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If You Want to Sell Cookies From Home, Here's How to Get Started

If you're in love with making recipes for cookies, have 100 different types of cookies ready to sell, and want to make the most of your cookie-making talent, there's no better business than an online homemade cookie business! For those wondering how to start selling baked goods from home, we'll have the answers for you below.

Make sure to research your state and county local health laws if you're interested in how to sell cookies form home. Most importantly, have fun while doing so!

Laws for Homemade Cookie Business

If you're wondering how to sell cookies online, it's important to familiarize yourself with your state's cottage food laws. Cottage food laws are laws that revolve around the sale of food that isn't regulated from a health department. Many states now allow bakers to sell their products from home and even online! Products you can sell include:

Fortunately, cookies are mostly safe if left in room temperature, and are shelf stable. However, if you have a recipe that involves a danish-style cookie or cookies with cream custard or ice cream, research your state laws first.

Can I Sell Cookies Online?

In addition to state laws, if you're wondering how to sell homemade cookies online, you should also research the laws surrounding online sales. For instance, in the state of California, you can definitely sell your top baked goods online, but can only do so within state lines and also for direct to person sales with a Class A license.

Other states will require you to sell your products online, but only deliver through your personal company instead of a third-party delivery service (such as Postmates). These states might also require your customers to pick up their cookies in person, although they are free to use an online order form for cookies when placing their order.

We recommend speaking with your local health department and researching your state's cottage food laws for selling cookies online before making any sales. Doing so will allow you to know how to label your cookies, fees you will need to pay, sales caps, and other information for your online cookie business.

How to Perfect Your Recipe

After doing your research on how to sell cookies online, you'll need to perfect your recipe! Keep in mind that your cookies need to be self-stable. Fortunately, the most popular cookies in the world can be freely enjoyed without refrigeration. These include:

The list goes on! To make the best selling homemade cookies, do a little bit of taste testing with your friends and family. This is perfectly legal if it's among shared people and not for sale! Give them a taste of your cookie recipe, and take notes to see what they like, what they don't like, changes to your recipe such as adding more or less butter, and other details.

Being diligent about your recipe and keeping food safety in mind will allow you to create the best and tastiest recipe for bigger profit!

How to Start a Cookie Business: Marketing Tips

Once you have your permits and your recipe in order, it's time to start marketing to potential customers. To do so, we recommend the following:

Social Media For Homemade Cookies Online

Social media is one of the best tools to help promote and also sell cookies online. A food business Instagram, such as a page dedicated to your cookie business, will allow you to keep up with current market trends, follow and support other small businesses, and network to promote your cookies.

If you're wondering how to sell cookies on Instagram, Instagram has a new business feature that allows you to tag your products, link to your online store, and acts as a bridge between potential customers and real sales! Make sure to have a website ready to go when you create your cookie business Instagram, so you can get the most sales.

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