What Do I Need For My "business"?

Business By Jess155 Updated 9 Jul 2011 , 2:30am by scp1127

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Jess155 Posted 8 Jul 2011 , 3:31pm
post #1 of 3

I live in a state that doesn't license home kitchens. I've just been doing cakes for free for family and functions that we attend.

I have an idea to do cakes for people if they make a special donation (in the amount I specify according to the cake size/time/etc.) to a charity. I'll have a list of several charities for them to choose from.

I won't make money off the cakes. We're able to budget a specific amount for this every month. I won't take more cakes than I can afford to (obviously). But I think if I could triple the amount that I put into it and have that all go to a charity, that would be a great blessing to these charities.

I'm looking into setting up a blog for this, to advertise in the blog, and possibly business cards. I just want to make sure that this is legal and what I need to do to protect my family. It would kind of be just for friends and friends of friends. I'd charge what my cakes would be worth if I could sell them.

Is there anything that I need to be aware of? I'm thinking if the people are (for whatever reason) unhappy with their cake, they would be satisfied with making a donation to a charity and getting the tax deduction.

Go easy on me, I'm just trying to feel this out. Thanks! icon_smile.gif

2 replies
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costumeczar Posted 9 Jul 2011 , 2:22am
post #2 of 3

You need to check with your local health department to see what they say about this, I know that there's another thread going on about this kind of thing, but I'd check with the real source of information for your area, not the advice of random strangers on the internet, for specific advice icon_wink.gif

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scp1127 Posted 9 Jul 2011 , 2:30am
post #3 of 3

I checked with mine before I was licensed and they gave me the guidelines. All HD's are different, as costumeczar said. Mine wanted me to not offer cakes to the very young and very old without the license. I was not certified, so they wanted me to stay away from those most likely to be made sick by the cake. For example, don't give away a cake that would be sent to a school or nursing home. Just let the customer be aware. And I needed to have a sticker stating that it was baked in an unlicensed/uninspected kitchen.

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