Ever since I read that I might not be able to bake and sell my cakes out of my home I have been frantically searching the Internet for absolute proof of this. I just found it, I searched my County website, City websites and finally found it on my State website that I cannot operate as a food manufacturer in a private kitchen unless it is completely separate from any living or sleep quarters. What am I supposed to do now? I thought I had it all figured out? My husband already works 12 hours a day, we have 3 small children all under the age of 5, I do not want them in daycare so me making cakes (at home) was a legitimate contribution to our household income. I want to do this, I want to be a cake decorator, I do not have the money to rent a kitchen for 25$ an hour. Sometimes it takes 8+ hours to work on a cake (including baking time and the time it takes to make fondant and butter cream and decorate), thats 200$ to rent the space, and the cake might only sell for 85$, so I would already be in the red.Not to mention the time spent away from the children. I dont have the thousands of dollars it takes to open up a storefront. I m really upset all I wanted to do was start a business, work for myself, do something I love and provide a better life for my children. My income from cakes in the last 6 weeks has been able to pay for gymnastics; karate and a muched needed date night for me and my husband. And now I cant do it. Some people have told me to just continue on as if I didnt know what I was doing was illegal. But I cant do that, Im sick to my stomach thinking about getting caught. Am I the only person faced with this dilemma, I know I cant be the only one in my county trying to sell cakes from my home? What do these other people do? I have a separate pantry for anything cake related, a separate fridge, I wear a hair net and gloves, I sterilize all my utensils before and after use, I properly store all my cakes and icings, I felt as if I was doing a damn good job but I guess it was for nothing. Im really mad at my state right now, maybe I shouldnt try to better myself, maybe I should just go on welfare and mooch, at least I dont need a separate kitchen for that.
How particular is your state? Could you separate you kitchen from the rest of your house with a door and close it when you bake? Can you put a stove, fridge, and sinks in the basement or garage, or a spare bedroom? Does your equipment need to be commerical? If you research it maybe you can come up an alternative. Maybe someone here from your state can help answer these questions.
Val
We have the same laws here in MN. I did find out though, that you would only need to rent the kitchen for the time it takes to bake and make your icing/fillings. After that you can bring them to your home and decorate the cake because that is considered a craft. Just the baking and mixing of the product is not allowed in the home.
Hope that helps! Don't get down it will all work out. God provides!
oohhhh, i feel your pain!!!!! i'm currently in the process of communicating with the zoning people in my area.... i'm patiently waiting to find out if i'm allowed to sell cakes as well. sounds like we're in the same boat - hubby works a ton (2 jobs), we have a 2 year old and a 4 1/2 year old, i stay home with them, so any money from selling cakes is a blessing!!! sometimes that extra $25 really helps to get us through till the next payday. and by doing 2 to 3 cakes a month (if that!) i'm a threat to no one!!!!!
i applaud you for not wanting to continue baking illegally. that is true testament to your character!!!! is there a church that would let you use their kitchen? any family member or friend with a restaurant? just some ideas. i hope and pray things work out for you!
God Bless ~ erica
If all your business is generated through word of mouth, I would not worry about it at all. It's not as if the Health Inspector is knocking on random doors checking to see who is selling their baked goods. I live in CA and I've never bothered looking up the code on home based baking but I'm sure it's not allowed either...I've been doing this for 4 years and have never had a problem. Stop freaking out, worry about it when it becomes an issue, which will likely be never! Just don't go posting flyers at the local health inspector's office. 
I have a website, thats where I get the majority of my business, should I take it down?
Texas is very strict, although many decorators work from home.
Usually, you cannot legally bake at a rented kitchen, then take it home to decorate. All work must be done in the inspected kitchen.
If you have a website, you are more likely to be 'discovered' by the health department. The penalties can be financial, they can order you to stop, and in some states, they order you not to have a business again for some years.
Texas is very strict, although many decorators work from home.
Usually, you cannot legally bake at a rented kitchen, then take it home to decorate. All work must be done in the inspected kitchen.
If you have a website, you are more likely to be 'discovered' by the health department. The penalties can be financial, they can order you to stop, and in some states, they order you not to have a business again for some years.
This is absolutely right... ESPECIALLY here in Minnesota, the strictest state in the land (we don't have the motto "The State Where Absolutely NOTHING Is Allowed" for nothing)!!! We checked on this with the state compliance officer and my state inspector when I was getting ready and having the kitchen space I rent inspected, both when independently asked said it's a NO WAY to take the icing and cake home to do the decorating there.
Getting back to the original post, it sounds like you're not seeing the forest through the trees. States put these laws into place for a reason, it's called Food Safety. Does this mean that every establishment is never going to have any problems whatsoever, no, what it does mean is that each licensed establishment has been through an inspection and has at least one staff on hand that is a certified food manager, and if anything happens they know what to do whether that be a fridge not keeping temp, sourcing food illness outbreak, etc.
If you're motivated enough to get into this industry, you will find a way to make it work. The laws on the books are not unreasonable. Inspectors and state officials are willing to work with you for what the minimum they will accept is (if it has NSF on it, it's o.k. to use) if you're planning on making renovations to your house, and most of all, they aren't unreasonable with their changes they request you to make. The most important things they're looking for in inspections is that the space is separate, fridge/freezer temps are correct, and above all else, that things are impecibly clean.
Don't get discouraged, get creative, follow the law, and things will work themselves out. There are places out there that you can rent for FAR less than $25/hr, you just need to look. I was lucky in that I use my in-law's space in the off-season which allowed me to get some level of establishment so that I can start to work on building my own space when we move into a new house (it also will help with the financing because I'll have proof of establishment). I know a chocolatier around here that when they started up, they rented space from their local KC Hall. After 3 years they had enough money to build a licensed facility in a building next to their house, and a couple years after that a second facility with a storefront. What going through the motions did was to teach them how committed they were to the business and also allow them to build the business at a pace they could afford instead of the business running them.
It will all work out. Think outside of the box but within the rhelm of your state's laws.
I guess I 'm done too, for now at least . I just don't know what to do about the orders I have ? I have orders all the way through December, do I just call them and tell "sorry apparently I am illegally operating from my home and can no longer provide you with a cake, try Walmart"?
Everyone is correct. Texas is extremely strict. You cannot legally make cakes for money from your home kitchen, no matter what precautions you take.
Renting a kitchen to make cakes did not work for me. Between making the cake, frosting, filling, fondant, cooling, letting the cake settle, I can spend 10-15 hours on a cake. That is why I am giving up my license at the end of the year.
My county's health department rep told me I could make cakes for "people I know" without getting into trouble. She seemed to have a realistic attitude toward people who do this from home. Call your county's health department and ask them exactly who you can make cakes for from home.
Keep your web site but remove all references to price, or anything that might make it look like you are selling the cakes. Use it as a "showcase" for your talent. 
If you want to have "business" cards, just have a card made up with your name, phone number and email address, no references to cakes.
And lastly, write your state senator and representative to ask that they consider introducing a bill for a Cottage Foods Act in Texas. 18 states allow some form of licensed baking from residential kitchens, but we'll never get the law changed here if we don't ask.
The next legislative session is in 1999. Check out this thread for more info:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-46933-texas.html
most places don't allow you to run a food based business out of your home (state, county, city, HOA) so you're not alone. I wanted to do it legally (I didn't want to put my family at risk and for me it was important to do things following the rules) so I'm subleasing space and I have a nanny (au pair). I do as much work as possible at home - all the emails, contracts, marketing, website, etc so I'm only in the shop for a few days of the week. And you need to make sure you charge enough to cover all the overhead (which does make it hard to compete if there are a lot of home bakers in your area). But if you're legal you can have a website, market yourself and network so that you can get those larger orders.
In my county I not only sublease from a business with a license but I needed my own license.
I am a SAHM and don't want to committ to a biz yet, I just enjoy making cakes and if I can make a buck great. I maybe do 2-3 cakes a month, if that. I don't make enough on a cake to cover rent for one hour, let alone the entire time it takes to do a cake. Its a small community and they wouldn't pay what someone in the cities would.
Folks, I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but what kept popping up in this thread were the comments Re: cost of renting a kitchen compared to the cake that will "only" sell for $xx.
If you are serious about being a "real" business, then you need to run it like a business. If your rent-time in a kitchen is $100, then that is just as much a part of your cake costs as your sugar, flour and eggs.
If you're only going to do onesey-twosey cakes, then your costs are going to be higher because of higher overhead costs per cake.... i.e. If you pay $400 a month for kitchen time and you only do one cake a month, then your price for that cake MUST be high enough to absorb the $400 rental cost. If you do 100 cakes a month, then each cake only has to absorb $4 per cake to cover the rental cost.
What are your options?
(1) Increase your pricing to reflect and cover ALL of your costs, just like "real" businesses need to do, which includes rent, utilities, insurance, etc.
(2) Set a minimum order that covers your basic overhead, which includes rent, utilities, insurance, etc.
(3) Market your butt off to get LOTS of cake orders so when you ARE in that kitchen, you are using all shelves in that convection oven and baking 10 or 12 cakes at a time; so you are mass producing icing and icing 10-12 cakes at one time. This reduces your overhead costs per cake.
This is absolutely right... ESPECIALLY here in Minnesota, the strictest state in the land (we don't have the motto "The State Where Absolutely NOTHING Is Allowed" for nothing)!!! We checked on this with the state compliance officer and my state inspector when I was getting ready and having the kitchen space I rent inspected, both when independently asked said it's a NO WAY to take the icing and cake home to do the decorating there.
That's the first time I've heard that one, my parents live in Minnesota and told me that as long as you didn't advertise you could sell from home using word of mouth, I asked my dad how he could believe that when they won't let a mom bring in homemade cupcakes for their kid's birthday at school. Everything that comes in to share has to be sealed. I think the no advertising thing comes from people not getting caught if they don't hand out fliers and put ads in the paper.
This subject has been cussed and discussed on CC numerous times. Those who are legal go through many hoops to get legal and usually feel pretty passionate about those who aren't legal (rightfully so). They spend alot of money to get legal and get licenses.
Whether you choose to go on baking will have to be your choice. I certainly would be careful about having a website advertising the fact that I am selling cakes if I didn't have a license.
I also noticed that you advertised character cakes and team logos. That is something else you have to be careful about because of copyrights.
Good luck with whatever decision you make. Your cakes are gorgeous and I would certainly hate to see your talent go to waste.
Diane
I'm glad this subject came up, me and Indydebi were just talking about that at lunch the other day. I for one would LOVE to be "legal" but there are a variety of reasons I'm not. I do say it on my taxes though "cake decorator." I pay the taxes and so far haven't been harassed. I also don't take on enough cake commissions to warrant the expense of "going legal" with rent, insurance, overhead, etc. etc. It's just one of those things. I agree with Indydebi though, if we are in a business, we should run it like a business. And that's my thought!
I know what I want to do, I want to open up a little tiny shop with a kitchen and a window to display my cakes, maybe even a table or two to sit at and have coffee and a slice of cake. I thought I would get there in 5-10 years; I was going to make cakes from home and save as much money as I could to then open up my shop. I had a mini break down this morning; I could almost hear the health inspector knocking on my door. I want to be legal, I want to have a real business, but all this cost money, and a lot of it! Money, which I do not have, money that I was going to make selling my cakes, money that I can longer make legally. I read the intro to one of Paula Deans cookbooks and she started out selling bag lunches door to door in her neighborhood, and look at her now! Thats all I wanted to do, and I will get there, this just be one of those bumps in the road Im always hearing about. I have already changed my website, I will not actively seek business but if someone wants me to make a cake for them I will consider it. Thank you for all your responses.
I know how you feel. My mini break down was about 2 months ago. I made the same decision as you did. Don't advertise, but if someone asks me for a cake, I will consider it...depending on how well I know them, etc. I totally undertand everyone's point on running it like a business, getting licensed, why it is important, "these are the rules- so live with it"...etc. But I am in the same boat as yourstrulytx... if you don't have the money, you don't have the money. Can't make it magically appear. I will keep an eye out for spaces I can rent for little to no money. But even that is a stretch. Even if I find something that I can use for free...what? am I going to drag my kids there and have them sit and twiddle their thumbs while I bake and decorate? at least here at home, they can nap, watch t.v. or play with toys while I do it and I can take a break if they need me. Or maybe I am supposed to get a babysitter for 10 hours? Yeah right!
Bottom line, unless I have the means to get properly licensed and/or have a close by work spot that I can come and go when need be (even if that means late at night when Hubby can stay and watch the kids) then getting licensed is just not going to happen. Doesn't make sense in my situation...and for a lot of people I would think. In the mean time, I will just work on my technique and gain experience. Maybe one day when all my kids are in school or something. At any rate...I completely understand your feelings, yourstrulytx!
Well, the way I look at it is that I'm gradually building up my business doing cakes at home for now. Then, when I get busier and my youngest is going to school I'll either open up a shop or rent a commercial space. I want to have plenty of customers before I take that leap and am responsible for rent or a mortgage. Plus, I want to be there for my 3 kids during the daytime....although doing cakes at night is starting to get a little old, LOL.
I don't even really know exactly what the laws are for my state(Rhode Island). I've looked and haven't been able to find out much.
Seriously though, yourstrulytx, don't panic. You can figure something out! There are lots of place that rent kitchen space, like churches, schools...etc. I work part time at a catering company and they are really great. They let me work around my dh's schedule-he also works there. Plus I think they would let me use their kitchen to do a cake if I needed to and I doubt they would even charge me much if anything. Do you have any friends with connections?? You just have to get creative! Good luck! Keep us posted,
Courtney
Don't get too discouraged, it sounds like things are stressful enough without adding to it! Unfortunately, this is an easy business to get into legally, it's expensive! Maybe you have some other skills or talents you could market from your home to help make some extra $$ for the kids fun stuff. Do you craft anything, or sew, or paint? There are a lot of things that it's perfectly legal to make and sell from your home! The schools are always having little craft sales and this the time of year for county shows and the like. Good luck in whatever you do! -Lori
i can understand your desire to want to make a few cakes for a few bucks profit, because you love doing it and people want you to.
since you are not happy to do it under the table, perhaps at this time it would be better to focus on something else. Have you thought about teaching classes, becoming a Wilton instructor? your kiddies are still so young, you have plenty of time in the future to focus on making cakes a business. you wont forget your skills. and one day the time will be right.
Ok,so yesterday kinda of sucked for me but I have calmed down and now I have a plan. It turns out my situation is not as hopeless as i first thought, a lot of people are in support of what I am trying to do , and are all willing to help. It also turns out I am more connected then I once thought. The general plan amongst my family and friends is to convert my garage into a commercial kithcen, which is leagl as far as it meets the requirements. So far I have aqquired 2 stainless steel tables, a 3 basin sink, one fridge , 2 racks (the racks were originally used for pizza but they make perfect cake cooling racks) and the services of a friendly electrician who would be willing to wire the garage for the stove as well as put in air conditioning in exchange for cookies and cream cake. My husband works in the flooring industry so the floor is covered as well, my mom works in the resturant/pizza biz and she is trying to track down anythind I might need,she might even have a oven for me.Now all I need is a garage, we rent now but planned on buying a house when we moved in 6 mths, so that gives me plenty of time to track down everything else I need. I am so exicted, I never knew I had as much support as I do, there are co-workers of my mom whom I 've never even met offering up stuff. My mom actually works for a pizza franchise and the president of the houston franchise has a whole warehouse ( I'm not joking a whole freaking warehouse) full of stuff from stores, it might all be used but he has offered what ever I might need,he even has walk in freezers and coolers! And all this came about last night! I even have a class to recieve my food handlers permit next week, it is just one of many classes I will be attending in the next couple of months,apprently since I will be the only employee I will also be the food saftey manager and am required to have my handlers licsence, I am also taking any and all classes my moms work offers, it would'nt hurt me to know the in's ans out's of food safety!Oh and one more thing my mixer broke last night sending me into a fit of tears but yet another good thing, my mom knows a man who just so happenes to have an industrial size stand mixer, the type that sits on the floor, I don't know when I would ever need such a huge thing but it will look nice sitting in my kitchen! It just seems as if stuff is falling out of the sky, I feel so lucky that once I get my kithcen up and running I know of a couple home bakers I am going to invite to bake with me. I know if all this was'nt being given to me I would be up a creek so I want to share my good fortune with others!Ok thats it I just wanted to give everyone an update, I still can't believe it, my whole life I have had nothing but struggles and now I am finally getting to do something I am very passionate about!Yeah, oh and I could'nt do it without my mom, she is like the Tony Soprano of the pizza world!
Much better news for you than yesterday! As for me, I'm still stuck in the situation of not being able to sell, but I homeschool and have 6 kids, so maybe someday when I'm 75 and the kids are all gone...haha!...and we're not spending an arm and leg on groceries for family....we'll be able to do something like that. I'm so glad it worked out for you. I tried to find out how much liscencing would cost for me, but I couldn't get any answers. Hope it's not too much!
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