Maryland Cottage Food Reform

10/22/2021

It is that time of the year again! Ready your cauldrons for the Halloween Homemade Food Bake-off. You have until the clock strikes midnight on November 6th to submit photos of your creepiest creations to win prize-awards of up to $500!
Whether you are a cottage food producer or a Halloween treat enthusiast, you can submit your favorite Halloween themed cottage food to be considered.
Check out this amazing opportunity to show off your talents and possibly win one of four gift card prizes!
Submit via: https://forms.gle/WKQuDiJQqrGnuqCi8

Enter…if you dare and you could win $500.

Calling all ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and everyone in between: it is time to show off your spooky side with our Halloween cottage food bake-off!

Pick your poison and submit photos of your creepiest cakes, your spookiest snacks, your most peculiar pastries, your most boo-tiful breads, all to be considered for our prize-awards. Be creative! Whether you are submitting ghost-shaped sugar cookies, pumpkin shaped pasta, or a giant haunted house cake – the only limit is your imagination.

Here is a link to a google form to submit photos of your most trick-or-treat worthy treats to be considered for gift-card prizes. Submissions are being accepted until Friday, November 6th.

https://forms.gle/979MGpke28pdBVqf8

12/11/2020

Great resource for those looking to start their cottage food business! This free mini course is broken into 8 lessons, each of which focuses on a step in starting or growing your cottage food business. Check it out!

Learn step-by-step how to start a cottage food business from your home kitchen, avoid common mistakes, and prove that your business idea will work!

10/28/2020

It's almost Halloween, do you know what that means? There are just FOUR days left to submit your creepiest creations!
Here is a link to a google form to submit photos of your most trick-or-treat worthy treats to be considered for gift-card prizes of up to $500.
https://forms.gle/xZbyvjmo2Rt4Bzm16

It's almost Halloween, do you know what that means? Ready your caldrons because there are just FOUR days left to submit your spine-chilling snacks.

Here is a link to a google form to submit photos of your most trick-or-treat worthy treats to be considered for gift-card prizes.
https://forms.gle/xZbyvjmo2Rt4Bzm16

10/08/2020

Its that time of the year again! Ready your cauldrons for the Halloween Homemade Food Bake-off. You have until the clock strikes midnight on October 31st to submit photos of your creepiest creations to win prize-awards of up to $500!

Whether you are a cottage food producer or a Halloween treat enthusiast, you can submit your favorite Halloween themed cottage food to be considered.

Check out this amazing opportunity to show off your talents and possibly win one of four gift card prizes!

Submit via:

Create a new survey on your own or with others at the same time. Choose from a variety of survey types and analyze results in Google Forms. Free from Google.

09/22/2020

It’s webinar time! Back by popular demand, we are hosting another “How to Start a Home Baking Business in Maryland” workshop, but this time online! But we want to know which date works best for you! Drop a comment to let us know which date works best for you:
-Wednesday September 30th at 6PM
-Monday October 5th at 6PM
-Wednesday October 7th at 6PM
Can’t make any? No worries! We’ll post a recording of the webinar online.

06/24/2020

Exciting news! The amendment adding retail and online sales of cottage food in DC became law today! That means you can now sell your goods directly to consumers, online, and at retail stores with no revenue cap.🎉🎉

04/22/2020

Good news for cottage food businesses: "It is highly unlikely that people can contract COVID-19 from food or food packaging."

As detailed in the attached published article by the World Health Organization (WHO),

"There is no evidence to date of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses being transmitted via food or food packaging. Coronaviruses cannot multiply in food; they need an animal or human host to multiply."

Of course, no matter what you decide to do, we advocate for you to take all of the CDC protection precautions and use your discretion to make sure you and your community stay safe and healthy!

You can read the full report here:

COVID-19 and Food Safety: Guidance for Food Businesses 7 April 2020  | Publication Download (250.9 kB) Overview   WHO Team Department of Communications Reference numbers WHO Reference Number: WHO/2019-nCoV/Food_Safety/2020.1 Copyright CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO

04/15/2020

Free Online Cottage Food Workshop TODAY! Check out Forrager's webinar: Email Marketing 101: How To Boost Sales and Retain Customers, today at 2 PM.

Learn how to:

- Leverage the #1 most effective online marketing method (no, it’s not Facebook or Instagram), so you can reach your customers anytime, anywhere;
- Setup an automated email campaign, so that you can keep building your fan base without any extra effort;
- Get customers to give you their email address, so you can communicate with them consistently

He will also be answering any questions you have (in real-time) about running a cottage food business.

Learn more:

Email Marketing 101: How To Boost Sales and Retain Customers by David Crabill, Founder of Forrager Last Easter, I sold hundreds of dollars of fudge simply by sending one email. I didn’t have to stand for hours at a farmers market or guess how much I’d sell. And I even sold to some first-time cus...

04/08/2020

ServeSafe is currently offering a free ServSafe Food Handler course and exam for the rest of the month! This is a fantastic opportunity, especially if you are looking to branch into retail venues in the future.

Big thanks to ServeSafe for supporting food producers in these difficult times with COVID-19 affecting so many of us.

Learn more here: https://www.servsafe.com/access/ss/Catalog/FreeFoodHandlerProducts