Georgia Cottage Food Law (2026): No License, No Cap

Once your food safety course is done, you can set up a Homegrown storefront so local customers can order ahead, and try it free for 7 days.

In Georgia, you can sell homemade non-perishable foods with no state license, no registration and no sales cap, and you can sell to retail stores and restaurants, not just straight to customers, in any city or county that has not opted out of store sales. House Bill 398 rewrote the old rules on July 1, 2025. What the state still asks of you is short: a food safety course accredited by ANSI (the American National Standards Institute), a correct label, food that stays safe at room temperature and the kitchen practices in GDA's regulations, plus a yearly water test if your home is on a well.

This guide covers what you can sell, how to label it, where you can sell it, what HB 398 changed, and the places where Georgia's own pages still disagree with the law, so you know which answer to follow.

Ready to begin? Follow our step-by-step guide to starting a cottage food business in Georgia.

What Are the Georgia Cottage Food Laws in 2026?

The Georgia cottage food laws in 2026 come in three layers: House Bill 398, which became sections 26-2-470 through 26-2-478 of the Georgia Code on July 1, 2025; the Georgia Department of Agriculture's cottage food regulations in chapter 40-7-19, which still describe the old license system; and any local store-sales ordinance in your county or city.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA from here on) runs the cottage food program. The law sits above its regulations, and HB 398 ends with a line that repeals "all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act." Here is what each layer says today, side by side.

On a phone, swipe the table to see the before and after for each rule.

Sources, all loaded October 6, 2026: HB 398 as passed, the cottage food regulations (still showing the license system) and GDA's HB 398 FAQ, which says it will use enforcement discretion on old requirements the new law no longer supports, like the license.

What HB 398 did not change: only non-perishable foods qualify, and your city or county can still ask for a business license or zoning approval. The law also leaves you subject to any tax law, any federal law (including federal limits on selling some foods across state lines), or the laws of another state. It lets GDA investigate a reported foodborne illness at your home, with the visit scheduled in advance except in an emergency.

Does Georgia Have a Cottage Food Sales Limit?

No: Georgia sets no limit on gross sales or on the number of units you can produce, and neither the current regulations nor HB 398 has one, so there is no revenue limit on cottage food sales.

The department's cottage food FAQ puts it in one line: "The Georgia Department of Agriculture does not have any limits on gross sales or the number of units that can be produced." The regulations that governed cottage food before HB 398 set a $100 license fee, a product list and an inspection, and no dollar cap. HB 398 did not add one either. A 2021 GDA rule notice made the same point when it dropped product sizes from the old registration form: "There are no restrictions on the amount of cottage food products manufactured annually."

That makes Georgia different from states that cap home food sales, and our cottage food laws by state hub lists each state's number.

Swipe left to read the whole detail column.

Every row was checked on the law, the regulations and GDA's two FAQs on October 6, 2026.

Do You Need a License to Sell Food From Home in Georgia?

No, Georgia no longer requires a state cottage food license or registration for home food vendors, and it has not since HB 398 took effect on July 1, 2025. Two state requirements stand out. GDA's cottage food page says you must complete an ANSI-accredited food safety course (HB 398 itself does not mention training), and HB 398 says you must label what you sell. The older regulations' kitchen practices, and the yearly water test if you are on a well, remain in GDA's regulations too, as the sections below explain.

GDA accepts Food Handler training, and neither the law nor the regulations set a renewal period, so keep your certificate where you can find it. After that, you can start selling. It is a big simplification from the old $100 a year license-and-inspection system.

GDA's HB 398 FAQ says it plainly: "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." If a market manager, a store owner or a neighbor tells you otherwise, that FAQ is the page to show them.

How Much Is a Cottage Food License in Georgia?

A Georgia cottage food license costs nothing today, because the state no longer issues one. Before July 1, 2025 it cost $100 a year, cut in half for a first registration after June 30, and each new product meant a new registration form, another fee and another inspection. The old fee schedule still sits in regulation 40-7-19-.04, but in its HB 398 FAQ the department says it will use its enforcement discretion on requirements HB 398 no longer supports, and it names licensing as one of them.

What Did the Old Georgia Cottage Food License Require?

Until July 1, 2025, a Georgia cottage food license took six things, and the regulations that list them are still on the books while GDA rewrites them:

• A registration form with your business name, home address and a list of every product you planned to make
• A copy of your ANSI-accredited food safety training certificate
• Your most recent water bill, or an annual coliform and nitrate test if you were on a well
• A check with your city and county that a home business was allowed
• A $100 annual fee, cut in half for new applicants who registered after June 30
• An affidavit giving GDA the right to enter your home to investigate a complaint or an outbreak, with license revocation if you refused

A pre-operational inspection of your kitchen came before the license was issued. The license itself had to be displayed at the point of sale, and it said food sold under it "shall be to the end consumer." HB 398 ended all of that.

What Counts as a Cottage Food Operation in Georgia?

A cottage food operation is one person making non-perishable food in the home kitchen of their residence, then selling it straight to customers or through a store. HB 398 defines a cottage food production operation as "an individual, operating out of the individual's home kitchen," who prepares, packages, stores and distributes non-potentially hazardous foods for sale. A home kitchen, in the law's words, is "a kitchen primarily intended for use by the residents of a home." GDA's FAQ draws the edges:

• A second home, vacation home or motor home does not qualify unless it is your primary residence
• A shed, barn or other outbuilding does not qualify, for cooking or for storage, and neither does a garage for storage
• A rented or shared commercial kitchen does not qualify; food made there needs a Food Sales Establishment License
• A nonprofit does not qualify, though HB 398 does not apply at all to a bake sale run by a nonprofit, charitable or religious group
• Pet treats are out. They need a feed license from GDA's Agricultural Inputs section
• A business that sets up a chocolate fountain with cut fruit at events is catering, under county health department rules, not cottage food

The older regulations add one more edge you may care about if you rent: a "domestic residence" includes "an area within a rental unit where a single person or family actually resides," but not a group or communal residence.

How Do You Get a GDA Identification Number Instead of Printing Your Address?

Getting a number takes one page and no fee: fill out GDA's identification number registration form and email it as a PDF to CottageFoodID@agr.georgia.gov. The form asks for your name or business name, your county, your physical address, a mailing address if it differs, a phone number and an email, and it lists no fee. Four rules come with the number:

• It is tied to your home address, so you re-register and get a new number if you move
• It cannot be transferred to another operator
• It replaces only the address. Your name, phone number, allergen declarations and the cottage food statement still have to appear
• The form says what you put on it "is subject to disclosure according to the Georgia Open Records Act," so the number keeps your address off labels, not out of public records

GDA's cottage food FAQ still says a post office box will not do: the label needs the physical address of your home kitchen, so the state can trace a recall or an illness. The identification number is now the only way to leave that address off.

How Do You Get a Cottage Food License in Georgia Now?

There is no Georgia cottage food license to get, and no application to file. The old registration form and license were replaced on July 1, 2025 by three things you do on your own: take an ANSI-accredited food safety course, label your products the way HB 398 says, and check your city and county for a business license or zoning rule. The only form GDA still takes from cottage food vendors is the optional identification number request above.

What Foods Can You Sell Under Georgia Cottage Food Law?

You can sell breads, cakes, cookies, candy, jams and jellies, dried fruit, granola, dry mixes, nuts, vinegar, dill pickles, dry pasta, roasted coffee beans and popcorn, and nothing that needs refrigeration. HB 398 names 15 food groups, up from the 12 in GDA's older regulation.

Georgia allows a broad range of shelf-stable foods, the ones the law calls "non-potentially hazardous" because they do not need time or temperature control to stay safe. Commonly sold products include:

• Breads, rolls, biscuits and other baked goods that keep at room temperature
• Cakes, cookies, pies and pastries with no refrigerated filling or frosting
• Candies, fudge and other confections, including hard candy and lollipops
• Jams, jellies and fruit preserves
• Granola, trail mix, dry soup and bread mixes, dried herbs and seasonings

Not allowed:

• Anything requiring refrigeration or temperature control
• Cream-filled pastries, custards and cakes with cream cheese icing
• Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy and other foods GDA lists as potentially hazardous

The test is whether the finished product is shelf-stable at room temperature. Confirm specifics with the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

GDA's cottage food FAQ gives 13 examples of foods that fail that test. Its examples of potentially hazardous foods are meat, poultry, fish, shellfish and crustaceans, eggs, milk and dairy products, cooked plant foods such as rice, beans or vegetables, baked potatoes, certain synthetic ingredients, mushrooms, raw sprouts, tofu and soy-protein foods, and untreated garlic-in-oil mixtures.

Which Foods Does HB 398 Name as Cottage Food?

The law lists 15 groups of shelf-stable food by name, and the list is open ended ("includes, but is not limited to"), so a shelf-stable food that is not on it can still qualify. Here is HB 398's own list, with the exceptions the law writes into it:

The exceptions column sits on the right; swipe to reach it.

The seven rows hold all 15 named groups. Taken from section 26-2-470(7) of HB 398 as posted on GDA's site, loaded October 6, 2026.

The law defines a cottage food item as a non-potentially hazardous food or a nonalcoholic beverage, and it says a cottage food item cannot be an alcoholic beverage, a food containing cannabis, or raw milk.

Six of those groups were not named in GDA's older regulation list: uncut fruits and vegetables, dill pickles, fudge, dry soup mixes, roasted coffee beans and dry pasta. The new list also regroups the old one. It folds loaf breads, rolls, biscuits and cakes into a single baked goods group, and it stops naming pastries, cookies and fruit pies, which the older list named on their own. Because the law's list is open ended, a shelf-stable pastry, cookie or fruit pie still qualifies. GDA's cottage food page still shows the older list of 12 when you load it today.

Georgia writes its cottage food list by what stays safe at room temperature. For the full logic behind that line, see our guide to TCS foods and cottage food rules.

What Does the Georgia Department of Agriculture Say No To?

GDA says no to fruit butters, honey, syrup, any beverage (an answer that predates HB 398 and conflicts with the law's own definition), cooked vegetable products, dehydrated meat, home-canned ingredients, fresh fruit garnishes and cakes that need refrigeration. Its cottage food FAQ is where it answers product questions. Here is what it rules out, plus the cake rule from the regulations:

• Fruit butters like apple butter or pumpkin butter. They carry less sugar and pectin than jam, so the department will not treat them as safe at room temperature. Our guide to selling fruit butter from home shows how other states handle them
• Honey and syrup. They fall under separate state rules, so ask the Food Safety Division
• Any beverage, including pressed apple cider. That answer predates HB 398, and the law's own definition of a cottage food item covers a nonalcoholic beverage, so ask the Food Safety Division before you rule a drink out
• Cooked vegetable products such as salsa, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, or focaccia with roasted vegetables. Cooked vegetables must be held above 135°F or below 41°F. Our guide on whether you can sell homemade salsa covers the licensed route
• Dehydrated meat, since meat is a potentially hazardous food
• Home-canned produce as an ingredient. GDA's FAQ makes jams and jellies the exception. That answer predates HB 398, and the law's own list now names dill pickles, which the older regulation list did not, so check with GDA's Food Safety Division about other home-canned products. Commercially canned pumpkin or pie filling is fine
• Fresh fruit as a garnish. Zucchini, pumpkin and strawberries are fine baked into the batter of a sweet bread, and frozen fruit is fine the same way, but nothing fresh or frozen goes on top
• Cakes that need the fridge, which the regulations spell out as cream cheese icing, refrigerated fillings, or high moisture cakes such as tres leches

What Are the Cottage Bakery Laws in Georgia?

A home bakery in Georgia follows the same cottage food laws as a vendor who sells jam; there is no separate bakery license. Five points matter most to bakers:

• Frostings and fillings decide it. A cake that keeps at room temperature qualifies. Cream cheese icing, custard, cream fillings and tres leches are out because they need refrigeration
• Custom cakes get a lighter label. For a wedding or birthday cake made for one customer, GDA's cottage food FAQ puts your business name, address and the cottage food statement on the box or the invoice, and it says the customer should ask about allergens when ordering. HB 398 goes further: on a phone or custom order you may skip the label and tell the customer that the cake comes from a home kitchen the state does not inspect and may contain allergens
• Baked-in produce is allowed. Fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables can go into the batter, as long as the product is fully baked and nothing fresh sits on top
• Your oven can be wood fired, GDA says, as long as it is in your home kitchen. A double oven is fine under the regulations' definition of a home kitchen, but large commercial mixers are not, because a home has no sink setup to sanitize them
• Samples are allowed. GDA's FAQ lets you hand out samples without labeling each one, as long as a labeled package sits on display. You cannot turn the sample into something riskier, like topping your bread to make bruschetta

How Do You Start Selling Cottage Food in Georgia? (Step by Step)

Six steps take you from a recipe to your first sale, and none of them needs a state license anymore. The old $100 license fee is gone. Two steps stand out among the state requirements: the food safety course GDA requires and the label HB 398 requires. The kitchen practices in step 3 come from GDA's regulations.

• Confirm your product is shelf-stable. It must be safe at room temperature, with no refrigerated filling, frosting or topping.
• Complete the food safety course. Take an ANSI-accredited course; GDA accepts Food Handler training.
• Set up safe production. Follow the kitchen practices in GDA's regulations, covered in the next section, and keep allergens separate.
• Label every product. Include the HB 398 residential property statement and the elements listed below.
• Choose your sales channels. Sell direct, online, and to retail stores and restaurants where no local ordinance bars store sales. GDA's FAQ advice is to keep those sales within Georgia.
• Start selling. With no cap, you can grow as far as your kitchen allows, with sales kept in Georgia as GDA's FAQ advises.

What Do These Steps Cost in Georgia?

The state side costs almost nothing now: the license fee is $0 and the identification number form lists no fee. Here is where the money still goes:

• Food safety course. Pick a Food Handler course from the ANSI accredited directory that GDA links to. AAA Food Handler, which says its training comes with an exam accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board, prices its Georgia Food Handlers card at $6.95 (checked October 6, 2026). Before you pay any provider, confirm its course appears in that directory. Our guide to getting a food handlers permit explains the course levels
• Well water test. If your home is on a well, regulation 40-7-19-.04 still requires a water test for coliform bacteria and nitrates every year, and it says to keep the most recent results and give them to GDA on request. The same rule also tells well users to follow GDA's Non-Public Water Supply Testing Guidance, which asks for a test for total coliform and E. coli, keeping results on file for at least three years, a retest within 7 days after a positive coliform result, and stopping production right away after a positive E. coli result. If the retest is also positive, the guidance says to contact GDA within 24 hours and stop production, or switch to another water supply, until the problem is fixed. GDA's FAQ says the same thing as advice: test at least once a year. HB 398 says nothing about water, and the old step of attaching the results to a registration form went away with registration, but GDA has not said it will stop expecting the yearly test, so confirm with GDA. Your county health department can advise on the test
• Septic check. GDA's FAQ asks home bakers on a septic system to have the county health department judge whether the system can handle the extra wastewater before they start, since bakery wastewater adds volume and organic load to the drain field
• Local business license or zoning approval. Set by your city or county, and HB 398 leaves those rules in place. GDA's FAQ adds that a DBA (a "doing business as" name filing) may be a county or city requirement
• Labels and packaging. Hand-printed labels are acceptable to GDA if they are legible, in permanent ink and at least as large as the 10 point font rule
• A scale, if you sell by weight. The regulations say a product sold by weight needs a scale that is "legal for trade," and they ask you to use a food scale so each package holds at least the net weight on its label

If you are weighing Georgia against a neighboring state, our state-by-state cottage food guide lists each state's sales cap and license rule, and each state's own guide covers its labeling rules and allowed products. For Georgia itself, follow this guide and GDA's own pages, which we checked against HB 398 on October 6, 2026.

What Kitchen Rules Still Apply to a Georgia Home Kitchen?

The regulations' kitchen rules are still on the books after HB 398, and GDA has not said it will stop expecting them: wash your hands, keep pets out, keep cottage food work separate from family cooking, and store ingredients apart from your household food. GDA's HB 398 FAQ promises enforcement discretion for old requirements "no longer supported by HB 398, like the licensing requirement," and HB 398 says nothing that undoes the kitchen practices.

Regulation 40-7-19-.08 lists 12 items it calls "Food Safety Directives" and describes them as "the minimum best practices required in the production of cottage food products." It says operators "should follow these directives," and most of the 12 are written as "should" rather than "must." The main ones:

• Handwashing with liquid soap, paper towels and warm water at the handwashing sink, before you start and after anything that dirties your hands
• No bare hands on ready-to-eat food. Use single-use gloves, bakery papers, tongs or other utensils
• Hair restraints and clean outer clothes for everyone in the work area while you make or pack products
• No eating, drinking or tobacco in the work area during production, and a tasting spoon is used only once
• Stay out of the kitchen when sick. Nobody with vomiting, fever, diarrhea, jaundice, or a sore throat with fever should make or pack products
• No pets in the work area while you make or pack products, and no pest control chemicals there
• Separate storage. Keep cottage food ingredients and finished products apart from the family's food supply

One more rule surprises people. Regulation 40-7-19-.05 says cottage food "must not be manufactured in conjunction with any domestic activities," and it names family meal preparation, dishwashing, laundry and ironing, kitchen cleaning and entertaining guests. In practice that means baking for sale and cooking dinner happen at different times.

GDA's FAQ also answers two equipment questions: your stove and refrigerator do not need NSF approval (NSF is a food equipment certification group), and your kitchen may not use large commercial equipment like rotary mixers.

What Must a Georgia Cottage Food Label Include?

Every Georgia cottage food label needs your business name, your address or GDA identification number, your phone number, and the HB 398 statement in 10 point type or larger. GDA's regulations add the product name, the ingredients in order by weight, the net weight or volume, and allergens. A willful violation draws a written warning, and a second or later violation draws a civil penalty of up to $75 per violation.

Every Georgia cottage food product should carry the following, unless it is a custom or telephone order, which gets a lighter rule covered below:

• The product's common name
• Your business name and address (or a GDA identification number in place of the address)
• Your telephone number
• The ingredients, in descending order of predominance by weight
• Allergen information, as federal labeling rules require
• The net weight or net volume
• Nutrition information, but only if you make a nutrition claim such as "low sugar"
• The HB 398 statement, word for word, in at least 10 point type: This product was produced at a residential property that is exempt from state inspection. This product may contain allergens.

That statement comes straight from section 26-2-473 of HB 398, which also requires the business name, address or identification number, and telephone number. The product name, ingredients, net weight, allergen and nutrition lines come from GDA's regulation 40-7-19-.09 and its cottage food FAQ. GDA's FAQ says you do not need a laboratory to write your ingredient list, as long as every ingredient is listed in order by weight.

Allergens have to be called out by federal rules, and GDA gives two ways to do it: name the allergen inside the ingredient list ("whole wheat flour"), or add a "Contains:" line after the ingredients. Tree nuts must be named by kind, so "almonds" passes and "nuts" does not. The FDA's food allergies page lists nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Our guide to the big 9 allergens on a cottage food label shows example lines.

If you worry an ingredient list gives away a secret recipe, GDA's FAQ points to a narrow federal exemption (21 CFR 101.100) that you request from the FDA. For almost every home baker, the full list is the answer.

Where Does the Label Information Go When You Sell Online or by Custom Order?

HB 398 says where the information has to appear for each way you sell, and one of the four places is your web page:

• Packaged products: on a label attached to the package
• Bulk containers such as a cookie jar at a market: on a label attached to the container
• Unpackaged products sold loose: on a placard at the point of sale
• Online sales: on the webpage where the product is offered for sale
• Phone and custom orders: you may skip the display, but you must tell the customer the two facts (residential property exempt from state inspection, may contain allergens) and have your name, address or ID number, and phone number ready on request

For an online storefront, that means the statement, your business name, your phone number and your address (or ID number) belong in each product description, the page where the item is offered for sale, and in your store's about text as well, where a customer reads them before they order.

If you still need a label, see our cottage food labeling guide for templates and the cottage food label checklist for a print-day check.

Which Disclaimer Sentence Should a Georgia Cottage Food Label Use?

Use the two sentences HB 398 writes into section 26-2-473 of the law, word for word, in at least 10 point type. That is the only cottage food statement in Georgia's statute, and the law's last section repeals "all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act."

Georgia's official pages give you two different sentences, and here they are side by side:

Drag the table sideways to compare the two statements.

Both loaded October 6, 2026. In its HB 398 FAQ, GDA says the old regulations will be amended to remove parts that conflict with HB 398.

Our reading: the HB 398 sentence is required, and the older sentence is not required by the law. Printing both is one way to satisfy either reader while GDA's rules are mid-rewrite, since both statements are true. A wrong or missing statement is a labeling violation, which can cost up to $75 after a first warning. If you only have room for one, print the HB 398 sentence, and email CottageFoodInfo@agr.georgia.gov to confirm before you order a big run of labels.

A practical layout that fits on a 2 by 3 inch label: product name on top, ingredients and a "Contains:" line in the middle, net weight, then your business name, phone and address or ID number, with the HB 398 statement in 10 point type across the bottom.

Where Can You Sell Cottage Foods in Georgia?

You can sell straight to customers anywhere in Georgia, in person or online, and to retailers such as grocery stores and restaurants, unless a local ordinance in your city or county bars it. A city or county that wants to block store sales has to hold a hearing 15 to 45 days after a newspaper notice first.

HB 398 expanded where you can sell. Cottage food operators can now sell:

• Directly to consumers. Farmers markets, events, from home, and online, including by mail order
• Wholesale to retail stores and restaurants, where no local ordinance bars store sales

HB 398 itself draws no state line. GDA's guidance does: keep every sale inside Georgia. GDA's FAQ answer on internet sales says operators "are permitted to conduct sales to the end consumer within Georgia," then adds that they "may sell their Cottage Food Products to other retailers and restaurants."

GDA's FAQ adds the reason for the state line: selling across state lines may bring FDA oversight, which would call for a Manufactured Food Establishment License, and that license cannot be issued for a home kitchen. HB 398 itself keeps federal law on interstate sales, and other states' laws, in force over you. Our guide on whether you can ship cottage food covers shipping inside one state.

To compare ways to take orders, see our guides to the best platforms for selling baked goods online, the best platform to sell food from home, the Georgia baked goods platform comparison, and where Georgia cookie bakers take orders.

What Must a Store or Restaurant Do With Your Products?

A store that stocks your products takes on three duties under HB 398. It must keep cottage food in a separate section or display case. It must label that section as holding cottage food items the state does not inspect. It must also post signage, to specifications GDA sets, that cottage food products are not subject to commercial food regulations or inspection. GDA has not yet published those specifications, so a store can ask CottageFoodInfo@agr.georgia.gov what to post in the meantime.

Food made under the law "shall be considered to be from an approved source, as required of a retail food sales establishment pursuant to department regulations," which is the door the old regulations kept shut. Before you pitch a shop, set a wholesale price that still leaves you a margin; our guide to wholesale pricing for food products walks through the math.

Can Your City or County Block Store Sales?

Yes, a county or city may pass an ordinance that bars cottage food operators from selling through third-party vendors inside its borders, and that is the only cottage food rule it can set. The ordinance can only be adopted at a hearing held 15 to 45 days after a public notice in a local newspaper, and it takes effect only after the local government notifies the Commissioner of Agriculture and GDA.

Beyond that opt-out, HB 398 added section 36-60-33 to the Georgia Code, which says no county or city may prohibit or regulate cottage food items, and none may stop a commercial delivery company from delivering them. General local rules like business licensing and zoning still apply.

One more venue rule from GDA's FAQ: a farmers market board can require a Food Sales Establishment License even though the state does not, because market policies sit outside GDA's cottage food regulations. Ask before you pay a booth fee, and see our Georgia farmers market vendor permit guide.

Why Do Georgia's Official Pages Disagree About Selling to Stores?

They disagree because GDA updated some answers for HB 398 and left others written for the old rules, and as of October 6, 2026 it had gone 15 months since the law took effect without posting new rules. The law and GDA's HB 398 FAQ both say yes to stores and restaurants. Four answers in GDA's cottage food FAQ, and the regulations, still say no. Here is each side in its own words, all loaded October 6, 2026:

Swipe the table to read every answer.

Sources: HB 398 and GDA's HB 398 FAQ (PDFs on agr.georgia.gov), GDA's cottage food FAQ page, and the Secretary of State's rules site, all loaded October 6, 2026.

Our reading: selling to a grocery store, convenience store or restaurant is allowed under HB 398, and the "no" answers were written before it. The law says your food counts as an approved source, its last section repeals any law in conflict with it, and GDA's HB 398 FAQ says it will repeal "more restrictive sales" rules. The restaurant answer in the cottage food FAQ also leans on a Department of Public Health rule, 290-5-14-.04, which the state rules site listed as repealed when we loaded it. Its first citation, GDA rule 40-7-1-.08(2), says food prepared in a private home may not be offered in a store, and that is the approved-source question HB 398 section 26-2-472 now answers directly.

Two things are less settled, so check before you rely on them:

• Wholesalers, brokers and distributors. HB 398 lists people and "retail food sales establishments." It does not name a middleman who resells to stores, and GDA's FAQ still says no to one. Sell to the store yourself
• Restaurants. Restaurants are inspected by county health departments, not GDA. If a restaurant's inspector questions your food, the county environmental health office is the place to ask, with HB 398's section 26-2-472 in hand

If a store manager cites the old FAQ, show them section 26-2-472 of HB 398 and GDA's HB 398 FAQ, and email CottageFoodInfo@agr.georgia.gov if they want it from the department.

How Can You Take Georgia Orders Online and Keep the Webpage Label Rule Covered?

HB 398 lets you sell online, GDA's guidance keeps those sales inside Georgia, and the law puts the label information on the page where each product is listed. That makes the tool you take orders with part of your compliance, not just a payment button. Homegrown is $10 per month billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly) with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing, and it gives you a storefront where each product description and your store's about text can carry the HB 398 statement and your contact details, so a customer sees them before ordering.

Here is what each common option costs on the same $20 order, with every fee on every row:

Scroll sideways to see every column.

We checked these on each company's own page on October 6, 2026: Homegrown's signup page, Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy and Etsy Payments Policy, Hotplate's pricing page and its post "What Hotplate does" (which says "we charge a fee to your customer" by default), and Square's online store plans page. Card processing is figured on the $20 price; a platform that charges it on the full total with tax runs a few cents higher. Etsy's offsite ads fee (15% on orders from its ads for shops under $10,000 a year, unless you opt out) is left out.

Each option fits a different seller. Etsy is built for shipping to buyers anywhere, which works against GDA's guidance to keep your sales inside Georgia, and its fees run $2.35 on a $20 order. Hotplate is cheapest for the vendor when the customer pays its 5% + $0.55 fee, so a $20 cake reads as $21.55 at checkout. Square's Free plan has no monthly cost but charges 3.3% + 30¢ online. Homegrown is a flat plan with pickup scheduling, built-in payments and a storefront link you can put on your table sign or Instagram, so customers in your county order ahead and pick up.

What Homegrown does not do, so you can decide with the whole picture:

• Customers create a Homegrown account to place their first order
• Homegrown has no drops or countdown-timer release feature, and no release date to share
• Your storefront is listed on the Homegrown marketplace, but plan on most orders coming from people you send to your own link
• Card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 is paid by you, with no option to pass it to the customer
• It does not write your label or check your product against Georgia's food list; that part is still yours

Because Georgia now lets you sell online and into retail with no cap, a real storefront helps you take orders and manage pickup without living in your DMs. Set up your Georgia storefront in about 15 minutes, with 7 days and no charge until day 8.

How Much Can You Make Selling Cottage Food in Georgia?

With no sales cap, Georgia does not limit your income; your ceiling is time, demand, and how you sell. Because HB 398 also opened retail and restaurant sales, Georgia vendors have more ways to grow than they did before. A few ways to get the most out of a Georgia cottage food business:

• Price for margin. What you keep per product matters more than raw volume, so cost out ingredients, packaging, your time, and card processing before you set a price.
• Use retail and restaurant access. Wholesale placement is a channel Georgia only recently opened, and it stays open unless local officials vote to opt out.
• Keep direct sales central. At a market, a home pickup or an online order you keep the full retail price, while a store or restaurant buys from you at a wholesale price.
• Turn one-time buyers into regulars. Weekly pickups, pre-orders and seasonal boxes make revenue predictable instead of feast or famine.
• Reinvest in capacity. The limiting factor becomes how much you can produce, and Georgia's rule against commercial equipment means a second home oven, not an industrial mixer.

A steady way to grow is to start with one strong channel, a weekly market or an online pickup window, build a base of repeat customers, then add retail and restaurant accounts once supply is steady. Your production capacity, not the law, sets your ceiling.

Before you pitch a shop, check whether an ordinance against third-party sales is in place where you live, then set a wholesale price that still leaves you a margin after the store takes its cut.

In a pull of the Homegrown catalog on October 6, 2026, 1,461 of the 2,891 products from 310 vendors sat in the Bakery category and 370 in the Pantry category, 1,831 in all. Those two categories hold the breads, cakes, cookies, jams, granola and dry mixes on Georgia's cottage food list. The groups Georgia keeps out of cottage food were far smaller: 115 meat and poultry listings, 53 eggs and dairy, and 7 seafood. The 177 ready-to-eat food listings sit on both sides of that line, because Georgia judges each food by whether it must stay refrigerated: a prepared meal is out, and a food that keeps at room temperature can qualify.

Vendors pick each category, and the Bakery category includes some products Georgia would not allow, such as cheesecake. These are product listings by category, and they are not sales figures.

Two rules from the law itself: HB 398 says it does not exempt a cottage food operator from any tax law, so sales tax and income tax still apply, and it lets a store sell your products only from a separate, labeled cottage food display. Our guide to sales tax at farmers markets covers the tax side.

What Happens If You Break Georgia's Cottage Food Rules?

The first willful violation of Georgia's cottage food law gets a written warning, and each later one can bring a civil penalty of no more than $75 per violation. That is section 26-2-475 of HB 398, and it covers both the law and any rule GDA adopts under it.

The law opens with a flat line: "It shall be unlawful for any person to operate as a cottage food operator not in compliance with this article." Here is how enforcement works under it:

• What starts it. HB 398 lets GDA inspect your home to investigate a consumer complaint, a report of foodborne illness, or another public health emergency, and GDA says it no longer does pre-license inspections
• Where it looks. The inspection is limited to the parts of your home you use for cottage food
• When it happens. Except in an emergency, GDA schedules the inspection with you in advance, and you may ask for an administrative warrant first
• What it costs. A written warning, then up to $75 per violation for a second or later one

That is a sharp change from the old regulations, which said complaint inspections would be "unannounced or commence within one (1) hour of receiving notice," and which revoked your license if you refused entry.

The $75 ceiling covers the cottage food article. A food that is not a cottage food item, such as salsa, cream cheese frosted cake or jerky, falls outside HB 398 entirely, and selling it needs the license GDA or your county health department requires for that kind of business. This guide does not cover those penalties, so ask GDA before you sell anything outside the cottage food list.

What Mistakes Should You Avoid Selling Cottage Food in Georgia?

The mistakes below are the ones the law and GDA's FAQ single out, and the price of a willful one is a written warning the first time and up to $75 for each violation after that.

• Skipping the food safety course. It is the one state training requirement; finish it before selling.
• Selling perishable foods. Refrigerated products, cream fillings, cream cheese frosting and meat products are not allowed.
• Getting the label statement wrong. It must be the HB 398 sentence in type of 10 points or bigger, with your name, your GDA number or address, and your phone number.
• Selling across state lines. Keep sales to Georgia consumers and retailers. GDA's FAQ says interstate sales can bring FDA rules a home kitchen cannot meet.
• Assuming you still need a license. You don't, after HB 398; don't pay anyone for one.
• Baking in a rented kitchen, a shed or a vacation home. GDA counts only the kitchen of your primary residence. Food made in a shared commercial kitchen needs GDA's Food Sales Establishment License instead
• Storing supplies in the garage. GDA's FAQ allows your kitchen, a spare room or a dry, pest-free basement, and not a garage, shed or barn
• Selling to a store in a county that opted out. Ask the store, or your county, whether an ordinance against third-party cottage food sales has been adopted
• Skipping your city or county. Business licenses, zoning and any DBA filing are local, and HB 398 leaves them in place
• Treating GDA's older FAQ answers on consignment, restaurants and wholesale as current. Several FAQ answers still say no to store sales and cite old rule 40-7-19-.05(2). HB 398 now lets a store, restaurant or other third-party vendor sell your products and makes your food an approved source, and GDA says it will repeal the parts of its regulations that conflict with the law. If a store manager cites the old FAQ, point to section 26-2-472 of HB 398

What Recently Changed in Georgia's Cottage Food Law?

HB 398 took effect on July 1, 2025, removed the state license, its $100 fee and the pre-license kitchen inspection, and opened sales to stores and restaurants.

• Before July 1, 2025. Georgia required a $100 a year license, a pre-license home kitchen inspection and a product list on file, and it allowed sales only to the end consumer, with no wholesale to stores or restaurants.
• HB 398 (effective July 1, 2025). It removed the state license and its fee, ended pre-license inspections, and allowed sales to retailers and restaurants. The food safety course was already required by GDA's regulations, and GDA's cottage food page still requires it, though HB 398 itself does not mention training.
• Since then. GDA posted its HB 398 FAQ and an identification number form, but as of October 6, 2026 it had not posted proposed rules to replace chapter 40-7-19, and its cottage food FAQ still mixes old and new answers.

The law kept the non-perishable food limit and the labeling duty, and it added things vendors did not have before: an optional identification number in place of a home address, a written warning before any fine, a $75 ceiling per violation, advance notice of inspections, and a ban on cities and counties regulating cottage food outside the store-sales opt-out. Always confirm the current rules with GDA.

What Is HB 398 in Georgia?

HB 398 is the 2025 bill that rewrote how Georgians can make and sell cottage food. The Georgia General Assembly's page for it lists Representative Leesa Hagan of the 156th district as the lead sponsor, with Houston Gaines, Katie Dempsey, Beth Camp, Brian Prince and Matt Reeves, and Senator Sam Watson carried it in the Senate. It passed the House 171 to 2 on March 3, 2025 and the Senate 54 to 2 on April 2, 2025. Governor Brian Kemp signed it on May 13, 2025 as Act 193, and it took effect July 1, 2025. The bill:

• Added Article 19, sections 26-2-470 through 26-2-478, to Title 26 of the Georgia Code
• Defined the terms cottage food item, cottage food operator and cottage food production operation, and listed the foods that qualify
• Set the label rule, the retail display rule, the inspection rule (complaints, illness reports and emergencies, scheduled in advance) and the $75 penalty
• Took cottage food operators out of the legal definition of a food sales establishment, food service establishment and meat, poultry or dairy processing plant
• Added section 36-60-33, which stops counties and cities from regulating cottage food except through the store sales opt-out

GDA says it will propose new regulations to carry out the law and repeal the parts of chapter 40-7-19 that conflict with it, like licensing. Its legal notices page is where the draft will appear, and GDA's rulemaking process includes a chance for the public to comment.

Georgia's rules are mid-rewrite. The regulations still describe a license, and the law says there is none, so read GDA's cottage food page and its HB 398 FAQ before you print labels or approach a store.

Selling in another state? Look up your own state agency's page before your first sale. Last verified October 6, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Georgia have a cottage food sales limit?

No. The current regulations set no cottage food sales cap, and HB 398 did not add one. GDA puts no cap on gross sales or on units produced, so there is no revenue limit on Georgia cottage food sales.

Do you need a license to sell food from home in Georgia?

No. Since July 1, 2025, Georgia requires no state license or registration for cottage food. HB 398 requires a correct label on what you sell, GDA's cottage food page asks for a food safety course accredited by ANSI, and if you draw water from a private well, GDA's regulations still ask for a yearly water test. GDA says Food Handler training is acceptable, and one Georgia Food Handlers card we checked costs $6.95.

Can you sell cottage food in stores in Georgia?

Yes. HB 398 allows cottage food operators to sell to grocery stores, restaurants and similar retailers, in addition to direct sales (GDA's FAQ says to keep all of it within Georgia), and the store must keep your products in a separate, labeled display. One exception: a county or city can pass an ordinance that bars store sales inside its borders, so check locally before you pitch a shop. Some answers in GDA's cottage food FAQ still say no, because they were written for the old rules.

What foods can't you sell under Georgia cottage food law?

Anything requiring refrigeration, such as cream-filled pastries, cream cheese frosting, meat-based products and other temperature-controlled foods. A food has to be shelf-stable to qualify. GDA's FAQ also rules out fruit butters, honey and syrup, cooked vegetable products like salsa, dehydrated meat and most home-canned ingredients.

What label is required on Georgia cottage foods?

Product name, your name, your address or GDA identification number, your phone number, ingredients by weight, allergens, net weight, and the two-sentence HB 398 statement about a residential property and allergens, at 10 points or larger. For a telephone or custom order you may skip the display, but you must still give the customer those two facts out loud or in writing and keep the rest ready on request. GDA's regulations still print the older all-caps statement, so printing both is one option until the rules are rewritten.

Do you need food safety training in Georgia?

Yes. GDA's cottage food page says cottage food operators must complete a food safety training program accredited by ANSI, and GDA treats Food Handler training as enough. The law itself is silent on training, so confirm with GDA if you are unsure. Neither the law nor the regulations set a renewal period, so keep your certificate on hand.

Can you sell cottage food online in Georgia?

Yes. Georgia allows online sales with pickup or delivery, plus wholesale to retailers and restaurants where no local ordinance blocks it, and GDA wants those sales kept within Georgia, per its FAQ. HB 398 names online and mail order sales, requires the label details on the product's own web page, and bars cities and counties from blocking commercial delivery companies.

Do you have to register your Georgia cottage food business?

No. HB 398 removed the registration requirement. Your city or county may still require a local business license or zoning approval, but the state no longer requires cottage food registration. Whether you also need an LLC is a separate question, and our LLC guide for home food sellers answers it. The only state form left is the optional identification number request, for vendors who do not want their home address on labels.

What are the Georgia cottage food laws for 2026?

The Georgia cottage food laws for 2026 are HB 398, in effect since July 1, 2025, plus GDA's chapter 40-7-19 regulations, which have not yet been rewritten to match the law. Together they say: non-perishable foods only, no state license or sales cap, a label with your name, address or ID number, phone number and the residential property statement, and store sales unless a local ordinance opts out. GDA adds two points the law does not mention: its cottage food page requires a food safety course with ANSI accreditation, and its FAQ says to keep sales inside Georgia, since interstate sales can bring FDA rules a home kitchen cannot meet.

Do you need a cottage license in Georgia?

No. Georgia stopped issuing cottage food licenses on July 1, 2025, when HB 398 took effect, and the $100 annual fee went with them. Under the Georgia cottage food laws now in force you label your products, and GDA asks you to complete a food safety course and, per its FAQ, keep sales inside Georgia. If a farmers market or a store asks for a license number, GDA's HB 398 FAQ is the document to show them, though a market can still set its own license rule.

Is there a cottage kitchen license in Georgia?

No. Georgia has one cottage food program and no separate kitchen, bakery or home kitchen license. The kitchen itself must be in your primary residence, and HB 398 lets GDA inspect it to investigate a complaint, a foodborne illness report or a public health emergency, with the visit scheduled in advance unless it is an emergency.

Can you sell cottage food at a farmers market in Georgia without a license?

The state does not require one, but the market can. GDA's FAQ says farmers market boards may require the same Food Sales Establishment License a retail store holds as a condition of selling there, and that policy sits outside the cottage food regulations. Ask the market manager before you apply.

Related Reading

Six Homegrown guides pick up where this one stops, each on a question Georgia vendors ask next. Start with the setup guide if you have not sold yet, and the permit guide if a market is your first channel.

• How to start a cottage food business in Georgia: the setup order, from your first recipe to your first market
• Georgia farmers market vendor permit guide: what a market can ask for even though the state does not
• Cottage food labeling requirements: label templates and how other states word their statements
• Can you sell homemade salsa?: the licensed route for a food Georgia keeps out of cottage food, with the tested-recipe rules that apply
• Cottage food laws by state: every state's cap and license rule in one place
• Big 9 allergens on a cottage food label: how to write the "Contains:" line GDA asks for

Start Selling Cottage Food in Georgia

After HB 398, Georgia asks less of home food vendors than it used to: no license, no cap, and retail access wherever a local ordinance does not bar store sales. Once you've taken the food safety course and your labels are right, the next step is making it easy for customers to order and pay. Set up a Homegrown storefront for Georgia cottage food orders with local pickup, then compare the rules in nearby states like Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina, or see the full cottage food laws by state hub.

Add the two-sentence HB 398 statement and your name, phone and address or GDA number to each product description, since HB 398 puts them on the page where the item is offered for sale, and to your storefront's about text as well, before the first order comes in. Prices are yours to set, since Georgia caps neither what you charge nor how much you sell.

_This guide is general information, not legal advice. Cottage food rules change, so verify current requirements with the Georgia Department of Agriculture before selling. Last verified: October 6, 2026._

Planning to sell at a farmers market? Our guide to market-day permits in Georgia lists what a market can ask you to bring.