers (other than a lack of information about what's legal and what's not) is probably the availability of affordable local incubator kitchens. When said resources are available, the cost to open a legal cake business is quite low -- I spent less than $5K in one of the most expensive areas of the country.
IMO campaigning for more incubator kitchens at the local govt level (or securing the necessary private capital) is more realistic than trying to get state law changed, although of course both approaches can be tackled simultaneously.
So even if you take food safety and sanitation out of the argument and let's just look at prices, we can't ever compete with $3 a serving whether it comes from Publix or a home baker.
It is actually quite possible for a legal business to make a profit on $3/serving cake -- of course this would be a relatively basic cake with less labor required. It would be more difficult if you have the overhead of a retail shop, but that's not the only way to have a legal baking business.
The Department of Ag is currently overworked and understaffed the way it is without adding home-based businesses to the equation. My inspector hasn't had a raise in 3 years and currently has 1000 (or more) legal bakeries she must inspect a year. And that is just in my small territory. All of the inspectors are in the same situation with triple the workload. Bottom line is the Dept of Ag doesn't have the resoures to hire additional inspectors. I don't think it is realistic at this point for anyone to expect a Cottage Law to be passed and expect the Dept of Ag to add thousands of home-based businesses that require inspection every year. This is the big picture and the reality of the situation. No matter how appealing a Cottage Law sounds to you, the Dept of Ag may think otherwise.
The Department of Ag is currently overworked and understaffed the way it is without adding home-based businesses to the equation. My inspector hasn't had a raise in 3 years and currently has 1000 (or more) legal bakeries she must inspect a year. And that is just in my small territory. All of the inspectors are in the same situation with triple the workload. Bottom line is the Dept of Ag doesn't have the resoures to hire additional inspectors. I don't think it is realistic at this point for anyone to expect a Cottage Law to be passed and expect the Dept of Ag to add thousands of home-based businesses that require inspection every year. This is the big picture and the reality of the situation. No matter how appealing a Cottage Law sounds to you, the Dept of Ag may think otherwise.
Charging annual fees to businesses that fall under the cottage law could pay for hiring more inspectors. These fees would probably have to be significant, not like the $10 OH fee.
I highly doubt a annual permit fee is going to cover all of the costs associated with hiring new inspectors and revamping the department. Sounds great, but there is a whole lot involved in this process.
Considering the workload involved in checking a home-based bakery vs. a large restaurant, I think a fee schedule could be worked out. In Santa Clara County (CA) we only pay the county when we are inspected in a new rented commercial kitchen (~$800 for a "small restaurant"), we don't even pay an annual fee.
Fees on the order of $500 for a one-time inspection and $100/year (possibly with a tiered structure where businesses with higher income pay more) should more than compensate the department for the added overhead and operating expense. Further revenue could come from stepped up enforcement and charging fines to unlicensed businesses.
Treating food safety as a profit center would probably be something of a paradigm shift, but it would certainly grease the wheels and make passing a cottage food law easier.
What the Florida Dept of Agriculture was saying about the "Small Farm Facilities" is they have another law they are trying to pass called the Florida Food Freedom Act...without going into lengthy explanation you can google it. They are trying to get this passed again and they want to include Home Baked Goods, that is why it was mentioned in the email to me from the Dept of Agri.
You know I read all of your comments and suggestions and pros and cons but, the whole thing is the Dept of Agri, Health and Business and Regulations are the ones that control this and it will be the House and Senate to decide if the recommendation are warranted. If they do say the recommendations are ok than it has to go to the law makers to put everything into writing and it doesn't stop there the Govenor has to sign it into law. If anyone cares to see how an idea becomes law than Google "How An Idea Becomes A Law" it will show you a flow chart from beginning to end. You can even go to the House of Representatives website and see what laws they are working on. Getting the knowledge how this all works may help to understand what is going on. If you do go to the webiste to see the bills being presented you may get a good laugh as some are unreal.
To me, a 55 year old woman who exhausts her retirement savings to be able to open a legal cake business is a victim of over-regulation.
Sounds more like a victim of poor planning or a lack of local resources to me. The biggest roadblock for most home-based commercial bakers (other than a lack of information about what's legal and what's not) is probably the availability of affordable local incubator kitchens. When said resources are available, the cost to open a legal cake business is quite low -- I spent less than $5K in one of the most expensive areas of the country.
IMO campaigning for more incubator kitchens at the local govt level (or securing the necessary private capital) is more realistic than trying to get state law changed, although of course both approaches can be tackled simultaneously.
First let me reply to Kelly...we did not exhaust our retirement savings. My husband did it right and started saving for retirement by the time he was 30. We're fine. We just don't want to keep taking money out of it. To keep a staff of people unwilling to step up and do their jobs is disheartening. To have to pay for expensive ingredients and have them be thrown out in large quantities because the employees can't follow a recipe (a couple of culinary school grads did this) and then still pay the employees their hourly wage was heartbreaking. Then there was the girl who put the wrong delivery times on wedding cake orders. I had to call each client to make sure we had the right information. She hated me double checking and got frosty with me if I did, but I never yelled at her or said anything in anything but a very nice tone. She still turned on me. We need to remember that the client is the one we have to make happy, not some counter girl in a bakery. She didn't give a crap about the customers and said so. She didn't understand that a bride wants everything to be perfect and it is our jobs to make it so, within our capability and contract.
Jason: I agree with you that we made a lot of mistakes, although being told I'm stupid in public is no fun. But yes, we started out looking at a small local bakery that was for sale. However, we learned a month into the deal that the place was infested with roaches and rats. The whole building. We just couldn't go there. We thought having a cafe with espressos and a nice decor would be a nice added value and we opened a retail storefront. In retrospect, I would not have started this business but I'm in it now and have to make the best of it. It was not my "dream"...I have other artistic talents that I would rather pursue. But we thought this would be a good business.
And TPACakegirl: I am amused that you are in law enforcement and still declare you will continue to do this even if it is illegal. It just struck me as ironic.
I don't think the trouble we are in nationally with the economy is a result of too much regulation. It has been proven by people above my pay grade that the banks were underregulated. To my mind regulation and enforcement is tricky. I agree that a lot of the restaurants we see on the news as being really dirty are Chinese food places, most times. Those are not governed by the Dept of Agriculture but by the county restaurant health department. I think those might even fall under DPBR.
MCC: I agree with the comment about the workload that the inspectors have.
And Jason: If the cottage bakers don't want to pay the same fees and costs as us retailers, what makes you think the small amount they pay is going to pay for the salaries of extra inspectors. I would guess they have to make at least $30K a year to start, and that is a lot of fees to support one inspector. Figure at least another 25% in the added taxes the employer has to pay for the employee, then the benefits, the cost of mileage and/or gas. They all have a computer in the car and a printer to print up the paperwork they give each business owner at the time of the inspection. There is a lot of money involved and the fees might pay for an extra two or three inspectors in the whole state.
There is a lot involved that many people who have not been a business owner or an employer haven't been exposed to. It makes a person have a deeper understanding when you have had the responsibility, especially of being an employer.
I agree with you that we made a lot of mistakes
My apologies, I actually thought kelleym's statement was hypothetical.
And Jason: If the cottage bakers don't want to pay the same fees and costs as us retailers, what makes you think the small amount they pay is going to pay for the salaries of extra inspectors. I would guess they have to make at least $30K a year to start, and that is a lot of fees to support one inspector. Figure at least another 25% in the added taxes the employer has to pay for the employee, then the benefits, the cost of mileage and/or gas.
A typical estimate for the fully-loaded cost of an FTE (full-time equivalent) including benefits and overhead is 150-200% of salary. I was actually looking from a bottom-up cost perspective in terms of how much time an inspection for a home-based bakery would take and how much annual overhead there would be for each business.
If an inspector spends 5 hours total on a home-based bakery inspection (including travel time, filling out forms, following up, etc.), a $500 fee would pay for a $100/hour FTE fully loaded, with a "salary" of $50-66/hour. At the low end, that's $100K/year, so there is plenty of room for surplus that can be used to fund other food safety initiatives.
Additional overhead on an ongoing basis might be 1 hour per year per business, which the $100 annual fee would take care of using the same numbers as above.
And that's without taking into account fines from unlicensed businesses.
Also, I'm not agreeable to having my fees increased every year so that someone can bake out of their home.
If a cottage food law is passed with an eye towards making food safety a profit center, the fees for home-based businesses could be set at a point that would essentially subsidize fees for existing businesses and prevent or reduce the need for increases.
Part of the problem with using fines from unlicensed bakers to support the added costs is the Dept of Ag in Florida hasn't fined unlicensed businesses in quite some time. They have difficulty keeping up with licensed businesses the way it is, let alone unlicensed They don't have the resources available to located, investigate, and fine the unlicensed ones. Their inspectors are strictly allocatted to licensed businesses. If they can't keep up with monitoring the law the way it is, how are they going to be able to take on thousands of additional licensed home businesses?
If they can't keep up with monitoring the law the way it is, how are they going to be able to take on thousands of additional licensed home businesses?
By hiring new inspectors based on the increased revenue coming from home-based bakeries. See my cost analysis above.
Regarding the lack of enforcement, there would obviously need to be a transition period, with plenty of communication sent out to the industry on the forthcoming changes.
In my 10 years of law enforcement, I have given 100x more citations to people with licenses than no licenses. I have been to more traffic fatalities with licensed drivers. Therefore, I can only go with my own experience which is that a license does not make one person more skilled than an unlicensed one.
I just went back and read all the comments and I overlooked this one. I was bought up respecting all kinds of law enforcement and to read this it just makes me sick!
TPACakeGirl, so you are in Law Enforcement, you stated that you know you are doing something illegal and will continue to do so. You are sworn to uphold the law and yet you seem to think the law that applies to me does not apply to you!
What makes you so special? The gun? The badge? No one is above the law! No judges, not you!
How dare you come here to this forum and post that you are in law enforcement and yet you don't have to follow the same laws you are sworn to protect?
Am I the only one that sees anything wrong with this picture?
WOW, It is amazing how people assume that their fees are going to go up and home bakers won't have the same rules as commercial bakers if we get the FCA passed. Who said that was going to happen? I know I never said that. I just want to bake from home legally and make a few bucks and supplement my income when I retire. If I have to go to school and take food safety classes and do the same things as a commercial bakery than that is what needs to be done. We can bake from home in Florida we just have to make sure the area where we bake is not within our living quarters. I live in a Condo I can use the kitchen in my Club House but, they don't have a 3 compartment sink so I couldn't get my Food Permit. I can go to a church but the whole thing is taking everything back and forth. Jason talks about a middle ground like renting a commercial kitchen. Well, there is two in my area one wants $500/mo and the $1250/mo I don't have that kind of business to afford that. Plus think about it, I can go and sign up for one of these kitchens or go to my church kitchen get my licensing but, continue doing my baking from home. I don't think the Cake police will be watching were I am baking. Getting the equipment requirements scaled down is what needs to be changed. That is what I mean by scaling down scale down the equipement requirements.
Inspectors overworked lets see 1000 business a year to inspect. 12 months in a year so divide 12 into 1000 that would be 83.333/mo., divided by 20 working days a month 4.15 business to be inspected a day. Yea I can see how they are overworked. Please these inspectors on average are probably in a business all of an hour if that. Plus how many inspectors know what to look for. I owned a salon/day spa and had an inspector come in and told me it was her first day and didn't know what to do and asked if I could help her. How about the inspectors that inspect nail salons. The nail salons are doing waxing services and in the state of Florida nail techs are NOT licensed to perform waxing services. I don't see any being closed down by inspectors. I hold a cosmetology and esthetician license and these two professions are the only ones that can wax. Oh when I owned my salon/day spa I paid thousands to go to school, paid all my licensing fees for the salon and my own personal license and all business cost I did it by the law. Did I get upset with all the sytlist who had a hair business in their home no didn't bother me, I did what I wanted and they did what they wanted. Called making a choice.
WOW, It is amazing how people assume that their fees are going to go up and home bakers won't have the same rules as commercial bakers if we get the FCA passed.
Based on the current heavy workload of FL inspectors, high fees for cottage food businesses are necessary to make this law financially viable.
And I thought the whole point of a Cottage Food Act is to have different rules for home-based bakers?
Jason talks about a middle ground like renting a commercial kitchen. Well, there is two in my area one wants $500/mo and the $1250/mo I don't have that kind of business to afford that.
That's one of my main points, in some areas there aren't enough reasonably priced options for casual businesses. That said, depending on the number of hours $500/month could be quite reasonable, and many landlords are open to per-hour pricing if there are vacancies.
Plus think about it, I can go and sign up for one of these kitchens or go to my church kitchen get my licensing but, continue doing my baking from home.
Surely you're not condoning fraud on a public forum?
Inspectors overworked lets see 1000 business a year to inspect. 12 months in a year so divide 12 into 1000 that would be 83.333/mo., divided by 20 working days a month 4.15 business to be inspected a day.
Does each inspector have 1000 businesses per year to inspect, and do all of them have to be reinspected every year? Or are those 1000 businesses shared among a staff of inspectors? 4+ business per day doesn't seem unreasonable, especially when you consider that re-inspections are typically much faster than initial inspections.
Did I get upset with all the sytlist who had a hair business in their home no didn't bother me, I did what I wanted and they did what they wanted. Called making a choice.
Informing the relevant authorities when people are breaking the law is an equally valid choice.
Does each inspector have 1000 businesses per year to inspect, and do all of them have to be reinspected every year? Or are those 1000 businesses shared among a staff of inspectors? 4+ business per day doesn't seem unreasonable, especially when you consider that re-inspections are typically much faster than initial inspections.
Jason, it is 1000 businesses to one inspector, not a staff of 3 or 4. Yes, licensed businesses must be inspected every year, if not twice a year. So double the number with the bi-yearly inspections, which then is the equivalent of 2000 inspections per one inspector. I have no idea how many are assigned to each inspector, but this is the number assigned to my inspector. The inspectors do inspect grocery store bakeries also, such as Walmart. My inspector can spend a majority of her day in the Walmart bakery across the street from me because of all of the infractions. I believe my inspector is being very honest and forthcoming about how difficult it is to inspect over 1000 businesses a year. Putting numbers on paper is one thing, and actually performing the task is another. The inspectors are over-worked, and many other areas of enforcement are overlooked because of this. That is why I express concern about adding home based businesses to the equation. Am I 100% opposed to licensing home businesses. No. I would love to pocket my money rather than giving it to my landlord, the IRS, the eletrcic and water companies, and the list goes on and on. However, I don't believe that the time is right or that the Dept of Ag has the proper controls in place to be able to do this properly.
WOW, It is amazing how people assume that their fees are going to go up and home bakers won't have the same rules as commercial bakers if we get the FCA passed.
Based on the current heavy workload of FL inspectors, high fees for cottage food businesses are necessary to make this law financially viable.
And I thought the whole point of a Cottage Food Act is to have different rules for home-based bakers?
Jason talks about a middle ground like renting a commercial kitchen. Well, there is two in my area one wants $500/mo and the $1250/mo I don't have that kind of business to afford that.
That's one of my main points, in some areas there aren't enough reasonably priced options for casual businesses. That said, depending on the number of hours $500/month could be quite reasonable, and many landlords are open to per-hour pricing if there are vacancies.
Plus think about it, I can go and sign up for one of these kitchens or go to my church kitchen get my licensing but, continue doing my baking from home.
Surely you're not condoning fraud on a public forum?
Inspectors overworked lets see 1000 business a year to inspect. 12 months in a year so divide 12 into 1000 that would be 83.333/mo., divided by 20 working days a month 4.15 business to be inspected a day.
Does each inspector have 1000 businesses per year to inspect, and do all of them have to be reinspected every year? Or are those 1000 businesses shared among a staff of inspectors? 4+ business per day doesn't seem unreasonable, especially when you consider that re-inspections are typically much faster than initial inspections.
Did I get upset with all the sytlist who had a hair business in their home no didn't bother me, I did what I wanted and they did what they wanted. Called making a choice.
Informing the relevant authorities when people are breaking the law is an equally valid choice.
Jason, In Florida Salons are inspected upon first initial opening and than once every two years and if there are complaints than more often. I believe all food industries are inspected once a year. So the inspectors are not over worked and therefore HIGH fees for just cottage food businesses is not warranted.
$500/mo is a lot if you don't make a lot of baked goods to cover that monthly rent, plus your licensing, insurance etc. Baking from home would be the first step in building a business, when you out grow your home next step is renting a commercial kitchen and than the final step opening a business in a mall or stand alone building. That would be a good business plan.
One more thing about licensing. Having a license doesn't make someone a professional or make someone better than an unlicensed person. Take a look at the drivers in this state. They have driver's licenses, and the majority of them have no idea what is going on when they are behind the wheel of a car. I give out traffic citations left and right for stuff that should be common sense. Florida just celebrated it's 10th anniversary for being 2nd in traffic fatalities in the country. That's 10 years of bad driving that is killing people. But hey, they were all LICENSED drivers.
AMEN!! About the drivers in FL. The state of FL will renew a drivers license via the mail. They will renew it for 5 yrs each time. A lady in our church 95 yrs old STILL DRIVING, had her license renewed VIA THE MAIL. We followed her out of church one day. She ran over 3 curbs before she left the parking lot. Tell me the state of FL knows what they are doing. Don't think so, just because you have a license doesn't make it right or safe.
I support you Barbara. Meanwhile I will continue to bake cakes and give away and take $$ for them also.
I don't think me selling a cake once a month, if that, will put anyone out of business.
IMO campaigning for more incubator kitchens at the local govt level (or securing the necessary private capital) is more realistic than trying to get state law changed, although of course both approaches can be tackled simultaneously.
Incubator or other types of commerical kitchens are fine for some, but they are impractical or impossible for those caring for children or anyone else who requires 24-hour care. And as far as changing the law being "realistic", well... it is absolutely realistic. It takes a lot of work and determination, but it is absolutely possible.
So the inspectors are not over worked and therefore HIGH fees for just cottage food businesses is not warranted.
Based on what MMC wrote it sounds like they are in fact overworked, I don't see how it's realistic to triple their workload (or more) with cottage food businesses without hiring additional staff. And you can't hire additional staff without charging fees.
$500/mo is a lot if you don't make a lot of baked goods to cover that monthly rent, plus your licensing, insurance etc.
Which is why I said that there are rental options out there that will negotiate on an hourly basis if you don't need that many hours. Landlords would rather make something from a rental facility than seeing it go idle.
Incubator or other types of commerical kitchens are fine for some, but they are impractical or impossible for those caring for children or anyone else who requires 24-hour care.
People who have to care for children work at offices all the time, I don't see how this situation would be any different. It may not be easy, but it's certainly possible.
And as far as changing the law being "realistic", well... it is absolutely realistic. It takes a lot of work and determination, but it is absolutely possible.
I agree 100% (which is why I added the qualifier "more"). Securing funding for local incubator kitchens and changing state law are both doable with work, determination, and luck -- but IMO the former effort has the superior ROI.
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