I was just wondering if anyone knows the stipulations for baking in your kitchen at home and selling to the public in Australia (QLD specifically). What are the laws? And who do I need to contact about this? I really have no idea...

Also, is there any aussies on this site who do sell out of their homes?

Thanks.

Bel - I think you should just contact your local council and they will be able to provide you with information - it differs from council to council I think.

I gave them a call and found out about food licensing. Which isn't that expensive and I'm pretty sure I fall under all the requirement catagories. But what other things would I have to consider? Do you need a 'business' licence as well as a food licence? Does anyone know how this works out with tax etc? Excuse my naivety, but I read a lot of american posts on here about this. I would just love an aussie perspective. Especially from somebody who does it from home!

Anyone?

Bumping myself

I'm also looking into legalizing things. I rang my local council to find out what was necessary. To start with, the health inspector is going to come to my home and check out the kitchen etc. I've been told to have thermometers in the fridge and oven, make sure to have paper towel and hand disinfectant readily available, preferably a separate fridge (not absolutely necessary if there are no kids in the house). There's also 2 courses I'm going to take, I can't remember the exact name but it's something like Safe Food Handling and the next one on from that. I've registered my business name and am applying for an ABN. You don't have to register to pay GST unless you're going to be making more than $50000 a year.
I'm also giving my kitchen a super-dooper spring clean. That's as far as I've gotten so far. How are other people going with the process?

I was told pretty much the same stuff, Kathy.. How much does registering a business name cost? And is there a fee for applying for an ABN?

Registering cost me about $80. An ABN doesn't cost anything. I applied online for both, very easy although I haven't submitted my ABN application just yet because I wanted to get everything else sorted first. I don't want to be getting into the BAS process if I haven't started up yet. The ATO website is very helpful.

Did they say anything about sinks? I remember my friend started a business at home and they wanted him to put in a sink with a faucet that can be turned on with a foot pedal.

I am in Melbourne, but pretty much as kathyx1 said easy to apply for business registration and ABN. I work from my home kitchen and my local council were quite easy to please. They gave me a food safety program to complete which covers everything - storage, prep areas, health and hygiene, packaging, purchasing supplies, pest control, temperature logs and cleaning and sanitising. It's really just common sense stuff. I think the food safety program is needed in all of Australia.
The main focus was on being easy to clean - tiled walls and floors, I didn't need a seperate handwash sink as my double sink was OK. I need to keep my cake ingredients and equipment in a seperate cupboard but I can use my family fridge. I had to buy a temperature probe and record fridge and freezer temps once a day.
The main thing I had to do was take the Food Safety Supervisors course which I think is a Victoria thing.
I was really suprised it was so easy (and expensive $460!) to get the Food Registration Certificate, but I'm so glad I have. In England it was much harder for me. Cakeing here is regarded as a low risk business, and my council guy said I would probably only get inspected once every two years.
You really need to talk to your council as they vary so much even in Melbourne the criteria is different from coucil to council.
If you need any help just shout and good luck!

I am in Melbourne, but pretty much as kathyx1 said easy to apply for business registration and ABN. I work from my home kitchen and my local council were quite easy to please. They gave me a food safety program to complete which covers everything - storage, prep areas, health and hygiene, packaging, purchasing supplies, pest control, temperature logs and cleaning and sanitising. It's really just common sense stuff. I think the food safety program is needed in all of Australia.
The main focus was on being easy to clean - tiled walls and floors, I didn't need a seperate handwash sink as my double sink was OK. I need to keep my cake ingredients and equipment in a seperate cupboard but I can use my family fridge. I had to buy a temperature probe and record fridge and freezer temps once a day.
The main thing I had to do was take the Food Safety Supervisors course which I think is a Victoria thing.
I was really suprised it was so easy (and expensive $460!) to get the Food Registration Certificate, but I'm so glad I have. In England it was much harder for me. Cakeing here is regarded as a low risk business, and my council guy said I would probably only get inspected once every two years.
You really need to talk to your council as they vary so much even in Melbourne the criteria is different from coucil to council.
If you need any help just shout and good luck!

Does anyone here who runs a home business also have insurance to protect themselves against things like claims of food poisoning or whatever?

I wotrk out of home. Apparently, whether you can or not depends on the zoning on your particular location. In my case I come under "exempt development" which means I do not need to submit a DA to satisfy council. Whether or not you BAKE on site apparently has an impact on how they see you, as well as how much you intyend to turnover. They are most happy with hobby decorators decorating other people's cakes, as it turns out!

I have a business name registered, and have an ABN as a sole trader also. I have indemnity insurance...all these things need to be considered as well as simple marketing things like website addy, phone, email etc.

I had to have a chat with the health inspectors (directly associated with my council). They come out and inspect and also suggest what YOU in YOUR area require in order to make cakes.

As far as council is concerned, in 2(1) developments (residential category - but there are oodles of them, so find out what your house falls under as it will determine you ability to become legal) you are not allowed to have a shop front, or make transactions at the place of residence/business (ie money changes hands upon delivery or in advance via bank transfer or Paypal). You CAN have a small sign on the outside of your home (which I intend to do wiht our new house we are moving to imminently).

I am in NSW, btw, so Qld may be significantly different!

The Food Handling quals (very easy to pass - all common sense) are required pretty much everywhere I think! Temp ,probes/thermometers hand wash, paper towels, coved tiling...it all depends on the hard-assedness of your inspectors (in my experience - I used to run a commercial cafe) to go beyond tyhe basic common sense requirements and like I said this depends upon the zoning of your home and the type of business you want to run. In some ways I think we have it a LOT easier in Australia than the USA, but don't be complacent. Ask LOTS of questions about what you need to do when you first speak to your health inspection peeps.

Good luck!