Hi, Well I haven't registered my name or got a tax ID. I haven't contacted anyone about me selling, but I have only sold a few so far, so I'm not really worried about it. I guess its up to you about letting your county know. I'm sure there are others on here that might be able to help you more with that, since I don't do much seling yet. I do know that the county I live in Hardin, has started coming down about the cottage laws, we have a lot of Amish in our county and they are selling eveyrthing that you can't do with the cottage law, like cheese for one.
Good luck
Jeanne
In OH, you have several options. As a "cottage producer", you don't have to have a license or be inspected. You cannot sell goods that require refrigeration, such as cheesecake. If you are handing the item directly to the purchaser, you don't need to list ingredients because the client has the immediate option of asking, "What's in this?" If the person purchasing the item isn't the final link in the chain, it's a good idea to have an ingredients list on the product.
The next step up is as a licensed home kitchen. This costs $10/year. An inspector will come to see your home. No carpet in the kitchen, no pets in the home, and I think this may be yearly at their discretion. As long as the kitchen and refrigeration is up to snuff, I believe you can sell goods requiring refrigeration.
At the top is the licensed commercial kitchen.
You can read more about this at:
http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/pubs/divs/food/curr/cottage/food-cottageindex.stm
HTH
Rae
You need to contact the dept. of agriculture in Ohio. You won't need an inspection but you will need to pay for a license, it's $10 in the Toledo area. They will be able to tell you what else you need to do. Oh, as long as there is no items that need to be refrigerated you will be fine.
You don't need a license if you fall into the "cottage producer" category.
Rae
Are you allowed to advertise? I guess if you do, then it's wise to get a tax i.d.?
The ODA website is kinda confusing. The don't see the difference between a cottage bakery and a licensed bakery besides an inspection and $10 fee. Is that just if you want to see items that need refrigeration?
I believe a cottage food is what you would be if your in your home,, if you advertise like a sign in the yard you have to make sure your house is in a area zoned for business.. you may advertise in the phone book and website etc,, but nothing in your yard,, i have a house that is actually zoned for business because one house over is a subway and cell phone place and heating and air,, this entire block is zone for biz and i had a sign in my front lawn.. i did not have the HD come to me at all, i just did not offer any cheesecakes etc or whipped toppings.. or puddings for fillings.. after 3 years of this i finally opened a shop.. and there oh yes there you must have all permits and blah blah blah..hahahahah if you decide to open a full fledge place in your home meaning you will have business hours posted and a seperate area like a shop looking area,, then it will probably put you at a different level.. i used my spare family room as my cake room,, i would mix and bake all my cakes in my kitchen, then take the cakes to my cake room and let them cool. then decorate them and box them up and have pick up between 9 and 12 on saturdays and i would have a buffet table in my dinning room with the orders going out.. as for ingrediant labels,, if an item is prepacked seal up and all, you must have labels.. its no biggy to do this,, just buy address labels and copy what is on the mix if your using a mix. and slap it on the box.. 
hope this sorta helps.. julie royalfrosting
I believe a cottage food is what you would be if your in your home,, if you advertise like a sign in the yard you have to make sure your house is in a area zoned for business.. you may advertise in the phone book and website etc,, but nothing in your yard,, i have a house that is actually zoned for business because one house over is a subway and cell phone place and heating and air,, this entire block is zone for biz and i had a sign in my front lawn.. i did not have the HD come to me at all, i just did not offer any cheesecakes etc or whipped toppings.. or puddings for fillings.. after 3 years of this i finally opened a shop.. and there oh yes there you must have all permits and blah blah blah..hahahahah if you decide to open a full fledge place in your home meaning you will have business hours posted and a seperate area like a shop looking area,, then it will probably put you at a different level.. i used my spare family room as my cake room,, i would mix and bake all my cakes in my kitchen, then take the cakes to my cake room and let them cool. then decorate them and box them up and have pick up between 9 and 12 on saturdays and i would have a buffet table in my dinning room with the orders going out.. as for ingrediant labels,, if an item is prepacked seal up and all, you must have labels.. its no biggy to do this,, just buy address labels and copy what is on the mix if your using a mix. and slap it on the box.. hope this sorta helps.. julie royalfrosting
Boy was I tired when I wrote that post, couldn't spell if you were paying me!
I think my house is zoned residential and commerical. I have commercial next to me on one side, on my other side is a house, but next to them is a row of businesses. It's a weird area.
I didn't think you needed labels if you were the person handing the item directly to the customer? But you're right, labels would be easy to whip up, and it's better to be safe than sorry.
oh my spelling is horrible, also my typing,, im to lazy to re read my stuff so im sure there are a lot of goof ups too. hahahaha your place sounds just like my place,, so i believe your okay to put a sign out front.. as for the label thing i believe if your handing them the cake and stuff, your okay,, i meant pre-packaged items sealed in a plastic container that you would normally have several of that people can grab and go with on their own.. it's not something that i think you would have to really worry about out of home i don't think.. eeck! im suppose to have labels on my cake boxes at my shop.. i have them all made up and everything and they are all sorted and piled nicely under my counter.. and they are great dust collectors! hahahah shame on me,, but i just don't use them, and my health inspector has never said a word about it..he is looking for items like jams and jellies or bagged breads etc or cookies on a shelf.. items that they do pick up them selves.. hahah i believe i just said what you said,, im pooped out stayed on here to late last night..hahahahah royalfrosting
yes,, im in west alexandria ohio. about 30 minutes from dayton
Sheesh. I thought I was all set and ready to go. I started playing around with a website, love it, but then realized I need to get a vendor's license ($25), register my business name ($50), along with printing out business cards (at least $10), and I think I need to apply for an EIN too. Man, this is going to cost more than I thought. So much for my 'cottage bakery' plan to make a little extra money! I need to win the lottery before I can even get started! Bummer.
Sheesh. I thought I was all set and ready to go. I started playing around with a website, love it, but then realized I need to get a vendor's license ($25), register my business name ($50), along with printing out business cards (at least $10), and I think I need to apply for an EIN too. Man, this is going to cost more than I thought. So much for my 'cottage bakery' plan to make a little extra money! I need to win the lottery before I can even get started! Bummer.
I just registered my name, but haven't gotten anything back yet from the state. Who knows how long that will take! What is and EIN, and why do you need a vendor's license?
An EIN is an employer's identification number, but since I won't have any employees, I don't think we need that. Goof.
Vendor's license, in order to sell retail. You know what, cakes and cookies aren't taxable unless you have a store front and they are consumed in that store, according to the Ohio.gov website if I read it right. So that mean's no vendor's license requirements?!?! This is all so confusing. Guess I need to make a few phone calls. I hate making phone calls.
If you are following the Cottage Law guidlines, selling out of your home and ony baking non-hazardous bake goods, you should not need a vendors license.
If you take your bake goods to a farmers market, sell your goods to a store for re-sell...situtations such as that, then yes you do need a vendors license, and if you take your products out of your County you live in, then you will need a vendors license that is good anywhere in the State, this license costs more, I believe $100.00.
I don't know your situtation, but if you are only doing a small, word of mouth type business at home, ....I would not worry about getting licensed at this point. You are legal if you are following the Cottage Law Guidelines. Good luck with your venture.
Thanks hellieOH! It's all so confusing. At one point I think I have it all figured out, then I read another government website and I'm confused again, but that's the government for ya!
The regular vendor's license is $25 and the transient vendor's license is $25, according to my county's website, but that might be different too. The transient would be needed for bake sales, farmer's markets, etc., but regular needed if you are only selling from one location.
I just did all of this back in October (and paid to form and LLC). I was just doing my own thing out of my home before that (like Ramona/Blakes Cakes was talking about- by the way Ramona...how ya been?). The EIN # is good for doing business...some suppliers may require it to sell to you or if you want to set up bank accounts and NOT have to use your personal SS#. I think I had all of my stuff back in about two weeks, which I thought was fast. If you get an EIN #, you should also register with the IRS so you don't get caught (8832 form- $19.00)
I don't have a vendor's license- you won't need one.
The inspection with the OH Dept of Ag. was EASY!!!! My inspector told me to get a thermometer for my fridge to make the inspection go even faster (he didn't have to wait on his thermometer to get to 40 deg.) He checked to make sure house is clear of any animal droppings (rats/mice) and verified the whole, no carpet & no animal thing.
I know it seems like a bit of expense to get started, but we could have it worse...other states require A LOT more- I understand OH is one of the easiest states.
MichelleM77- where are you located? I'm just outside of Columbus
I'm in Peninsula near Akron. I have a sister who lives near Columbus in Sugar Grove.
So it sounds like I don't need to do anything other than register my business name, which of course is the more expensive of all of this! LOL!
yep there is a bit of cost to start up.. but you want to do it.. only becuase if anyone every gets peeved at you , you want to cover yourself, so that they cannot say you are not claiming taxes.. you will have soooo many write off's including these costs when you do your taxes.. it's not to much ...
well, meaning if your doing it as a hobby. you would not need to do all what is listed.. vendors license is really used for selling items that are taxable.. and food is not.. unless you deliver it or serve it.. your ein and listing your name is for govermental use,, meaning this is how you would be tracked for your income.. if your doing it as a hobby you really will not be claiming this.. until you want to say that it is more than a hobby and you will have to claim all that you bring in... im probably confusing you.. when i did them out of my home i never had ein number, i used my social for that, and you can too... i used it for everything.. i got a vendors so that i could get into some vendors places to order cake supplies from.. now if your in a shop you need one.. at home nope! but still check your county..
Just wanted to share what I received from the Ohio Department of Agriculture regarding labeling requirements:
To maintain exemption status as a cottage food operation you are required to package and label the food products that you are manufacturing and selling. This exemption permits you to manufacture specific products, as outlined in the Cottage Food Law, without coming under inspection by a regulatory authority that has oversight on manufacturing of food products.
If you heard from other sources that you dont have to label product based on method of sale (handing directly to buyer), then you have been given misinformation. Those who may be operating in this manner are no longer exempt and would need to come under inspection and possibly registration.
We hope this clarifies your concerns and if we can assist you further please contact this office.
Sincerely,
Duane L Murray, R.S.
Food Safety Specialist
Ohio Department of Agriculture
For all of you making labels for your bakery...
I had my first order last week and was totally stunned at the amount of ingredients on my label! It looks bad, I think. Flour isn't just 'flour,' you have to put all of the ingredients for flour, and baking powder, and fondant, etc. Yikes. The label was huge, even with the smallest font I could find! I would never be able to sell my cookies individually because the label is too big for the cookie bag!
Anyone else have this problem?
Okay...I am glad you brought this up again...I am a little confused...have you/your home been inspected by someone from the Dept of Ag. regarding a home based food producer/Cottage Industry?
I just went through all of this in October and the information (printed) from the inspector begs to differ with your previous post regarding labeling (I got it out and re-read it). I even took some hand written notes as he was explaining it and I absolutely DO NOT have to label my cakes since I am handing them right to the customer (i.e. because it is not self serve).
Trust me, I am by no means arguing...I just have gone through the mill making sure I did everything correctly to get legal and I don't want to mess it all up because people at the Dept of Ag don't seem to be on the same page. (Hmm...wondering...does the county or twp. have any bearing on all of this????? Anyone know.).
No, have not been inspected, following the cottage bakery laws, not the bakery laws.
The information I posted was a direct email from the department of agriculture, who I emailed to double check the labeling requirements, that are clearly stated on the website, but wanted to double check since there were a few people here who said we didn't have to label.
Okay, I think I have it figured out. If you are considered a bakery, you do not have to label. I'm not a bakery, just following the cottage food laws and I do have to label. That is probably where we are differing in what we have been told.
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