I'm really interested in getting licensed as a home baker. I've come across different counteracting information. Any pointers or help would be greatly appreciated:)

call Ronald Murphy he is in Nashville he will send you the info you need 615-837-5193
 

You cannot make decorated cakes to order from home in TN according to to Dr. Faith Critzer, Extension Food Safety Specialist.

I emailed the Dept of Agriculture, who oversees the Domestic Kitchen operations when the Domestic Kitchen law changed to not having to have a licensed kitchen.  They forwarded my question to the person listed above. She told me that decorated cakes, made-to-order, is covered by the Dept. of Health and falls under "Catering", requiring a licensed commercial kitchen. I converted my garage at my house to a commercial kitchen and can work from my home that way, but I had to have a licensed kitchen and I am inspected by the Health Dept.

I'm glad you asked!  I'm in Knoxville and have been researching the same thing... lots of conflicting information out there.  Other people have told me they've rented space in a commercial kitchen to be able to bake items for sale.  Ikern, so because it's considered "catering", cakes don't fall under cottage law in TN?  That seems to be a fuzzy distinction to me... but so are a lot of government regulations. 

I found this information on The Department of Argriculture website today. If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like you can run a home based business out of your kitchen.

You can bake from your home kitchen for sale without a licensed domestic kitchen, however, there must be an 8"x 11" sign where you are selling, stating that the product comes from an unlicensed kitchen.  I believe that you still have to follow the strict packaging guidelines that the Dept of Agriculture requires.

This does NOT apply to decorated cakes, made-to-order. If you were making dessert cakes to sell wholesale or retail, that would be okay. Custom, made-to-order cakes have to be produced in a licensed commercial kitchen that is separated from your house.  It can be attached and separated by walls and doors, but cannot be open to the main house with no door.

When I first started researching this, the cottage law required you to have your domestic kitchen (home kitchen) licensed to sell anything.  They sent me a package that had all of the requirements for getting my home kitchen licensed, that included the requirements for packaging. They also included information about taking a food safety class which is no longer required. On the part about the food safety class it specifically said, "Please note:  If you are in a catering business or are interested in starting a catering business (e.g., made-to-order birthday cakes, wedding cakes, etc. ) this course is not a requirement for your business.  For that type of business, you need to contact your local Health Dept." 

When they changed the cottage law to not need the home kitchen to be licensed, I contacted them again and asked if the portion about the decorated cakes had changed and they wrote back:

"Hi Leisl,

The law still does not pertain to baked-to-order custom cakes.  These still reside under the Department of Health for regulatory oversight.

Thanks,

Faith"

Sorry this is so long.  Hope this helps.

I forgot to mention that all of the information that I received from the Dept of Agriculture came from the man listed above by bigdad. Ronald Murphy, Sr. (email:  [email protected])

it is only confusing when one tries to apply nashville rules for cookeville and knoxville rules for crossville and chattanooga rules for oak ridge, etc.

they are not interchangeable

for example--no i cannot build a separate kitchen on my property and be legal in memphis because of the city zoning--but it's not up to the health department to inform me of zoning issues--it's not their purview--so confusion can arise--you have to have a green light from everybody

it's so confusing because each locality --almost each address--is different being governed by various and sundry local rules and regulations

littlemrslarge--that decorated cake is considered 'catering' is valid to me because a slice of cake or even a whole cake purchased at a farmer's market would be consumed by one or a handful of peeps--while celebration cakes are consumed by many more--the hazard potential is much greater--it's just the math

ikern--i know of fellow tennesseans that do decorated cake from their home kitchens legally because their particular local authorities allow it

it's all according to your exact address~~ the 'rules' are not interchangeable across the board

oh and i just wandered around a bit

lookie what i found here http://www.localtable.net/blogs/news/?tag=jams

so not only the

• health department
• agriculture department
• fire marshall
• code enforcement
• zoning
• whosoever else

but the local farmer's market manager gets in on the action too which is a good thing--i'm not against it

the less i know about all this the happier i am at this point ;)

to much minutiae--hellllp i'm drowning

Yes, I should have noted that it does depend on your local. My zoning did have to be approved and it had nothing to do with the health dept or dept of agriculture. It depended on my volume mostly. I am limited by zoning on the number of employees I can have, the number of customers that can be at my site at any one time, etc.

Also keep in mind that there used to be a limit on the dollar amount of gross sales that is allowed by the dept of agriculture. At one time it was $5000/yr. That may have changed now, I'm not sure. I abandoned the CFL route when the Dept of Ag. told me that decorated cakes to order was not allowed.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that one of the biggest obstacles we ran into with having a baking business attached to our house was with our insurance.

When I was inquiring with our existing agent for our homeowner's and car policies about whether or not they sold business insurance, they said, "No, and in fact, if I'm not sure your homeowner's insurer will continue to cover you if you are running a bakery out of your house."  I was shocked.

After checking, we found out that our homeowner's insurer would drop us if we opened the bakery from our property. It didn't matter if it was attached or detached from the house.  I ended up having to switch all of our insurance to another company. Well, I didn't have to switch my cars, but it was cheaper to move everything to one company than keeping it with separate companies. I now have my homeowner's, car, & business insurance through State Farm.

In addition, after opening the bakery, we are unable to refinance our current mortgage. We converted our existing garage to a commercial kitchen and added a detached garage to the property, so we wanted to refinance since our property value should have gone up a good bit.  We have checked with several brokers who all said the same thing....no conventional mortgage company will refinance your house with the business attached to it. I don't understand it at all. Fortunately our current mortgage is only at 5%, so it's not like we're paying a high rate.

Just more to think about.....

Thanks everyone!  It looks like I have a lot of phone calls to make.

My wife is baking under the kitchen law until she can find the right place to open her dream bakery. She was told by a friend with the health dept that she has to take a class offered through the university of tennessee agriculture dept. The course is the Tennessee Food Safety Certification Course. Has anyone taken this course? Was told it was mandatory...

i know people who have taken it here in tn -- you really have to ask your local authorities what they want

Does anyone have any information about whether one could use a "food truck" type trailer as a commercial kitchen?  I'm thinking about using a trailer that can be built out as a commercial kitchen and haven't seen anything about this online. 

i don't know exactly but there are may food trucks in operation here in elvistown

BizzyBees, I don't know the answer but I can give you the contact info for someone that does. The guy in charge of the culinary incubator I work in knows a lot about food trucks and the laws regarding commissaries/commercial kitchens. I had a convo with him a couple weeks ago about food trucks illegally operating without using a commissary. He knows the laws for Arkansas and Tennessee. If you shoot him an e-mail and inquire about whether or not you need a commissary or if a food truck can count as a commercial kitchen, I'm sure he'll let you know. His e-mail is [email protected].

And for anyone that wants information about renting commercial kitchen time for super reasonable rates, he's the person to talk to. The incubator has been invaluable, lot of mentoring and workshops for culinary start-ups.

Thank you all for the information. I appreciate the feedback. 

Hi there, 

Does anyone happen to know if the same laws apply to custom cookies or general cookie baking? I looked at foyager and the details seem fuzzy.  In some instances it falls under the cottage laws but in other references they are saying that you need to be a licensed caterer so I'm not sure if I understand correctly. 

Does anyone have any experience with this? 

Thanks!  Jen 

yes -- in tn it is dependent on your local laws -- i believe it is in california that the state cottage laws override the local but here the local ones come first as in the state cottage laws override the local but here the local ones come first as i understand it --

i did see someone selling baked goods here with the disclaimer on it that it was prepared in an unapproved facility -- but like i have pets and they are not allowed and decorated cake comes under catering here and i'm not sure about decorated cookies --

but you need to get with your local health department and the other local peeps in charge in your area -- you're right it is fuzzy -- and your local peeps might even contradict each other so you need to have a steely resolve -- then on the other hand you might get lucky and just get big time permission too -- so go for it -- just depends where you are and who answers the phone etc.

The "Cottage Laws" are so iffie and it's a good idea to seek advise from a local attorney so you don't overstep your boundaries by accident. Last thing you want is the State Health inspector coming down on you for baking something you shouldn't have. Keep a sign posted in your kitchen stating your kitchen has not been inspected. Cakes put in you a caterers job and that brings in the state which you want to avoid. Stick to your cookies and cupcakes and candies and you will be fine. 

my experience with lawyers is that they are clueless about such things -- there is no money in it for them -- i have friends who do cakes here in tn without any issues under the full knowledge and blessing of the health departments -- so just check locally -- i have a friend here in my county that is outside city limits and she does her cakes no problem -- it's all locally governed -- we don't have state health inspectors who handle this stuff they are county and city health inspectors

Thanks both for the quick reply! I really appreciate it.  I hadn't realized that local guidelines overruled.  The great news is that I will always probably be "small potatoes"- so hopefully attorney's are generally uninterested in tater-tots. :) 

Thanks again.  I will check it out! 

Jen