Florida cottage food law: what you can sell, the $250,000 cap, labels, and markets

Florida asks very little of someone who wants to sell homemade food. There's no state permit, no inspection, and no fee to sell cookies, bread or jam from your home kitchen, as long as you stay at or under $250,000 a year. For a home baker, that makes a farmers market or a holiday market the obvious first step.

The catch is in the details. The law is short, but the state's guidance adds rules that trip people up at the market: no cream cheese frosting, no cutting samples at the booth, no selling next to food that needs a permit. And markets set their own rules on top. This guide covers what Florida's cottage food law lets you make, where you can sell it, what goes on the label, and what Florida markets actually ask cottage food vendors for, counted from our catalog. For how other states compare, see our state-by-state cottage food license guide.

The short answer

• No permit, no fee, no inspection. Under Florida Statutes 500.80, a cottage food operation is exempt from the state food permit as long as its gross sales of cottage food stay at or under $250,000 a year.
• Only foods that don't need refrigeration. Breads, cookies, cakes without dairy frostings, candy, jams, honey you harvested, dry mixes and similar. No meat, no cream cheese or real-butter frosting, no salsa, no pet treats, according to the state's cottage food guidance.
• Sell in person, online or by mail, but never wholesale. Farmers markets, flea markets, roadside stands, your website and shipping are all fine. Stores, restaurants and consignment are not.
• Every item needs a label with your name and home address, the ingredients, net weight, allergens, and the line "Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations."
• Markets add their own rules. In October 2026, 43 of the 205 Florida farmers markets in our catalog mentioned cottage food in their vendor requirements, and 11 asked cottage food vendors to send a copy or photo of their label in place of a food license.

Do you need a permit to sell cottage food in Florida?

No. Florida doesn't issue a cottage food license or registration at all. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) says cottage food operators "can produce and sell these products directly to consumers without obtaining a food permit." The state's guidance adds that cottage food operations "are not inspected by any state government entity."

That doesn't mean nobody can check. Under the statute, FDACS can investigate a complaint and, only after a complaint, inspect your kitchen. Refusing that inspection is grounds for discipline.

A cottage food operation can be a person or a business entity, but the food has to be made at a home. The guidance defines it as one that makes its products "at the residence of a natural person" (or of a person who owns part of the entity). A few things follow from that:

• A rented commercial kitchen doesn't count. "Cottage food can only be made in the kitchen of your home," the guidance says. Once you rent a commissary, you need a food permit.
• Storage stays in the house. Ingredients and finished products go in your kitchen, a spare room or a dry basement, not a garage, shed or barn.
• Nonprofits can't use the exemption, because they don't have a home kitchen.
• The city or county can't ban you. The law preempts local regulation of cottage food to the state. You still follow the rules for home-based businesses, such as parking.

Which foods you can sell under Florida's cottage food law

The rule behind the list is simple: a cottage food can't be a food that needs time or temperature control for safety (a TCS food). If it has to stay in the fridge to be safe, it isn't cottage food. A commenter in an r/florida thread put it plainly: "It has to do with whether or not the finished product needs refrigeration."

FDACS lists these approved cottage food products:

The state guidance answers the edge cases that come up most at markets:

Allowed: cake pops (without a filling that isn't allowed or inedible decorations like disco dust), caramel and candy apples, fruit butters such as apple butter, hard candies and lollipops, nut butters, whole bean or ground coffee you roast, dry bread and baking mixes, flour you grind, and sweet breads and muffins with fruit or vegetables baked into the batter.

Not allowed: cream cheese and butter icings ("These items require refrigeration"), pumpkin and sweet potato pies, vegetable butters like pumpkin butter, salsa, barbecue sauce and other "wet" products, cooked vegetable products, jerky and dehydrated meats, empanadas and other meat-filled foods, bottled juice, foods with hemp extract or CBD, pet treats, and baked goods garnished with fresh fruit. You also can't bake with produce you canned at home, though commercially canned fillings are fine.

Frosting is where most market bakers get caught. The guidance allows icings made with margarine, shortening or vegan butter, but not real-butter buttercream or cream cheese. A commenter in the same r/florida thread noted that "if you go to most any farmers' market you'll see people selling things under cottage food laws (like cake with butter cream frosting) that they shouldn't be." That's a risk to you, not a loophole: a complaint is what triggers an inspection. Some bakers move to a licensed kitchen for exactly this reason. A Florida baker said in a video (December 2025) that it's "one of the biggest reasons I decided to do it right and get licensed and inspected by the Health Department, because I want to use cream cheese. I want to use real butter."

How the $250,000 sales cap works

Florida's cap is $250,000 in gross sales of cottage food a year, far above most states in our cottage food license guide. The statute counts "all sales of cottage food products at any location, regardless of the types of products sold or the number of persons involved in the operation." Markets, online orders and custom cakes all add up to one number, before costs.

FDACS can ask you for written records that show your annual gross sales, so keep them. Card reader reports plus a log of cash sales for each market day are an easy way to do it. If you're close to the cap, the next step is a food permit and a permitted kitchen (below).

Where you can sell: markets, online, mail and events

The statute lets a cottage food operation sell over the internet or by mail order, and deliver "in person directly to the consumer, to a specific event venue, or by United States Postal Service or commercial mail delivery service." The state guidance names the places vendors use most: "Sales are also approved by mail-order, at farmers' markets, flea markets and roadside stands, provided you have no other food items in your space that require a food permit."

What you can't do:

• Sell wholesale. No selling to restaurants, grocery stores, wholesalers or distributors.
• Sell on consignment. The guidance says the sale must be "person-to-person which means from the producer to the actual consumer."
• Use a third party to deliver. You or your business delivers to the customer or to their private event venue, such as a wedding.
• Sell from a shop you rent. The guidance gives the example of a baker with an antique shop: no cottage food sales from it.

For wedding cakes and other items you can't put a sticker on, the guidance says the full label goes on the invoice, delivered with the cake, or on the box.

Florida cottage food label requirements

The label is the one piece of paperwork Florida requires, and it's what markets ask to see. The statute says every product must be prepackaged with a label showing:

1. The name and address of the cottage food operation.
2. The name of the product.
3. The ingredients, in descending order of predominance by weight.
4. The net weight or net volume.
5. Allergen information, as federal labeling rules require.
6. Nutrition information, but only if you make a nutritional claim.
7. The statement "Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations." printed in at least 10-point type in a color that contrasts with the background.

The state guidance settles the questions sellers ask most:

• Address: "You must use the physical address of your home kitchen on your product label, not a post office box." A Florida baker on r/cottagebakery said the same: "The address of your kitchen must be on the label so you can't use a PO Box."
• Sub-ingredients: if you use a prepared ingredient, list what's in it. "Soy sauce" alone isn't enough; it has to read "soy sauce (wheat, soybeans, salt)."
• Tree nuts: name the nut ("almonds"), not just "nuts."
• No lab needed: you can write the ingredient list yourself.

On allergens, the guidance (revised in July 2021) lists eight food groups, but federal law has added one since. Sesame became the ninth major food allergen on January 1, 2023, so it belongs on your label too. The nine are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. You can name them in the ingredient list or add a "Contains:" line after it.

Samples, displays and sharing a booth

Three rules from the state guidance shape what a cottage food booth looks like:

• Samples are packaged at home. "If you sample bread, you cannot cut it at the market, but can cut it in your home kitchen and individually wrap or package the bread samples into sample cups with lids." Samples don't need their own labels, but labeled packages of the same product have to be on display beside them.
• Everything for sale is prepackaged and labeled. No open trays of cookies sold by the piece.
• Keep cottage food apart from permitted food. Cottage food "may not be sold with or associated with a regulated food business," and a permitted vendor, food truck or roadside stand can't sell your cottage food for you. If you share a booth with a food truck or a permitted baker, their food and yours can't be in the same space.

That last rule cuts the other way too. Florida's restaurant regulator, the DBPR, tells vendors at temporary events that "Food prepared in a private home or under the Cottage Food Law is not allowed" in a DBPR-licensed booth.

Business tax receipts and sales tax

Business tax receipt. Florida's home-business law says a home-based business "is only subject to applicable business taxes under chapter 205 in the county and municipality in which the home-based business is located" (s. 559.955). In practice that's the local business tax receipt (BTR) from your county and city tax collector, and some markets and venues ask for it. A Florida baker on r/cottagebakery asked about exactly this: "One vendor is asking for a business tax receipt from the county which is located." An Orlando sourdough baker ran into forms that seemed to assume a storefront; one commenter suggested writing "Exempt Cottage Food. F.S. 500.80. See attached." on the food permit line. Call your tax collector before your first market. A Florida cottage baker who had just bought hers said in a video (August 2026): "I just paid $70 for two years."

Sales tax. The cottage food law doesn't exempt you from tax. Florida's general sales tax rate is 6%, plus a county surtax in many counties. Most bakery products sold to take home are exempt food. In a 2015 technical assistance advisement to a cottage food baker who sold at vendor events, the Department of Revenue said:

• Sales of baked goods for eating off the premises were exempt, including at vendor events.
• Sales at an event "where the entrance has an admission charge" were taxable.
• Anything "regarded as candy" was taxable.

An advisement is binding only for the business that asked, so treat it as a guide and confirm with the Department of Revenue if you sell candy, sell at ticketed events, or sell drinks. Some markets put it in their rules: Wildlight Market Place in Yulee says "vendors collect applicable sales tax."

When you need a food permit instead

If your product needs refrigeration, you want to sell to stores, you'd go over $250,000, or you'd rather bake in a commercial kitchen, you're outside the cottage food law. Which permit you need depends on what you sell:

• Prepackaged or shelf-stable food from a booth or table: an FDACS food permit. FDACS treats "tables, booths or kiosks" as mobile food establishments and asks for the application 21 days before you open. You'll also need a commissary, a permitted kitchen that supports the booth, unless you sell only prepackaged food that doesn't need temperature control, in which case one may not be required.
• Food prepared or cooked at the event: a DBPR license. A temporary event license costs $91 for a 1 to 3 day event, $105 for 4 to 30 days, or $456 for a year, and it's issued after an inspection at the event.

The compound-butter maker in an r/florida thread reached the same conclusion: "I would need to rent out space in a commercial kitchen/commissary since butter is a perishable food, so I cannot process it in my own home."

What Florida markets ask cottage food vendors for

The state doesn't ask for paperwork, but markets do. On October 5, 2026, 43 of the 205 Florida farmers markets in the Vendorbound catalog mentioned cottage food in their vendor requirements, and so did 8 of the 101 Florida holiday markets. The pattern: markets ask food vendors for a permit or license, and accept a cottage food label in its place.

• Fresh Market at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel asks for a "Cottage food label image, for cottage food vendors in lieu of a license."
• Ocala Farm Market wants a "Copy of the approved cottage food label if operating under Florida's Cottage Law."
• Maitland Farmers' Market asks for an "example photo of product labels conforming to Cottage Labeling Requirements."
• The Sunday Market at Westshore Marina District in Tampa: "cottage food vendors upload a cottage food label instead."
• Miracle City Market in Titusville allows "only pre-packaged or Florida-compliant cottage foods."
• Hunters Creek Farmers Market in Orlando asks food vendors for "a copy of their current Florida Food License prior to their first market," and adds that "Cottage Law operators must meet all Cottage Law requirements."
• The Holiday Night Market in Lakeland says "Food vendors must either be cottage food or licensed with Department of Ag or DBPR."

A few markets close the door entirely. Coconut Barrel Artisan Market in St. Augustine says: "Annual Food Permit Upload is Required, we do not accept Cottage Food Vendors." The state's guidance says markets are allowed to do this: some "may require vendors to have a food establishment license or to meet other requirements," and those local policies are "generally outside the scope of any cottage food regulations."

Insurance isn't part of the cottage food law either, but it can be part of a market's rules. A Florida baker said in a video (April 2025): "While general liability insurance is not a requirement, some vendor events might require it." Our vendor insurance guide covers what a policy costs.

So the label does double duty. Get it right before you apply, because it's often the first thing a market manager sees. For the rest of a market application, from booth fees to what to bring, see how to sell at a farmers market.

Has Florida's cottage food law changed?

The last real change was in 2021. House Bill 663, which the Legislature called the "Home Sweet Home Act," took effect on July 1, 2021. According to the Senate's bill summary, it raised the sales cap from $50,000 to $250,000, allowed sales by mail order and delivery by mail, let a business entity (not only a person) run a cottage food operation, and preempted local regulation of cottage food to the state.

In 2025 the Legislature reenacted the first paragraph of the law as part of a larger bill about FDACS, only to update a cross-reference, with no change to what cottage food sellers can do. The 2026 Florida Statutes show the same rules. If you read an older guide that says $50,000 or "no mail order," it's from before 2021.

Where to sell cottage food in Florida now

On October 5, 2026, the 90 Florida farmers markets in our catalog that list a booth fee for all vendors had a median lowest fee of $35, and the 67 Florida holiday markets that list one had a median of $75. Holiday markets are worth the application: a Florida cookie baker said in a video (December 2025), "It was so chilly, but we sold 118 cookies." Browse Florida farmers markets and Florida holiday markets to check each market's food rules before you apply.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a license to sell baked goods from home in Florida?

No. Florida doesn't issue a cottage food license. You can sell allowed foods made in your home kitchen without a state permit as long as gross sales stay at or under $250,000 a year and every item carries the required label. Your county or city may still require a local business tax receipt.

Can I sell cottage food at a Florida farmers market?

Yes. The state's guidance names farmers markets, flea markets and roadside stands as approved places to sell, as long as nothing else in your space needs a food permit. Many markets will ask for a photo or copy of your label, and a few don't accept cottage food vendors at all.

Can I sell buttercream cupcakes or empanadas under Florida's cottage food law?

No. The state's guidance says cream cheese frosting and real-butter frosting need refrigeration, and meat-filled foods like empanadas are excluded. Icings made with shortening, margarine or vegan butter are allowed.

Can I ship cottage food in Florida?

Yes. Since 2021 the law has allowed sales over the internet and by mail order, delivered by the US Postal Service or a commercial carrier. The products still can't be sold wholesale or through a store.

Do I have to put my home address on my cottage food label?

Yes. The state's guidance says the label must show the physical address of your home kitchen, not a post office box, so a product can be traced if there's a complaint.

Do I charge sales tax on cottage food in Florida?

Usually not on baked goods sold to take home, but the Department of Revenue has said candy is taxable, and so are sales at events that charge admission. Check with the Department of Revenue for your products.