Consider a Cottage Food Business

Love to Cook? Have a recipe that everyone wants? Are you interested in owning your own small business?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you might want to explore how you could make these foods in your home kitchen and sell them to the public.

The Colorado Cottage Food Act allows Colorado residents to make and sell a limited range of non-potentially hazardous foods with no retail food licensing or commercial kitchen needed.  Colorado home cooks are allowed to generate up to $10,000 net revenue per eligible food product per calendar year.   Therefore, it means you could make $10,000 from your famous peanut butter cookies, and another $10,000 from your awesome oatmeal cookies, and so on this year.

Cottage Food Safety Training

Colorado State University Extension provides food safety training that meets the Cottage Food Act requirements.  This training is specifically geared to people wanting to safely operate a food business from a home kitchen under the Colorado Cottage Food Act.  For a list of upcoming training dates and sites go to the CSU Food Smart website.

Foods that can be produced under the Cottage Food Act:

• candies
• some types of baked goods
• flour
• dehydrated produce
• dried teas and seasoning mixes
• nuts, seeds and spices
• tortillas and fruit empanadas
• honey
• jams, jellies and preserves
• pickled fruits & vegetables with a pH of 4.6 or below, (see info under Lab services tab)

More Things to Know

In addition to knowing what foods are allowable under the Cottage Food Act, you need to know where you are allowed to sell your products. You will also need to know how to properly label and package your products.  And, you will need to take a food safety course that includes basic food handling training. To find a Cottage Food Safety Training in your area, go to CSU Food Smart website.

For more information on the Act, a list of additional acceptable food safety trainings or for a complete list of allowable and non-allowable foods visit the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment website at

For help in navigating the regulations for any food that you are interested in producing, go to Colorado Farm to Market.  This website is a cooperative effort of Colorado State University Extension, the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Farmers’ Market Association.