Does anyone earn $ from home selling homeade baked goods?

[Kimm in WA]

I just made $36 profit for 6 jars of strawberry jam that I made for my DH's co-worker. I was doing mine anyway, so it wasn't much more work. I have orders for jalapeno jelly that I did last year.

 

A friend used to sell homemade bread and rolls to friends and neighbors. I was thinking of making and marketing to DH's co-workers and our neighbors. I could do whole wheat bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, and/ or raisin scones.

 

Does anyone do this sort of thing, and is it worthwhile? I'm excited at the prospects of additional cash to take to the curriculum fair in a few weeks.

 

Thanks.

[SonshineLearner]

I'd just check your laws about food. Here you can sell it if you mark that it's from an unlicensed kitchen...at least some places...cuz they have jars at the Farmer's Market. But, just a bit ago...I remember that someone said that a friend had made a cake...and first time penalty for an unlicensed kitchen was like $1000 or something??

(Sounds yummy! I love to buy fresh jam from this one homeschooler I know. Someday I'm gonna grow up and do my own!:-)

Carrie:-)

[mommybee]

I'd just check your laws about food. Here you can sell it if you mark that it's from an unlicensed kitchen...at least some places...cuz they have jars at the Farmer's Market. But, just a bit ago...I remember that someone said that a friend had made a cake...and first time penalty for an unlicensed kitchen was like $1000 or something??

(Sounds yummy! I love to buy fresh jam from this one homeschooler I know. Someday I'm gonna grow up and do my own!:-)

Carrie:-)

 

:iagree:

 

In a lot of places you can't sell food from your home kitchen. It's against the law because of food safety and such.

[Kimm in WA]

yeah, I was just thinking of calling friends and neighbors and say "hey, I'm making X", would you be interested in buying some? Would that fall under the same guidelines?

[Melissa in Australia]

here in Australia you have to have your kitchen inspected by a health inspector and get a permit. especially if you are going to be selling the food at markets, or putting a sign up saying jam for sale.

I know lots of people make food and sell it to friends etc. you just have to hope noone gets food poisoning/ or that you get caught.

[dsacco]

If you charge anything for the product - yep it falls under the guidelines. Check with your state - you might not have a lot of requirements at all. Just last year in VA they changed it so I can now make cookies, jellies, and baked goods in my house without having my kitchen inspected. Granted it's only $40/year to have it inspected....but I let it lapse for the year and didn't have a problem with it. We just have labeling requirements which make us say that it wasn't made in a state inspected kitchen.

 

But in answer to your question ;) I do make stuff and sell it - but it supplements our farm and we TRY to make stuff from stuff we grow (hot pepper jelly - we grow the jalepenos etc)

[Pongo]

My cousin makes breads, they are AMAZING. But, she had to have a second kitchen, her husband built a small one in the garage, sink, oven, stainless steel counter, mixers, fridge. Then the health inspector had to license it. If anyone ever got sick from anything she sold from her home kitchen the fines can be pretty big, so she decided the investment would be worth it.

She did do it for about 2 years before she started to get nervous because she was getting so many requests for breads. She wanted to have it done before the health inspector came knocking at her door.:)

Edited May 27, 2009 by Pongo

[mom4him]

yeah, I was just thinking of calling friends and neighbors and say "hey, I'm making X", would you be interested in buying some? Would that fall under the same guidelines?

In our state it does. I sold 100% whole wheat products from my home for several years but we had to put in a kitchen for that purpose. You also need to figure your ingredients very carefully for price. I was amazed when I first figured up what I would have to charge just to break even and then when I put a profit on it........ Like I said, I did this for several years so people did buy it but do figure carefully.

[Amber in AUS]

here in Australia you have to have your kitchen inspected by a health inspector and get a permit. especially if you are going to be selling the food at markets, or putting a sign up saying jam for sale.

I know lots of people make food and sell it to friends etc. you just have to hope noone gets food poisoning/ or that you get caught.

 

I think that is a state thing. We can sell jams, preserves at a fair/fete here in WA but it must be marked with the date it was made. Also it can't be an ongoing thing. So if you were making jam for an event that would be OK to do from home, but if you were making to sell at the swap meet every weekend that wouldn't but i am not sure how closely they regulate that here.

[elw_miller]

I used to make bread for two different farmers market in OH (that was 2004-2005). The only requirement at the time was that my labeling had to include everything in it--right down to what ingredients were in my store-bought chocolate chips. Oh, and I couldn't sell things like pumpkin pie unless I had proper refrigeration.

 

WA requirements are different for farmers markets:

"D. PROCESSED FOODS: Includes juices, wines, preserved foods, salad dressings, jams, wines, pastries, pasta, granola, cookies, muffi ns, breads, pies and related take home desserts, not prepared on site. Vendor must be an active owner/operator of the business and may not be operating under a franchise agreement (Effective 1/1/00).

Processed foods must be produced by the vendor from raw ingredients. Vendors in this category are those who have cooked, baked or otherwise treated the product they sell. No commercially prepared dough mixes,

crusts, shells or fi llings are allowed. Our intent is to support local agriculture. It is expected that the vendor will use raw ingredients that are grown in Washington, as appropriate for the product, and when possible, use products from participating market farmers. All processed foods must have the proper permits and licenses required by the City of Seattle, the Seattle-King Co. Health Dept. and/ or the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture. All processed foods must carry product liability insurance. Copies of proof of insurance must be provided to the NFMA. All processed food vendors must carry a current City of Seattle business license. All processed foods must be properly labeled (see VIII, G & H)."

http://smallfarms.wsu.edu/marketing/FMM1.pdf

 

Yikes. I'm not sure what, if any, requirements there are for selling to friends and family (they are not the general public).

[Stacie]

...

She did do it for about 2 years before, she started to get nervous because she was getting so many requests for breads. She wanted to have it done before the health inspector came knocking at her door.:)

 

 

My father was a health inspector for many years. His duty was to investigate unlicensed kitchens and write them up, as well as inspect licensed kitchens. Based on his stories, I very rarely buy from small home bakeries and NEVER buy from unlicensed ones.

 

He's visited too many home kitchens with animals (cats mostly) walking along the countertops and eating commercial foods as they saw fit. He had one lady laughing telling him to watch what her cat does to her new mixer. She turned on her large Hobart mixer and the cat runs up and tries to swipe the mixer blade and spit and hiss at it. You guessed it, there was food in the mixer bowl that was to be sold and the cat was dipping his paw into it trying to get at the blade! The worst part was that she had the cat's litter box in one corner of her kitchen. Yuck!!!

 

Please don't think I'm saying this is your situation; I'm not saying it at all. It's just that small home bakery businesses have a reputation among the health dept. that they must be regulated closely, and unlicensed ones must be fined and shut down. Period. Before anyone gets sick. I'd hate to see you get into trouble with a business, so please look closely at the requirements before starting one up. Good luck whatever you decide!