Starting Business In Utah

Business By misterc Updated 26 Feb 2007 , 6:10am by mommyjamieof2

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misterc Posted 28 Nov 2006 , 4:32am
post #1 of 7

Has anyone started a home based business in Utah?

6 replies
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Ishi Posted 4 Dec 2006 , 11:35pm
post #2 of 7

I haven't but was curious about what all it entails. We are probably moving in 6 months to the east coast so I'm not really going to try to build a business here. I did call the the Dept. of Agriculture and they gave me the inspector's #. His name is Jay. You just call 1-888-226-8964 and leave your number and he calls you back. I'm sure he can tell you everything you need to know.

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munkey Posted 6 Dec 2006 , 6:01am
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I had that same question and asked my boss at work, he says he got his wedding cake and grooms cake from a woman who works out of her home. She turned her garage into a cake kitchen, so he says its possible he told me more but it was mostly about the 'health code' aspect of it, i.e. drains on the floor, things like that. But thanks for the number ishi.

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misterc Posted 8 Dec 2006 , 12:27am
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I have been on the phone all day! This is what I found out. In the state of Utah you have to have a second kitchen in the home specifically for the business. It has to be equipped with professonal grade appliances. You don't have to have a business liscense until you are grossing $1000 a month. There are kitchens provided by the USDA in different cities that you can rent by the day. The one here in Cache Valley costs $50 per day. It is totally modern with wonderful appliances. In order to use the kitchen you have to have a food handlers permit. Contact your Health department or your local department of agriculture to find out more info. Hope that helps!

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Ishi Posted 8 Dec 2006 , 2:09am
post #5 of 7

Wow! Thanks for the info. So, if you are making well under $1000 a month, do you need to have anything? You said you don't need a license. Does that mean that I don't need a second kitchen, either? I can bake and sell out of my own kitchen without any fear of getting in trouble? Does the inspector need to pass off on my kitchen? How does that work? Sorry for all the questions. Even though we plan on moving soon it would be nice to know that I'm not doing anything illegal while I'm here...

Thanks again for the post!

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misterc Posted 8 Dec 2006 , 4:13am
post #6 of 7

You have to have a second kitchen to bake legally and it has to be inspected. That is where the state kitchens I was talking about comes into play. With that said the first guy I talked to said he would never encourage anyone to break the law but that he personally knows people that decorate cakes out of their home that are not liscensed. He said decorating cakes is very low risk.

I guess it is your choice how to handle the info. I haven't decided yet but the state kitchens were made for small business owners like us so we don't have to sink lots of money into a kitchen. If you use it and you are not making more than $1000 a month then you are perfectly legal without an actual liscense. Doing it in your home is not. Too bad we don't live in Idaho, they can do it out of there homes with minimal rules apparently. Hope that helps.

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mommyjamieof2 Posted 26 Feb 2007 , 6:10am
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So if you are not licensed and are still making cakes can you say you are selling your time not the cake? And my main purpose for wanting to get licensed is for the tax advantages. Can I still claim money I make and claim business expenses? I had done daycare for a while and was unlicensed and was still able to take the tax benefits. Eventually I would love to open a home based business but that is going to have to wait until we can buy a bigger house my only option here is to use the garage. Thanks in advance

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