Home Baking Business

Does anyone know what all is involved in starting a small home based baking business. I am sure that the health department needs to look at something but not sure what all is involved.

You've got PM.

Sorry, did I miss something? What does Leah's answer - you've got PM - mean?
Anyway, if you didn't get your answer, call the health department, they have all the requirements and can send you the info. In a nutshell, you need a dedicated kitchen, as in your garage, basement or spare bedroom that meets the practically same requirements as a commercial kitchen not in your home.
Hope this helps.

I means Personal Message or Private Mail, Carolyne. If you look below your message you will see the PM tab next t your Profile Tab.

[Robin Garr]

I means Personal Message or Private Mail, Carolyne. If you look below your message you will see the PM tab next t your Profile Tab.

I kind of hope Leah will give a public summary anyway. Except when it's truly personal communiations of no interest to the group, the round-table nature of forum threads is a bit part of what makes these conversations interesting - and potentially useful to others who may track down the discussion later.

Carolyne has it in a nutshell, which makes it very difficult for you to bake goods in your home- commercial requirements are very expensive to implement.

However, there is one exception I know of: if you are a farmer in Kentucky using your crop to bake/can/etc with, you do not need to meet the commercial requirements, there are MUCH less stringent requirements and the kitchen does not have to be a dedicated space. This is a special program by Kentucky Agriculture , to encourage small farmers to create (Kentucky Proud) products and support the family farm. More info on this program can be found at the www.ky.ag.org site.

The other approach, assuming you don't qualify for the above, would be to potential rent space in a commercial kitchen to create your product. I know several people who have started off this way. Alot of restaurant kitchens are not being used from very late at night until lunch/dinner prep time so it may be possible to work something out with the owner.

Hope this helps,
Deb

I got this reply from the health department so I believe I will be cooking them at Norma Jeans as needed

To prepare and sell food in your home, you would need a completely seperate kitchen to be used only for this purpose.
You would need a 3 compartment sink with drain boards, a separate hand sink, floors walls and ceilings are to be an easily
cleanable surface.

As this is considered a wholesale operation, you would not be inspected by the local Health Dept. but some one from
the food branch in Frankfort would inspect your operation.

If you live in Oldham County, the area inspector is Sue Jewell. Her office number is 859-371-2278. She has a packet already
put together that she can send you with further information about this process.

If you live in Jefferson Co. the area inspector is Joe Howard Rogers. His number is 502-348-5821.

Also here is a link to the KY government website with more information: http://chfs.ky.gov/dph/info/phps/food.htm
There is a specific area regarding wholesale food.

A bit too expensive for me at the moment. But I invite everyone once again to try it at Normas and give me feedback. I am especially open to new flavor combinations. The standard cheesecake I sell them is Triple Chocolate Brownie bottomed with a layer of peanut butter. I am batting around a blackout cheesecake with tons of chocolate throughout. Special thanks to Leah on her help and everyone else.

A wholesale operation is a little different animal from a catering operation. Although the requirements are about the same, there are labeling issues with a wholesale operation.

General requirements are three compartment sink or a ware washing machine with external temp read; hand sink (can be a bar sink), hand soap and paper towels; bathroom with self closing door (self-closing hinge) and covered trashcan; mop sink in the building (can be a regular sink if you can lift the mop bucket); and sanitation training. Potable water goes without saying, refrigerator (does not have to be commercial) with thermometer.

There are a couple of things I shared with Ned in the PM, that I don't feel particularly comfortable sharing with the general public. heh, heh, trade secrets.

I maintain both food service and catering licenses.

Although the regulations and requirements differ from state to state, these sound similar to Indiana's. Indiana just recently got rid of the separate distinction of farm kitchen because, as the local health department told me, there were too many of them that were something of a horror. Which made me reconsider whether I'd ever buy any home made goods from farmers' markets again.

Anyway, just wanted to note that you may be able to use those great big laundry basin sinks in lieu of a commercial three-basin sink. It's considerably cheaper and they work well for me. We also had a big work space/counter top affair custom built from Home Depot which we mounted to a couple of rolling carts and it was relatively inexpensive to put that together, and it works beautifully.

If you need good deals on equipment, there's a place near me out in the boonies, just outside Clark Forest, that has two barns crammed bull of used restaurant equipment at some really good prices. If you're interested, email me and I'll find the number.