I am working on becoming legal in my home (I'm in GA). I've been told by the Department of Agriculture that I don't need a grease trap, but Environmental Health is telling me I do. Are there any legal home bakers out there that can shed some light on this situation? I'd like to know what others have.

Thanks so much!!

Can't wait to see the responses you get...where in GA are you? I'm in north GA.

Hall County. Where in N GA are you?

I'm not in GA....but Missouri. My health dept. here MADE me put a grease trap in. And get this....if my business had been inside the city limit and hooked up to the city sewer....then I didn't have to put one in....but since I have my own septic tank....then they made me put one in for my own costs and problems down the road. It depends where you live, etc...and who has the final say. If the Environmental Health is saying you do....then you are probably going to have to add it on. Here in MO...they have the last say. My Health inspector has had to call a couple things in for me....to get it ok'd with the Environmental Health supervisor as a last ok. Good luck! Mine ran me about $200 for the small one that goes under the sink.

I'm interested in this too--although I'm a long way from making my new hobby into a business. I'm also in North GA--Dawson County.

Let me just say that this grease trap business is a load of crap! If it's not required for a regular home kitchen, why should it be required for a home based cake decorating business? Boooooo!!!

Cakery, thanks for the response. I guess I'll just have to suck it up and have one installed.

kjt and kilikina - Howdy neighbors! Do either of you happen to know if there is a cake club around our area? We should totally start one if there's not.

i'm looking into becoming legal in GA as well. (first of the year probably) i've been debating on ordering the cake business book advertised on this site. author's from GA. figure there's a lot of good info in there.

I'm looking for a cake group for South metro if there's any out there you know about.

thanks!
aimee

I'm in KY, and I got a grease trap exemption. However, I'm thinking about installing a small one. It is needed.

Thanks, Leah. You're always so helpful!

We dont need a grease trap here in NC, but I hear that it maybe required soon. (they tried to get garbage disposals banned here, beleive it or not, but that failed. Its under that same thinking of a grease trap)

I personally don't throw anything down my drains like buttercream and such. (I scoop as much as i can out into the trash) I don't think all that grease and butter is good for the pipes! I don't even put my carrot peelings and such down the garbarge disposal...

I live in Marietta, GA and am also looking into starting a home business, but have not even been able to figure out where to start. Would those of you who seem to be a few steps ahead in this process be willing to share information about it, either here or by private email? I have several main questions, but don't want to bore everyone with them if everyone else is already beyond my knowledge. Thanks for any help anyone can give!

so i had the hubby check on what it would take for me to get a business license to bake from the home (he was at the courthouse anyway) because of the county i live in, i would have to submit an application pay a $300 application fee wait 90-120 days for the county commissioners to vote on whether i could opperate my business from my home. and then proceed with obtaining the business license, getting the space to spec out for their standards, blah blah blah blah.....


i'll just wait until i open a storefront thank you.

Wow, l80bug79, that's daunting. What county do you live in? I'm in Cobb. Does anyone know if all Georgia counties do things similarly? And when you're talking about a home baking business, I assume you mean one with a kitchen separate from your personal kitchen, correct? Or does Georgia allow commercial baking in a personal kitchen?

i'm in spalding county. i'm 100% sure what the guidelines are for the commercial vs. home bakery thing is. according to another post here, ga doesn't license home bakeries. so i'm thinking that the county would classify it as seperate entrance, seperate kitchen, etc. which i am not doing. i have a lot more investigating to do on the subject.

my DH did ask if the fine was less than the application fee and was told yes. lol that's my DH for you. do now and ask for forgiveness later. lol....

From what I have been told your kitchen has to be separate from your family kitchen and it has to be unattached from your home. I thought I understood that it has to be in a building that was not attached to your home. As long as it is bakery items only that was covered by the dept of agriculture.

I am licensed by the Dept. of Agriculture, and I do have to have a separate kitchen unattached from my home, according to my agent that has licensed me.

I've been reading the posts in this forum and now I not sure what to do. I too, live in Georgia, Rome. I recently really got into caking decorating again and would love to be really serious about it. I've been told the make up some business cards to pass out as some people have seen some of my cakes and are telling their friends about me. So, my question is, if I make business cards and bake from my home I guess I need to go thru all this legal mumbo jumbo also? I really just wanted to do this on the side in my spare time but I do not want to start passing our business cards and have them end up in the wrong hands and be fined or worse jailed because I do not have a license to bake from my home. What to do? Anyone?

Thanks,
Melissa

I was lucky. My dad has a business in the town I live in. He bought a new place in town for his business a couple of years ago. The building on that property he is using for his business, but it has a full kitchen in it. Not only that the people that owned it before him ran a "Built a bear type business" in it. Which they also had an indoor playground where they did children's parties. Their kitchen had to be inspected by the Health Dept and Dept of AG. So long story short My dad's kitchen in his business that he didn't use is already up to inspection standards. I know lucky me!! Thanks Dad!! All I had to do was get the Dept of Ag. to reinspected it, licenses me and get my business license, sales tax license.

I was very blessed for this to come together like it has. I know the Lord worked this all out for me!!

Melissa - that's a personal choice. A lot of people have told me to fly under the radar and avoid going through the proper channels to become legal. I'm choosing to go the legal route so I'm not constantly worried about getting caught. I've heard horror stories about what happens to those that get caught. Knowing my luck, I'd get caught the minute I'd sold my first cake. If it were me, I wouldn't pass out business cards. I would just let word of mouth get around. That way, you can honestly say you are not advertising. It's a tough call. I'm choosing to go the legal route, but I know tons of others that are just "flying under the radar."

Note: I'm not trying to discourage anyone. Just trying to get some info out there to help others avoid having to go through the hassle I've gone through.

Happy caking!

Thanks mlharvell for the info. My luck is like yours, the first call I got for a cake order would be from the cake police, LOL.
Thanks, Melissa

Thanks so much for the information everyone, especially mlharvell! It sounds like this is definitely going to be a challenge. I'm now wondering if I shouldn't postpone the "building a kitchen in my basement" idea I'd had (particularly considering the economy these days!) and think about renting time in a shared commercial kitchen. Particularly since I'm just starting out. It sounds like it would definitely let me start a legal business more quickly. Does anyone have any personal experience doing it that way?