How to Start & Market a Food Business from Your Home Kitchen

Work from home and launch your dream of running a successful homemade food product business from your kitchen.

Created by: Lisa Kivirist
co-author HOMEMADE FOR SALE and Home Baker Crusader-Activist

What Will I Learn?

• How to navigate your state’s cottage food law that allows sales non-hazardous baked goods or high-acid products like jams or pickles, made in a home kitchen.
• Understand what types of products are allowed to be produced and sold from a home kitchen, including diving into what “non-hazardous” means.
• Based on your state’s cottage food law, understand where and how you can sell your product, along with how much revenue you can make.
• Gain knowledge on how to sell your product, from marketing strategies to setting up a website, tapping into social media and generating press coverage.
• Three straightforward methods to price your food products so you make some profit.
• Learn about the business strategies that go into running a profitable home food business, from how to structure your company to itemizing expenses.
• Practical ways to organize your kitchen and supplies while learning about ways to best manage your time and maintain work/life balance.
• Strategies for managing risk with several options for affordable product liability insurance as well as tips for better food safety practices.
• How to wow your customers with cost-effective and attractive packaging to engaging table display tips.
• Discover options for potentially taking your product to a commercial kitchen in the future.
• Ways in which you can advance the cottage food and newly emerging food freedom movement in the USA.
• Cutting edge information on the cottage food and food freedom movements from a national leader in the industry.
• For Wisconsin residents, understand the history of the successful lawsuit in which the instructor was a plaintiff that legalized the sale of home baked goods.

Requirements

• A home kitchen, of course!
• Residing in the USA.  As of 2022, every state in the USA has some form or variation of a cottage food law or some equivalent court ruling. Since starting a food product business out of your home is determined by which state you live in, you will need to understand your state’s law to determine what exactly you can sell.  This course will take you through how to do that.
• A culinary passion for food products that might include baked goods, high acid canned items like jams, jellies, pickles or salsa, as well as a host of other items that may include chocolates, dry mixes and dehydrated or roasted items, depending on your state’s cottage food law.
• This class is for home bakers, canners and home-based food product entrepreneurs who want to sell products made in their home kitchen in the USA.  While there are some laws in Canadian provinces that may allow farmers and/or some bakers to sell food products at a farmers’ market, the cottage food laws are not as widespread like they are in the USA. Therefore, this class is currently not designed for those food business owners living outside the USA. While some of the business content may be applicable if you live in other parts of the world, the course will not specifically address home-based food product business requirements in countries outside the United States.
• No previous business experience is required or assumed, since this course is intentionally designed to be both welcoming and accessible, light on the jargon and heavy on practical know-how that can be transferred to your business from the get-go. The course, however, also introduces ideas, strategies or marketing resources that may prove beneficial to more experienced business owners.

Target audience

• Someone wanting to become their own boss, work from home and tap into their creative baking, canning, candy-making and other culinary kitchen skills.
• Career changer looking to test your food-based dream before you quit your day job, something you can do at home with minimal investment.
• Culinary professionals who may be facing challenging times in food service due to the covid-19 pandemic.
• Retiree looking to stay relevant and active, plus make a little extra “fun money.”
• Specialty cake and wedding cake maker looking for a chance to share your artistic talent and creative flair.
• Stay-at-home moms wanting to earn extra income while keeping an eye on the kids.
• Avid bakers or canners eager to start a business with little or no cost to start up.
• Someone with food sensitivities or allergies, who, after years of struggle, has found delicious recipes that work for you and might work for others, too.
• Farmers who are exploring ways to diversify income with value-added specialty foods products made with ingredients you grow.
• Wisconsin home bakers or canners interested in state-specific knowledge for the unique situation in the state.
• Cottage food and food freedom activists — anyone who believes in the freedom to earn.
• While the business and marketing pragmatics for a food business might be generally helpful, this course specifically addresses the cottage food laws in the USA. No specific information is provided for cottage food laws or their equivalents in Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or any other English-speaking country.