First, you need to get your kitchen licensed. This  requires a city or county inspection by the board of health. There are also commercial kitchens you can rent and since they are already licensed, you will not have to get a business license for you home kichen but you still need one for your business of selling food. You can find  a commercial kitchen to rent by looking under catering in the phone book or speaking with a catering company.

You will also need supplies to package your prepared food.  Jars, boxes and bags can be purchased in large quantities so you will need a wholesale here as well.  Keep in mind supplies are taxable when sold but if you have the seller's permit, you can get them tax free.  Label your food product, make sure it includes a use by date, the ingredients and where it was made.

Then, you need to write down the  ingredients for the food you will be cooking and all the stuff you plan to use. You need to find wholesalers to buy them from. When contacting suppliers, let them know you are a business and will be placing bulk orders. To sell your prepared food, you will need a seller's permit because prepared food is taxable.   Some of the ingrendiends are prepared food already and in order to buy them without paying taxes, you will need a seller's permit.  Often, wholesalers will set up an account for you and give you bulk discounts.

You need A Business License, A DBA and A Seller's Permit. **************** All alcohol selling businesses are required to obtain a business license, so you need a liquor license, and  1. A Business License. 2. You are not using your last name in your business name so you will need to file a DBA business name certificates, and 3. Since you are selling taxable items, you need a Seller's Permit. NOTE: You don’t need a seller’s permit if your business is located in Alaska, Oregon or New Hampshire - In these states, you can use a federal tax id number instead of a resellers / seller’s permit number. However, if your business is located in any of these states (Michigan, Georgia, New York, Maryland and Nevada, you will need to obtain a Federal Tax Id, in addition to a Sellers Permit. It’s recommended that instead of a DBA certificate, you may want to incorporate of form an LLC to protect your personal assets from transactions arising out of business transactions. In general, forming an LLC is a good choice.

 Simply apply at the state and local levels.

 You can get business license here online.

 You need to get these license because it is the law and you will be illegally operating.

Finally, how are you going to sell the food you cook?   If you will be selling it by mail, make up your catalogs or set up a website. If you will be selling in bulk to local businesses, you will need to approach them with samples of your food.  You can also try  to sell at local craft shows and farmers markets.

Honey, produce, canned goods and baked goods do well in craft shows and farmers markets.  Don't forget that if you use a name other than your own legal name to do business, you will need to register your trade name.   We can obtain the business license, the seller's permit and the trade name here online for you. 

Business license cost starts at $79