Vermont has a cottage law that allows for a home bakery or home-based food processing license. This gives food businesses in Vermont a big break when it comes to start-up costs and overhead. The process for certifying your home kitchen is fairly simple, but the information can be hard to find or understand. Here is some basic information about the process and requirements:
- *For a home bakery, you will need a license if you gross more than $125 per week in sales. A food processor requires a license above $10,000 in annual gross sales. As for whether you are a home bakery, food processor or some other sort of designation, you will have to contact the Vermont Department of Health to clarify.
- *To get a license, it is fastest to contact the sanitarian in your area. The sanitarians have a very large area to cover as you can tell from the map, so it may take a few weeks to schedule an inspection.
- *For the inspection, you should have the ability to clean like a commercial kitchen, but with home-scale equipment. This means you must have a home-scale oven, stove, and sink, but have bleach or sanitizing tablets and a third bay for your sink. If you have a two-bay sink, you will need to get a plastic tub for your third basin. Every place you store or cook perishable food should have a thermometer (fridge, freezer, and oven).
- *You will also want to make sure that you check in with your local zoning department to make sure you have the proper zoning in your home (ie. Burlington requires that your home is zoned for in-home occupation).
- *No pets, or at least they must be unable to enter your workspace, but even then most sanitarians will be wary.