Breads, cookies, cakes, pastries — Florida Cottage Food Law
COTTAGE FOOD ELIGIBLE
Bottom line: Florida's Home Sweet Home Act gives cottage bakers the highest sales ceiling in the country — $250,000 a year — with no license, permit, or home inspection, as long as the product is shelf-stable and sold direct to the consumer.
The Path
Baked goods are the flagship of Florida's cottage food program under Fla. Stat. § 500.80. The 2021 Home Sweet Home Act (HB 663) raised the annual gross-sales cap from $50,000 to $250,000 — still the highest cap of any state — and confirmed that cottage producers can take orders online and ship within Florida by mail or courier. The statute also preempts local governments: a county or city cannot ban cottage food operations or impose its own extra rules on top of the state law, though a general local business tax receipt may still apply. The tradeoff for the light regulatory touch is that anything needing refrigeration for safety — cream cheese frosting, custard or cream fillings — falls outside the exemption.
What You Need
Stay under $250,000 in gross cottage food sales per year (revenue, not profit)
Sell only shelf-stable (non-TCS) baked goods, direct to the end consumer
Label every package with the 6 required elements, including the FDACS disclosure statement
Keep basic sales records in case FDACS asks to see them
Watch Out For
No cream cheese frosting, custard, or cream fillings — anything requiring refrigeration is excluded
No wholesale to stores/restaurants and no shipping out of state
Exceed $250,000/year and you must transition to a licensed food establishment
Citations
Fla. Stat. § 500.80 – Cottage Food Operations
HB 663 (2021), "Home Sweet Home Act" – raised the cap from $50,000 to $250,000