I have been doing the research on becoming licensed (in Ohio) to bake from my home. But I have a few questions for those who already licensed. Instead of flooding the board again probably with the repeat topics, would a fellow Ohioan care to PM me so I can ask?

Thanks!

you don't HAVE to be "licensed" to operate from your home in Ohio..........basically, you can make any food not deemed "dangerous" to the public. No carpet or pets in the kitchen. If you'd like to get a "license" you can be inspected by the health dept. and I believe where I am (Ashtabula County) it's $10..it may vary from county to county, not sure. You can email the dept. of agriculture...they're very good about getting right back to you.

ooh, almost forgot...you're allowed to advertise but the food you sell has to be eaten in Ohio....so you couldn't ship cookies or anything out of state.

Thanks. So, one of my dilema's that we have an inside dog, but he's baby gated out fo the kitchen when I do cakes and any other cooking. Is that enough??

but the point is you don't HAVE to be inspected, in which case your dog is fine. I have a dog too and if someone asks if I have animals I tell them yes.......I don't lie...I've never had dog hair or anything in my cakes, I'm very careful and clean when I make cakes....I'm not inspected by the health dept. or anything though...because I have pets, otherwise I'd probably do it just to be able to say that I am. None of my customers have ever cared though. I've had 2 people in the 2 yrs. I've been doing cakes ask me if I have any pets after I tell them I work out of my home and both of those people ordered cakes and one of them is one of my best customers actually.

KHalstead- Do you advertise?

I had the health inspector at my house in November so that I could get licensed. You aren't allowed to sell anything that has to be refrigerated in Ohio if you aren't licensed and I wanted to be able to make mousse fillings and things like that so I got licensed. You aren't allowed to have pets if you are licensed. The license fee is $10 anywhere in the state and mostly they are looking to make sure that your house is clean. You do have to have a thermometer in your refrigerator and make sure that it is under 38 degrees. I will warn you though that they weren't real thrilled about coming out to my house to do an inspection. They kind of tried to talk me out of it by explaining that I could still bake out of my home without being licensed because they have so many other businesses to inspect that they don't really want to mess with a home baker.

oh and cupcake, just wanted to add...I really wanted to do the mousse fillings to but I know the law about the refrigeration so my way around it was to use the Rich's Bettercreme mixed with a pudding mix......that stuff is awesome and it's safe at room temp. for up to 5 days! The cheesecake pudding mixed in is my favorite.....although the chocolate is REALLY good and so is lemon! YUM!!

Thanks KHalstead! Thats great! Mind sharing the bettercreme recipe you use for mouse filling?

One more question or two!

Do you have a business license?

Do claim it as business expesne, income?

Thanks so much!

Oh, what's your website? I'd love to take a look.

That's a great idea. I do use Bettercream for some stuff. Do you just mix a dry box of pudding into it and that's it. That sounds delicious. I would love to try it.

I've looked in the recipe section for bettercreme recipe. No luck. Can you give me a recipe or if you buy it premade, what type you use?

I'm looking into the shelf-stable ready-made products avaiable too (like flavored fillings) because I'm following the cottage food laws as well and can't sell refrigerated products. I really want to offer my customers more choices. I'm thinking of using pudding for certain things as well. Let me know what products you have found tasty. Right now I'm just mixing jams into my buttercream to make buttercream fillings, but that is very limited in flavor choice.

This was very helpful to me but Im confused so if you use a little cream to add to a frosting does that mean I cant sell cake or cupcakes cuz i just want to be sure I am doing things right

I don't think that is what it means sweetcheeks1....when I applied for my license, they told me that primarily it was items that HAD to be refrigerated at all times once they were prepared...the example he gave me was cheesecake.

The inspector reminded me that I didn't HAVE to be inspected, but I wanted to because I knew I would be getting into more and more wedding cakes and some venues require you to be a licensed baker (not to mention my new $1M liability insurance). It's $10 to get licensed and it sounds good to customers.

A lot of buttercreams have milk in them, but there was a lot of discussion on here about the fact that there is so much sugar that it essentially preserves the milk in a way. Usually it's only a tablespoon or so, so you could really just sub water for the milk.

thankyou that helps me I definitely need all the info I can get On starting my own business theres so much to think about like logos and copy right on logos I get so confused Im really quite new to this I had lost my job so Im trying to make ends meat for myself and so far Im not doing so good in my businessI love it so much though to make someone happy is awesome when you make them something I just dont know where to begin

I am also in ohio and i am wanting to get liscensed, could someone, please tell me what they are looking at when they come into the house? I know the house has to be clean, and i've been told the light needs to have a cover, but what else do they look for? I dont have any pets (except my children ) and no carpet in the kitchen. But i do have a few spots of linoleum that have cracked and trying to curl up, would that need fixed? also my laundry room is directly beside the kitchen, would that need a door on it? I'm sorry if these questions are dumb, I just dont want to have them come for an inspection and not be ready for them. TIA

I had the health inspector come in and inspect my kitchen and he was just looking for it to be clean, no carpet, and no pets. I don't have covers on my lights because of the way they are designed and he didn't say anything about that. The other thing you do have to have is a thermometer in your refrigerator. You can pick them up at almost any kitchen supply store. They will check the temp. on that to make sure it is correct. That's all they are looking for.

Does anyone know the specific laws on selling across state lines? I live in Ohio but my husband works in Pittsburgh and his coworkers are very interested in buying cookies from me. I know that as a cottage industry I can't, but what about if I was licensed? I'm guessing I could get around that by having them come pick up the stuff here and have the transaction technically take place in Ohio, but I don't see too many people wanting to do that. I've been to the OH dept of Ag. website but didn't see anything specific (although I might have missed it).

Anyone? What, no love for the newbie? Oh well, guess I'll have to email them myself...

I'm not sure about the out of state thing if you are licensed. I'm pretty far from the border so I never even thought to ask that. I know for sure that if you aren't licensed you can't do it. I would wonder though about selling to another state even if you are licensed in your home if that state doesn't allow home bakeries. If you find out though we would love for you to share the info with us.

ok, I emailed them today so hopefully I'll get a response sometime next week.

while going through my inbox I realized I had emailed them a year ago about a similar question. It only took them 3 days to reply. In that email the guy did say that licensed home bakeries are allowed to sell out of state but didn't elaborate. My latest email asked about it in more detail so I'll have to see what they say.

Now all I have to do is get rid of my two evil step-cats and I can finally get this thing off the ground! Woohoo!

Edit: I just emailed the PA dept. of ag. too. Their site was really confusing... I'll let you all know what they say!

I heard back from the OH guy but he was not quite as helpful as I would have hoped. At least it only took him a day to get back to me. Here are our emails:

Hello!

I am looking into starting a cookie/small dessert business and wanted to confirm a few points. Everything I am wanting to make is non-hazardous so I could easily remain a cottage industry, however I am getting requests from across state lines (in Pittsburgh actually, and I am in Steubenville). I know that cottage industries cannot sell out of state, but I could not confirm if home bakeries were. If I got a home bakery license would I be able to sell out of state? Are there any other regulations that I would need to be aware of? Would I need to check with the other state's requirements as well? I tried finding the answers on your website but I was getting rather lost in the new format! Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to your response.

***
Dear Maria: A home Bakery License allows you to sell your products out of state since it comes from an inspected facility. You cannot have carpet in your kitchen and you are not permitted to have indoor pets. To schedule an inspection for a Home Bakery license call 614-728-6250 and request one.

Sincerely,
Chuck Kirchner

Thank you for posting his reply. That was very helpful

You could also use non-dairy power creamer, in place of your milk.

EXP: you would take like 1/2 cup of powder creamer, 1/2 cup of hot water. Mix it up, (I use Sharon's (AKA Sugarshacks) BC recipe) so I add my mixture with my shortening and flavors...but, you could add a little some of the mixture at 1st. then after adding your PS, if you feel you need more to get the texture you want, just add alittle more of the mixture. Then you could add more of the creamer mixture. You could use the amount you use in your recipes, you are using now

I like her recipe because 1 it is non-dairy and you could sat it out for 2 weeks in a air tight container, and it would still be good. Hope this can help about doing a non-dairy icing.

God Bless,
Sharon

cookiemakinmomma -

The Dept. of Ag. seems to be pretty basic in their requirements, so I don't think they have anymore info to give you.
From their point of view: get your license = sell your cookies! I doubt that PA is going to be interested if Ohio licensed you.

Now, the tax man may be the one who cares about selling across state lines. I think maybe you are looking for answers that would come from the department of taxation http://tax.ohio.gov/ or something like that.

Good Luck