An interesting conversation arose between me and a friend of mine about baking in our homes in WI. Well, I was talking about how HOT & HUMID it gets here in the summer and I said that me and my husband are going to make an area for me in the basement. SHE claims that in WI you cannot do any decorating in your basement! This is not what I know! My step-mom and cousin both purchased cakes from a lady that had been doing her cake decorating business in her home, in her basement many years ago! This lady was licensed and everything! So, I don't see why a basement would be an issue if you were to have a separate entrance and everything was up to code in the basement? I know me I will just be making an area that I can keep cool in to do frosting and decorating my cakes because an air conditioner BARELY works in our house! The basement is the best place!

So, I am curious to know of ANYONE that knows IF you can or cannot do decorating in their basements...for our area I just don't think it's true, but I could be wrong!

TIA for the help!
Stephanie

I used to live in kenosha, and the city can point you in the right direction, call city hall and give a brief description of what you need to the person who answers, and they will tell you who to talk to.

I'm in Manitowoc which is halfway between Green Bay & Milwaukee... as far as I know you can have it in your basement as long as everything is up to code and there's 2 seperate exits. Never heard of NOT being able to.

maybe this person was thinking of the stone walled basement with a concrete, unsealed floor and that you were going to slap up a folding table next to your washer and dryer or something!

I think you need two for fire codes. Like if you were going to put a bedroom in the basement you'd have to have 2 exits. If you were going to have a room down there that you would be in often you would need to have 2 ways out.. usually the bulkhead/door and a full sized window would do.

You should definitely check with your local officials. I'm not in WI, but where I live you can't even have a second kitchen in your house.

I'm originally from a small town west of Oshkosh... There is a candy maker that operates out of their basement (Hugh's) ... My aunt is from Southwest WI and has a license to bake from her converted garage because she does a lot of craft sales...

I believe, but take the word of the WIDOA as what the current reg's are... The big factors are that it has to have a separate entry/exit from BOTH the outside of your house and the main part of your house. It can't be a second kitchen in the house. It has to have the outside entry for both customers and so inspectors can come in without entering your home itself.

If you're in the Westfield area, www.theknockshoppe.com is a good example of doing a renovation to the property to get a license. There are also a lot of others scattered throughout the state that operate small licensed kitchens.

I'm from Southwest WI and will be getting married next month. My fiance's house has a nice kitchen in his finished basement that (obviously!) I've had my eye on as a potential business kitchen. Does anyone know the link for Dept of Agriculture licensing information? I've looked into it, but I wasn't sure which category applied to a cake-decorating type business. My fiance is also a carpenter so he's offered to help me get it up to regulation, but the 2 entrance rule worries me. 1 entrance is the storm cellar door. Thanks for the help!