Cottage Food Laws have been passed in all but twelve states. If you are unfortunate enough to live in one of those states, I know you must feel frustrated. Before you decide to put your house on the market and move to a state that allows home baking, you might want to consider joining the cottage food movement.
It is a part of a larger movement to make it possible for small business to get a start without a huge investment. There are a lot of good arguments in favor of the cottage food initiative. It makes it possible to let the consumer have ready access to food made without preservatives. It also supports foods produced locally. Cottage foods pose little risk to the public because they only permit home food processing of non hazardous foods.
At the writing of this blog, there are eight states that have cottage food laws pending. They are California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, South Carolina. Each of those states have FaceBook Fan pages set up. when you click on those links, you can see that there is a lot of activity going on there. Getting new laws added to the books takes some work, but ask those who live in the states that Cottage Food laws if it was worth the work.
I know how I felt when I ran into roadblocks everywhere I turned. I was good at baking, I knew there were people who did not have the time or inclination to bake who could really benefit from what I loved to do. But, the law at the time made it impossible for me to simply bake and sell the things I loved to produce. Now that is becoming possible in so many states, and that is really exciting!
How to Start a Movement in Your State to Add Cottage Food Laws
Wishing that your state would add the laws to you state probably won’t do much to make that happen. You can take action and get the ball rolling though. Here are some ideas to start with, I am sure once you start taking action, you will think of others:
- Start a buzz about Cottage Laws, tell everyone you know about them and how they work
- Find other solopreneurs who would benefit from passing these laws and combine your efforts to get the word out
- Contact your state representatives and ask them to introduce a bill, perhaps you and other interested parties can help draft the bill. You can find bills from other states to use as an example
- Check out any sustainable movements in your state and partner with them
- Contact the Governor of you state
- Ask your friends and family and ask them to contact your Representatives and encourage passage of a Cottage Food Law bill
- Use Social Media to get the word out. Start a Facebook Fan page like those listed above and get people interested and keep them interested. Don’t give up, keep pushing
Make telephone calls to your Representatives and Senators, yes the Governor too. Write letters, lots of them. Once you draft a letter, send it to everyone you know and ask them to sign a copy and send it to your lawmakers too! In the meantime, I would love to talk about how to get involved during the free mini coaching calls that are going to start soon. Sign up to be included. to leave a comment, simply click comment.
If you are interested in starting a Cottage Food Law movement in your state, take a look at what Michigan has done
bakery, baking, cottage food initiative, cottage food laws, cottage food movement, cottage foods, home baking, home food processing, home-basd baking
