Ok - my step sister and I have decided to start our own cake business. we are both pretty new at decorating but are pretty good. anyways- we dont have a clue where to begin. we have picked a name and i did a search online to make sure noone else uses that name, but from there we are lost. do we get a DBA or a liscence, or a food handlers liscense??? we dont know what to do?? We live in Texas and will be doing this from our home kitchens, and dont even know if texas liscenses home bakeries. if so, how do u get one, and if u get a liscense do home bakeries have inspections... we are at a total loss of where to begin, so anyone out that thas has some advice- we'd love to hear it. THANKS- CHRISTIE AND JESSICA p.s. how do we make our name- our name so noone else can use it...??????

my understanding is that texas does not allow home bakeries, but each county is different, and yours might. so you need to contact your dept. of agriculture, they can give you all the information you will need to get started.


here is a link about reserving your biz name

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/businessfaqs.shtml#reserving


HTH and Good Luck!

No, Texas does not allow home kitchens. If you want to start up a business, your best bet would be to find a kitchen to rent somewhere. I'm not entirely sure, but I think, in some cases, you are allowed a commercial kitchen on your property, but it has to have a separate entrance, cannot be accesible from the house, has to have commercial equipment in it. According to the link on the handy sticky at the top of this business forum titled "States that License Home Bakeries", http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-32550.html, you'll need to contact the Department of Health for info.

As to the assumed name, here in El Paso you are supposed to register the name at the County Courthouse or one of the satellite offices. Look up the website for your county, it should point you in the right direction.

HTH

lanibird is correct, Texas will not license a home kitchen for food preparation. You will need to contact your county's health department to find out what you would need to do as far as building or renting a kitchen.

The Secretary of State is where you will pick a name and set up the legal structure of your business, ie: LLC, Corporation, Sole Proprietorship, etc. It's best to consult with a business attorney to find out which structure is best for you. Good luck!