Miami Cottage Food Business Lawyer

Need to understand the Sunshine State's cottage food regulations? Download our comprehensive Florida Cottage Food Guide for a roadmap to starting and running your home-based food business!

Key Concepts

• Cottage Food Operation: An individual producing or packaging food products at their residence for direct sale to consumers under Florida Statute 500.80.
• Cottage Food Product: Non-hazardous food items produced and sold by a cottage food operation within the guidelines of Florida law.
• Residence: Your primary home where you live and operate your cottage food business, featuring a standard kitchen with typical residential appliances. You're limited to one conventional stove/oven (though double ovens are permitted).
• Potentially Hazardous Food: Foods requiring temperature control to remain safe by preventing harmful microorganism growth. These include raw animal products, certain plant foods, cut melons, cut greens, and special preparations like garlic-in-oil that haven't been modified for safety.

Starting a home-based food business in Miami opens exciting opportunities for culinary entrepreneurs. The cottage food law in Florida allows you to create and sell certain food products right from your home kitchen without commercial facilities, licenses, or permits.

This type of goods cannot be sold to a wholesaler, broker, distributor, restaurant, or shop.

Face-to-face selling is allowed at farmers’ markets, pop-up stores, flea markets, and roadside stands. However, cottage foods can’t be sold at wholesale, or a licensed retail shop such as a coffee shop that requires a permit.

A thing to consider here is that even though you don’t need a food license for cottage products, some farmers’ markets or other places where you sell person-to-person may require it, as they can have their own rules, which aren't covered by the state's cottage food regulations

2021 Florida Cottage Food Law Update

July 2021 brought welcome changes to Florida's cottage food landscape through the Home Sweet Home Act. This legislation expanded opportunities by:

• Raising the annual sales ceiling to $250,000 (previously just $50,000)
• Allowing online sales
• Permitting shipping via the United States Postal Service (USPS) and commercial carriers within state bounds
• Enabling delivery to events

Cottage Food Law in Miami-Dade & Broward Counties

While the Florida state cottage food law provides an accessible entry point for home-based food entrepreneurs, local county regulations add important requirements that you should know about.

• Miami-Dade County imposes spatial limitations — your cottage food production must be in your kitchen only, and that kitchen cannot exceed 25% of your total residence. You'll also need to obtain a certificate of use, and a permitting process may be required.
• You don’t have to undergo a kitchen inspection before launching your cottage food business. However, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) can still inspect your operation if a customer complains about your food or practices. In such cases, inspectors may visit your home.
• Broward County cottage food law mandates that all businesses secure a business license. Depending on the operating name, this entails either an assumed business name certificate for those using a trade name (different from their full legal name) or a standard name certificate (requiring an EIN) for those operating under their full legal name.