Georgia cottage food law: selling baked goods from home
General information, not legal advice. Rules change, and counties add their own. Check with your state and county before you start selling.
"Cottage food" is the term most states use for food made in a home kitchen and sold directly to customers. What it covers, and whether your state uses the phrase at all, differs by state.
The short answer
Yes, you can sell baked goods from your home kitchen in Georgia, and since 1 July 2025 you no longer need a state license to do it. House Bill 398 removed the licensing requirement and the license fee.
You may make non-potentially-hazardous foods — the things that keep safely at room temperature — and sell them directly to customers, online, and now to grocery stores, restaurants and convenience stores too. You still have to take an accredited food safety course, label your products the way the rules say, and check your own city or county for business license and zoning rules.
What you can and cannot sell
Georgia allows only non-potentially-hazardous food — food that does not need to be kept cold or hot to stay safe. The Department of Agriculture publishes the list:
- Loaf breads, rolls, biscuits
- Cakes
- Pastries and cookies
- Candies and confections
- Fruit pies
- Jams, jellies, preserves
- Dried fruits
- Dry herbs, seasonings, mixtures
- Cereals, trail mixes, granola
- Coated or uncoated nuts
- Vinegar and flavored vinegar
- Popcorn, popcorn balls, cotton candy
What that leaves out is everything that needs refrigeration: cheesecakes and cream-filled cakes, custards, meat, anything with a dairy filling, cut fruit, and canned low-acid vegetables. If your recipe has to live in the fridge, it is not a cottage food in Georgia.
Pet treats are a different license entirely. GDA: "Pet food and pet treats require a feed license from Agricultural Inputs." Georgia Department of Agriculture, Cottage Food
Do you need a license? No, not since July 2025
This is the part that has changed, and most of what you will read online is out of date.
House Bill 398 was signed on 13 May 2025 and took effect on 1 July 2025. In the Department of Agriculture’s own words, cottage food operators "no longer need to obtain a license with the Georgia Department of Agriculture (‘GDA’) or pay a licensing fee to the state." GDA, Cottage Food Update: HB 398 FAQ
There is no application, no $100 fee and no pre-licensing visit to your kitchen any more. GDA is still rewriting its rules to match the new law, and says it will "use its enforcement discretion in the meantime when an old requirement is no longer supported by HB 398, like the licensing requirement."
A warning worth the sentence: GDA’s older "Cottage Food Licenses" page still describes a $100 annual license. That page has not caught up with HB 398. If you land on it, you are reading the law as it was before July 2025.
One optional registration is worth knowing about. Your label normally has to carry your home address. If you would rather it did not, you can ask GDA for an Identification Number and print that instead.
How much can you sell, and where
- Annual sales cap
- None. No official Georgia source sets a revenue limit on cottage food sales.
- Direct to customers
- Yes — at home, at for-profit and non-profit events, at markets.
- Online
- Yes. GDA lists online sales explicitly.
- Delivery
- Yes, and HB 398 stops a city or county from banning commercial delivery companies from carrying cottage food.
- Shops and restaurants
- Yes, since HB 398 — grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants. Before July 2025 this was not allowed.
- Out of state
- Georgia’s rules govern sales in Georgia. Crossing a state line puts you under the other state’s law too, so do not assume a Georgia product may be shipped anywhere.
One catch to check locally: under HB 398 a city or county may pass an ordinance opting out of third-party sales, which would stop you selling through shops and restaurants in that jurisdiction. Direct sales to your own customers are not affected. GDA HB 398 FAQ, question 4
Cities and counties cannot otherwise regulate cottage food directly — but general rules still apply to you, like a local business license and zoning. Those are worth one phone call before you start.
What has to be on the label
Labeling is in Rule 40-7-19-.09, and it depends on how you sell.
A custom order — a wedding cake, a birthday cake — needs your business name and home address on the package, plus this statement, conspicuously placed:
MADE IN A COTTAGE FOOD OPERATION THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO STATE FOOD SAFETY INSPECTIONS.
The statement must be in Times New Roman or Arial, at least 10-point, in a color that contrasts with the label background.
Anything pre-packaged needs all of the above plus:
- the common name of the product;
- the ingredients, in descending order of weight;
- the net weight or volume;
- allergen labeling as the FDA requires;
- nutritional information, if you make a nutritional claim.
Selling from a bulk container is allowed too; the same information then has to reach the customer at the point of sale, on a card, a sign or a booklet.
Food safety training: still required
Losing the license did not lose the training. GDA requires cottage food operators to complete an ANSI-accredited food safety training program, and says plainly that "Food Handler training is acceptable for cottage food operators" — you do not need the longer Certified Food Manager course. GDA cottage food page
A food handler course is short, and low-cost online — check current providers for what it costs today.
Will anyone inspect your kitchen?
Not as a matter of routine. With no license there is no pre-licensing inspection. GDA "will still investigate consumer complaints, reports of foodborne illness, and public health emergencies." GDA HB 398 FAQ, question 3
If your house is on a well rather than a public water supply, GDA publishes separate water testing guidance — worth reading before you bake for sale.
Sales tax
Being exempt from food licensing is not being exempt from tax. Whether you need to register for Georgia sales tax, and whether what you sell is taxable, is a question for the Georgia Department of Revenue — ask them, or ask an accountant, before your first order.
We deliberately do not print a rate or a threshold here. Tax rules move, and a number on a guide page is how people end up filing wrong.
Official sources
- Cottage Food Update: House Bill 398 & Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)Georgia Department of Agriculture
- Cottage FoodGeorgia Department of Agriculture
- House Bill 398 (2025) — O.C.G.A. 26-2-470 et seq.Georgia General Assembly
- Rules 40-7-19, Cottage Food RegulationsGeorgia Secretary of State
- Sales and use taxGeorgia Department of Revenue
Last verified: 30 October 2026. Every number on this page is linked to the official page it comes from.
Questions people actually ask
Do I need a cottage food license in Georgia in 2026?
No. House Bill 398 removed the state licensing requirement on 1 July 2025, and with it the license fee. You do still need accredited food safety training, correct labels, and whatever business license or zoning permission your own city or county requires.
Can I sell my baked goods to a coffee shop or a grocery store?
Yes, since July 2025. HB 398 let cottage food operators sell to retail food sales establishments — grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants. One exception: a city or county may pass an ordinance opting out of third-party sales in its jurisdiction, so check locally before you pitch a shop.
Is there a limit on how much I can earn?
Georgia sets no annual revenue cap on cottage food sales. No official source publishes one. That is unusual — Texas caps it at $150,000 and California adjusts its cap every year.
Can I sell cheesecake or anything with a cream filling?
No. Georgia allows only non-potentially-hazardous foods — food that is safe at room temperature. Anything that has to be refrigerated to stay safe, including cheesecake, custards and cream fillings, is outside the cottage food rules.
Do I have to put my home address on every label?
By default yes, but you do not have to. You can request an Identification Number from the Georgia Department of Agriculture and print that on your labels instead of your home address.
Can I take orders online and deliver?
Yes. GDA lists online sales as allowed, and HB 398 stops cities and counties from banning commercial delivery services from carrying cottage food. Your order page, your pickup window and your delivery are all your decision.
Why do other websites say I need a $100 license?
Because they are quoting the law as it was before July 2025 — and so, at the time of writing, is one of the Department of Agriculture’s own older pages. The current source is the GDA’s HB 398 update, linked above.
Other states
- TexasNo permit · $150,000 cap · you must deliver online orders yourself
- CaliforniaCounty registration · $88,878 or $177,756 in 2026
- FloridaNo permit · $250,000 cap · mail order allowed by statute
- New YorkFree exemption, up to 16 weeks to be reviewed · no revenue cap · in-state only
- IllinoisRegister locally · no sales cap · online sales and in-state shipping allowed
- North CarolinaHome Processor program · kitchen inspected before you sell · an indoor pet disqualifies the kitchen
- New Jersey$100 permit for 2 years · $50,000 cap · NJ residents only, nothing in the post
- PennsylvaniaLimited Food Establishment · $35 a year · inspected · internet sales included
- ArizonaNo sales cap · refrigerated foods allowed · Arizona only, and TCS goes hand to hand
Tools
- Pricing calculator for home bakersWhat to charge, with your own numbers
- Price list templateFill it in, print it, hand it over — free, nothing saved
More guides
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