Kansas Has No Revenue Cap, No Permit, and No Inspection — Just a Label

Kansas Requires No Permit, No Revenue Cap, and No Inspection — Just a Label

One sentence on a package is all Kansas requires before you can sell homemade food, ship it across state lines, and keep every dollar you earn. While many states fence home bakers in with permits, revenue ceilings, and inspections, Kansas asks only that your label reads: "This product is home-produced." Inspections are not required. Neither are permits or any revenue cap.

That's not a loophole — it's the law. Kansas has no cap on annual sales, meaning a home baker can scale from a dozen cookies at the farmers' market to a full interstate operation without triggering a licensing requirement. Shelf-stable goods like breads, jams, candy, granola, and roasted nuts are all fair game. One catch: wholesale to stores or restaurants is off the table. All sales must go direct to the end consumer. You'll also need to register with the Kansas Department of Revenue to collect sales tax — 6.5% state rate plus applicable local rates.

Gobble's Take: No permit, no inspection, no revenue ceiling, and the right to ship nationwide — Kansas just set the bar every other state's cottage food advocates will spend the next decade chasing.

Source: StandScout

New Jersey Requires a Permit — But It Exempts You From Retail Inspection Standards

In New Jersey, selling homemade food requires a Cottage Food Operator Permit issued through the state's Public Health and Food Protection Program. To apply, operators must submit a completed application, proof of food protection manager certification from an accredited program, either a water quality analysis or a copy of a recent water bill depending on whether the kitchen uses private well water, and a nonrefundable application fee payable to the Treasurer of New Jersey.

Here's the key trade-off: once the permit is issued, holders are authorized to distribute cottage food products without being subject to initial or periodic inspection by a health authority and other requirements applicable to retail food establishments. That's a meaningful carve-out. The permit unlocks a lighter regulatory lane — not a heavier one. Sales are capped at $50,000 in gross annual revenue, and distribution is limited to New Jersey consumers through approved channels: the operator's home, the consumer's home, farmers' markets, farm stands, and temporary retail food establishments.

If your application has deficiencies, the Department will notify you in writing. Fail to fix them within 30 days and your application is deemed abandoned. Build that timeline into your launch plan.

Gobble's Take: New Jersey's permit isn't a gateway to more regulation — it's actually your ticket out of the full retail food inspection regime, which changes the calculus entirely for home bakers weighing whether to formalize.

Source: NJ.gov

Perishable Foods and Inflation-Adjusted Caps: The Real Story of 2026's Cottage Food Shifts

For most of cottage food law's history, "home-produced" meant shelf-stable. If it needed a refrigerator, it was off-limits. That boundary is breaking in 2026: 9 states have now legalized the production of TCS (Time/Temperature Control for Safety) foods in home kitchens. California, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, and Tennessee are all in. Products like cream cheese frosting and savory pies — long excluded — are now fair game in these states, provided producers meet specific food safety training requirements and labeling standards.

The other major shift is on revenue caps. States including Oregon, California, and Texas have started indexing caps to inflation. Texas now sits at $150,000. Michigan moved its cap from $50,000 to $75,000 under HB 4122, effective March 2026. Georgia went further with HB 398, eliminating a cap entirely under a "Food Freedom" framework. The message from legislators is clear: home producers who build real businesses shouldn't be forced into commercial kitchens before they're ready.

If your best product contains dairy or poultry, check whether your state is on that list of 9. If you're approaching a revenue threshold, know the exact number — rounding down is how you stay compliant.

Gobble's Take: Nine states just unlocked cream cheese frosting and savory pies for home kitchens — if yours isn't one of them yet, it's worth watching your legislature closely.

Source: Butterbase App

Texas Didn't Just Raise Its Revenue Cap — It Rewrote What Home Producers Can Sell

Texas's $150,000 annual revenue cap — which took effect September 1, 2025 — got most of the attention when it passed. The bigger change landed quietly alongside it. The legislation didn't just lift a sales ceiling; it substantially broadened the list of what Texans can legally make and sell from home, moving the state well past the narrow shelf-stable-only framework that had constrained home producers for years.

The practical effect is that Texas home food businesses can now pursue a more diverse menu, including products that require refrigeration or more involved preparation, provided they follow updated handling guidelines. For Austin's growing network of home producers — many of whom were already operating informally in the hyper-local food economy — the new rules give legal cover to what was already happening at the neighborhood level. According to reporting by Kara Valdón, the legislative shift is designed to let communities build genuine local food economies from the ground up, with home kitchens as the foundation rather than the exception.

The revenue cap matters. But the expanded food list may matter more for home producers whose most popular items were previously off the menu entirely.

Gobble's Take: Texas just handed home producers a bigger menu and a higher sales ceiling — the only question now is whether your state's legislators are paying attention.

Source: Kara Valdón / Substack

Quick Hits

• Tennessee passes new food freedom bills: A wave of cottage food-related legislation cleared the Tennessee statehouse this session, expanding options for home producers across the state. DJ Tucker / Substack
• Kitchen setup basics for new cottage food operators: A practical breakdown of what labeling, zoning, and kitchen configuration actually look like for someone starting a home food business from scratch. Valley Girl Kitchen

In Case You Missed It

Yesterday's top stories:

• Colorado's Tamale Act Lets Home Cooks Sell Refrigerated Traditional Foods for the First Time
• Texas Just Raised Its Cottage Food Revenue Cap to $150,000 — Almost Double What It Was
• New York Has No Revenue Cap at All — Here's What That Actually Means for Home Producers
• California's Class A vs. Class B: Which Tier Actually Fits Your Home Food Business?