Florida home business license???

just found this site that says I do not need a lisence for wht are called cottege foods.. and cakes are under that catigory. http://desoto.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/CottageFoodAdvisory.pdf

Samantha, no license required, BUT you must adhere to those guidelines in the article you posted.

cool thank you for your response this stuff stresses me out!… my only other question would be it says no internet sale… what dose that mean? I use the internet to drum up business. But I dont make actual sales threw the internet. so I should be ok right? and dose that mean I cant use thing like pay pal for payment?

Good luck Samantha! I hope everything works out well for you!

Call your local health dept if you have questions, in fact, you should really call them before you start your business. The pamphlet you link to says there may be other regulations not covered under those 4 pages. In my state (GA) there is also a cottage food law, but in the city limits they were doing everything possible to block the cottage laws.

I do wish you the best, but if your lease prohibits running a business from the house/apartment then this all may be a moot point. If your going to operate under “cottage” food laws, then you would be doing business from your home. All food products have to be labeled with your address, and if someone were to come down with a bad case of food poisoning and litigiousness, they would likely sue you as well as the “owner” of the home. Your landlord is just protecting themselves.

thank you Jennifer white. It isnt looking good for me. I cant catch a brake.. cant find a job and cant legally make my own money ether.

I feel your pain Samantha, I really do. When I started my cake business there was no cottage laws. I had to put up everything I owned as collateral to start my business, which is still home-based. It was a huge risk, but so far it is working out for me.

It doesn’t mean you can’t have your dream though. I would like to recommend a book to you called the Practical Dreamer’s Handbook It really helped me start my business. Have you tried getting a job at a bakery? Or find a business that’s willing to let you use / rent their commercial kitchen? Or possibly look for another place to live that doesn’t restrict what you can do from your home? And I still recommend calling the health department – they’re really not the bad guys people make them out to be. Tell them what you want to do and they may know of programs or businesses willing to help you out.

PS – and running your own business isn’t all it’s cracked up to be some weeks. I only mention that because you say things like “Law’s not my thing”. When you run a small business, law has to be your thing, along with marketing, bookkeeping, customer service, etc. Every component of the business is yours to do (or hire to do) – it can be overwhelming!

Thanks! Im totally going to check out that book.I have been trying for 3 years to get a baking job. even in a supermarket if i have to and for one reason or another it never happens. dosnt help that there arnt many in my area. I have thought about renting space in a kitchen, unfortunately at this time in my life Its not much of an option. Im a stay at home mom. The beauty of doing cakes at home for now is what Im going for. not really looking to have a big business just a few cakes to do here and there to earn someone of my own money to help my family out, and do what i love in the process. i wont give up but it would be nice if i cought a break! lol also about moving just resigned the lease lol. But I did just talk to a land lord that told me the issue with home business for them is the people being in and out. and as long as im not advertising and conducing business with people in the home I should be ok. gonna keep digging into it.