How to Sell Food From Home in Florida (2026 Guide)

If you live in Florida and you can cook, the law is genuinely on your side. Florida has one of the most generous cottage food laws in the entire country — no permit, no license, no inspection, and a $250,000 annual sales cap that's five times higher than what most states allow. From Miami abuelas selling guava pastelitos to Tampa bakers shipping key lime pies across the state, Florida's home kitchens are quietly one of the best small-business opportunities around. Here's exactly how to do it right.

For the national overview, see our step-by-step guide to selling food from home. This one is Florida-specific — and if you want to see how different states stack up, compare it with our Texas and California guides.

1. Why Florida Is a Home Cook's Dream

Florida's Cottage Food Law lives in Section 500.80 of the Florida Statutes, and it got a massive upgrade in 2021. That update did three huge things at once: it raised the income cap to $250,000, it explicitly legalized online sales and statewide shipping, and it added state preemption so cities and counties can't pile on their own rules. Practically overnight, Florida went from average to one of the best states in the country for home food businesses.

The program is overseen by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) — but "overseen" is a generous word, because there's almost nothing for you to file. The law trusts home cooks to make safe, shelf-stable products and label them properly. That's the deal.

2. No Permit, No License, No Inspection

Let's be crystal clear about how little you have to do to start. In Florida, a cottage food operation requires:

• ❌ No permit from FDACS
• ❌ No business license from the state for the cottage food operation itself
• ❌ No kitchen inspection
• ❌ No registration or application
• ❌ No state-mandated food handler's card

You read that right — Florida doesn't even require a food handler's license to begin. You can start today. That said, taking a low-cost food safety course is smart: it protects your customers, your reputation, and you. It's the difference between a hobby and a business that lasts.

3. The $250,000 Income Cap

Most states cap cottage food somewhere between $25,000 and $75,000. Florida sits at $250,000 in gross annual sales — and that changes the math entirely. This isn't a "side hustle" cap; it's a "quit-your-job-if-you-want-to" cap.

If you ever cross $250,000, congratulations — you've outgrown cottage food and it's time for a licensed commercial kitchen. Caps can change, so confirm the current figure with FDACS before scaling.

4. The State Preemption Rule (Big Deal)

This is the part most people miss, and it's genuinely important. Florida's 2021 law added state preemption for cottage food. In plain English: your city or county cannot require its own permit, charge its own fee, or use zoning to shut down your home food business. The state rules are the only rules.

That matters because in a lot of states, the cottage food law is generous but the local code office isn't — and home cooks get hassled by city inspectors anyway. Florida closed that loophole. As long as you follow the state cottage food rules, a Miami-Dade or Hillsborough County code officer can't make you stop. That legal certainty is a real asset when you're building something.

5. What You Can & Can't Sell

The rule is the same as everywhere: cottage foods must be shelf-stable and non-potentially-hazardous — safe at room temperature, no refrigeration required.

What you CAN sell:

• Breads & baked goods: Cuban bread, pan, cookies, cakes and cupcakes without cream/custard, fruit pies, pastries with shelf-stable fillings (guava & non-dairy cheese-style fillings that meet the rules)
• Candies & confections: Fudge, dulce de leche–style confections that are shelf-stable, brittle, chocolate treats
• Jams, jellies & preserves; honey; cane syrup
• Key lime & fruit pies made with non-perishable ingredients
• Dried fruit, granola, cereal, popcorn, roasted coffee, dried herbs & spice blends
• Dry baking and seasoning mixes

What you CANNOT sell:

• Anything refrigerated: Flan, tres leches, cheesecake, cream-filled pastries, croquetas
• Cooked meals & meat dishes: Ropa vieja plates, lechón, picadillo, empanadas with meat sold ready-to-eat
• Dairy products, fresh juices, and low-acid canned goods

This is the one place Florida is strict: it has no home-restaurant law for cooked meals. If your specialty is hot, perishable food — the lechón, the Haitian griot, the Jamaican curry goat — you'll need a licensed commercial kitchen or a catering license. Many Florida cooks rent time at a shared commercial kitchen to do exactly that.

6. Selling Online & Shipping in Florida

Before 2021, Florida cottage food sales had to be face-to-face. Now you can take orders online and deliver or mail your products anywhere in Florida. That single change is what makes a platform-based business viable: list your menu, take orders from across your city or the whole state, and fulfill by pickup, local delivery, or in-state shipping.

The two limits to remember: sales must be direct to the consumer (you can't wholesale to a store for resale), and you can't ship across state lines. Inside Florida, the whole state is your market.

7. Labeling Requirements

Every product needs a clear label with:

1. Your cottage food operation's name and address
2. The name of the product
3. Ingredients listed in descending order by weight
4. Major allergens (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, sesame)
5. Net weight or volume
6. The required statement: "Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations."

Home-printed labels are perfectly legal. Keep the disclaimer readable — that's the line that keeps you compliant.

8. How You Get Paid on Chefry

Here's a hot take worth sitting with: the most expensive way to sell food isn't a platform fee — it's the chaos. If you're taking pastelito and cake orders in your Instagram DMs, juggling Zelle and CashApp, and writing down who paid in the Notes app, you're leaking money and hours every single week. And the big delivery apps that promise to fix it quietly take 20–30% of every order.

Chefry's entire pricing model is built to flip that. Here's the honest breakdown:

• 0% platform fee on plate & menu orders. You keep 100% of what you charge for your food.
• The customer pays a small 5% service fee at checkout — it doesn't come out of your pocket.
• Standard Stripe processing (2.9% + 30¢) per transaction — the same rate everyone pays.
• $0/month, free forever. Every feature included.
• Daily payouts, with instant cash-out to your debit card when you need it now.
• Founding 100 chefs pay 0% on everything — including catering and private chef bookings — for your first year (then standard rates).

No hidden cut, no "we'll pay you in two weeks," no fine print. You see what you earn and you keep it. That transparency is the whole point — see the full pricing page.

9. How Chefry Helps Florida Cooks

Florida gives you the legal runway. Chefry gives you the business. Free, you get:

• A storefront built for home cooks: Your menu, your photos, your prices, online ordering, statewide delivery options.
• Payments handled: Customers pay up front. No more chasing.
• Preorders & drops: Run a Saturday guava-pastry drop with a hard cap and prepaid orders. See the preorder playbook.
• Discovery in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville: Show up when locals search for home food sellers.
• One dashboard for orders, capacity, and cutoff times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Selling from another state? See our guides for Texas, California, and New York.