Trust me there are a LOT of upsides to being home-based.

1. I don't have to get dressed (properly anyhow) to go to work

2. I don't have to get in the car and drive to work

3. I can tend to kids, decorate cake, tend to kids, decorate cake

4. I don't have to pay rent for my building (own my home)

5. I don't have 2 electric bills, 2 gas bills, 2 phone bills, 2 internet bills, etc.

There are probably 100 more reasons why it's great having a home-based bus. But the one that stinks.......that really stinks is that I have to turn down orders like these.........

Cake for 340??????????????? Oh I would love that!!!

Downside??? I live in Ohio right next to the Pennsylvania border and according to cottage food laws (that allow me to operate a home-based business) I can't sell cake that will be consumed outside of the state!!

Why??????// why??????//

that totally stinks!! I could really use the profit from a 340 serving cake lol

Wish we had a cottage law in AL

Well that stinks....can you talk her into moving the wedding just across the line???

Oh that does stink!! Sorry to hear that.

Oh! That totally does stink!!!! A 340 guest order would be awesome!!

But, hypothetically, and I'm not suggesting you do anything illegal...what's to keep someone from ordering a cake from you in your state then they change the venue for whatever reason? Like...the reception hall double booked, so they have to go over the state line to their Auntie's favorite restaurant or something like that? I'm just curious...

Does that also apply if you are a licensed home bakery in OH?

I'm with you KHalstead....I finally called to get the home bakery inspection so I won't be cottage foods anymore. They say the inspector will call within 2 weeks to set an appointment.

I have to turn down orders from Kentucky and Indiana all the time. Stinks. But once I pass inspection I won't have to anymore. I may not even offer stuff I have to refrigerate....just being able to sell across state lines will be worth it!

I have 1 customer that placed an order to be picked up a while back, and wound up asking me to deliver at the last minute (day of pick up) and gave me the address and it was in PA. There was nothing I could do at that point, she had already paid for the cake, I had already made the cake, so i gave it to her. I did however explain the law to her and told her I wouldn't be able to sell her cakes anymore now that I had the knowledge that it was being consumed outside the state of Ohio.

She said she understood, now she tells me the party's in Ohio when she picks up her cakes lol. I have no idea if she's lying, but I certainly can't (in good conscience) sell the cake if I know full well it's going to be eaten outside the state. Sometimes I annoy myself with how honest I am LOL.

So if you're just a licensed home bakery then you can cross state lines??

See, I tried to get inspected ($10 here) to get a license and they basically told me it would cost them MORE in gas to drive here to inspect me than it would cost ME for the license and they had a full schedule, and "why bother when you can operate the SAME business without a license?"

So I didn't bother, really more because the guy made it out like I would just be causing them more work and hassle and I felt bad.

I can't sell anything out of state. I can sell to someone in state who lives out of state. I don't inquire with everyone that makes a purchase where they plan on consuming it.

I am licensed. If you have an FDA(I do believe that's the one) license(which I don't) you can sell anywhere in the U.S.. You can acquire that licensing with a bit of effort and a bit of $(not too much either)...they inspect your 'facility', manufacturing process, packaging process, and labeling...when I emailed several years ago, they were very pleasant. I recall doing a google type search for FDA guidelines and inspections and it took me to a specific site.

That stinks.

But I'm thinking that as long as I sell my cakes in my state and they are pciked up in my state - I don't think it should matter where they are consumed. If the customer wants to drive 1,200 miles with it and then eat it, that's their business.

Just do the actual money transaction in State and them technically you didn't sell it out of state!!!

oops...not exactly...she can't transport it out of state either....

they can pick it up though...

What a ridiculous rule! Why should you be policing your customers regarding what they do with your cake after they purchase it? I could understand if you were required to say you couldn't deliver out of state, but you shouldn't have to turn down an order based on whether or not they mention to you where their location will be.

That stinks! I just wish Georgia would allow home bakers to conduct business from our own kitchens like other states do...

Generally if a customer purchases a cake and picks it up I could care less where THEY choose to take it.............however, I feel dishonest setting up a wedding cake at a reception site that is out of state!

If they said we're picking it up, we live in Pa. then that is on them.......so in essence the only reason I'm having to turn them down is because they are cakes that require that I deliver them to a site that is out of state.

This reminds me of Gremlins 2 (I watched it the other day).

One of the rules is they can't eat after midnight. One of the guys says, what if they eat popcorn at 11 and kernal gets stuck until midnight. TECHNICALLY he didn't eat at midnight. lol

Regardless of whether you can do it or not, she's only going to want to pay $150 for it. I went to a seminar the other day where someone was talking about wedding clients and red flags that make you know immediately that they're going to be trouble, and the one thing I thought of was if they said "sheet cake" at the beginning of the conversation.