Homemade for Sale: How to Set Up and Market a Food Business from Your Home Kitchen

From farm-to-fork and “Buy Local” to slow food and hand-made artisan breads, more people than ever are demanding real food made with real ingredients by real people. Widely known as “cottage food legislation,” over forty-two states and many Canadian provinces have enacted recent legislation that encourages home cooks to create and sell a variety of “non-hazardous” food items, often defined as those that are high-acid, like pickles, or low moisture, like breads or cookies. Finally, “homemade” and “fresh from the oven” on the package can mean exactly what it says.

Homemade for Sale is the first authoritative guide to conceiving and launching your own home-based food start-up. Packed with profiles of successful cottage food entrepreneurs, this comprehensive and accessible resource covers everything you need to get cooking for your customers, creating items that by their very nature are specialized and unique. Topics covered include:

• Product development and testing
• Marketing and developing your niche
• Structuring your business and planning for the future
• Managing liability, risk, and government regulations

You can join a growing movement of entrepreneurs starting small food businesses from their home. No capital needed, just good recipes, enthusiasm, and commitment, plus enough know-how to turn fresh ingredients into sought-after treats for your local community. Everything required is probably already in your home kitchen. Best of all, you can start tomorrow!

Lisa Kivirist and John D. Ivanko are co-authors of Farmstead Chef , ECOpreneuring , and Rural Renaissance , and are innkeepers of the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast (innserendipity.com).