Starting your own home bakery in Oklahoma is a great way to earn extra income and an easy way to start your journey as an entrepreneur! Oklahoma now has one of the best cottage food laws in the country if you are interested in selling food from your home.
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Here are a few great reasons to start your own small bakery from home:
- Low start up cost
- Test your business concept on a small scale before investing
- Keep control of your own schedule. Work as much or as little as you want
- Make money for doing what you love
- Get paid for that famous food that everyone always asks you to make
- A perfect side gig
- It’s a great personal fundraiser or seasonal business, extreme flexibility
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Oklahoma Homemade Food Freedom Act
This is big, my friends! This made me do an actual happy dance. These are the rules that took effect as of November 1, 2021!
Here are the big changes:
- There is a new bill number to go with the new name: Oklahoma HB 1032/ Home Food Freedom Act.
- The income cap for gross sales is $75,000 (previously $20,000) – no deductions for costs or expenses.
- The limitation of “traditional baked good” has been removed and the scope widened to include fresh fruit, time/ temperature controlled items, and other foods that are not traditional baked goods. (No meat, seafood, alcohol, or cannabis allowed)
- Make food at home for sale or resale without restriction where it’s sold.
- You can sell pretty much anywhere as long as you display a placard near the items stating:
“This product was produced in a
private residence that is exempt from government
licensing and inspection. This product may contain
allergens.”
- Before you can sell time or temperature controlled for safety items, you must pass an approved food handler’s safety training. (I took the food manager’s course from ServSafe and I learned so much!)
- Besides name, address, and the required statement: ” This product was produced in a private residence that is exempt from government licensing and inspection.” You must list the ingredients in descending order of proportion and known allergens.
- You can also SHIP your products!
- If there is an outbreak of foodborne illness stemming from your home baking business, you will be subject to the same investigations, inspections, and liabilities as a retail establishment. Liability insurance is a good idea.
As you can see, BIG changes have taken place. You can read the bill in it’s entirety here: Homemade Food Freedom Act
Helpful items for Home Bakery Owners
As I was writing this article, I started remembering how anxious I was trying to package my desserts and make sure I was following the law. There was so much to think about.
When I started my home bakery, I bought bakery boxes from JoAnn Fabrics. It’s a retail store nearby that has a great baking section! I would write with a sharpie on the box and my husband printed me out some logos that I glued on with a glue stick!
Hey… it worked and didn’t look bad, but wasn’t super professional. After we knew for sure this bakery thing was going to work, we looked for a better solution!
Stickers and stamps are both great options. We went with went with Custom Rocker Stamps and got one for the inside of boxes and one for the outside of the box. They aren’t cheap, so make sure you get the right size for all of your boxes and do all the proofreading multiple times.
This is what the Custom Rocker Stamps on Etsy look like along with a stack of my printed 6″ x 6″ X 3″ boxes for Friday Pie Day
With the new allergen requirement, this might be a great solution for you: Bakery Allergen Stamp
Good Luck on Your Home Bakery Journey!
I hope this helped clarify some regulations for Oklahoma home baking businesses. If you still have questions, please leave a comment or contact me and I will be happy to help.