How to Start a Cottage Food Business in Missouri (2026)

Once your sales license is in place, you can set up a Homegrown storefront so Missouri customers can order ahead, and try it free for 7 days.

Missouri keeps the food side of a home business simple. The state issues no food permit for it, no health department inspects your kitchen before you start, and there is no limit on how much you can earn. What trips new vendors up is the paperwork that sits outside the food law: a sales tax license from the Department of Revenue, a business license in some cities, and a name filing if you sell under anything other than your own name.

This guide walks through every step in order, with what each one costs and how long each one takes, from the state and city pages we read on October 7, 2026. For the full legal detail on which foods qualify and why, keep our Missouri cottage food law guide open next to this one.

How Do You Start a Cottage Food Business in Missouri? (Step by Step)

You start a Missouri cottage food business in eight steps, and none of them is a state food permit application. The order matters, because the sales license takes the longest and a city business license usually needs it first.

• Confirm your product fits. The law, RSMo 196.298, covers only three kinds of food: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs or herb mixes. DHSS, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, also leaves out sugar-free, no-sugar-added and hot pepper jams, and anything that needs a fridge.
• Call your local health department and city hall. Missouri has 115 local public health agencies, and each can read the rules a little differently. Ask whether they want anything from a cottage food vendor, whether they allow market stands, and whether a city business license applies to you.
• Pick a business name and file it if you need to. If your shop name is anything but your legal name, the Secretary of State charges $7 for a fictitious name registration that lasts five years.
• Apply for a retail sales license. The Department of Revenue (DOR) issues it at no cost, and its FAQ puts processing at 10 business days.
• Set up a safe kitchen routine. No health department inspects your kitchen before you start, but keep allergens apart and wash, rinse and sanitize tools between batches.
• Weigh, label and package every product. The label needs your name and address and a line saying no one inspected the kitchen, plus the extra lines DHSS lists further down this page.
• Choose where you sell and how people order. From home, online for Missouri buyers with pickup or hand delivery, and at markets if your local agency allows it.
• Make your first sale and keep records. Write down every sale, cash included. You will need the totals for your sales tax return and your income taxes.

Most of these steps take minutes. The two that take real time are the sales license, which runs on DOR's clock, and your recipes, which run on yours. Use the wait to test batches, weigh finished packages and print labels, so you can open orders as soon as your paperwork is done.

Do You Need a Cottage Food License in Missouri?

No, Missouri has no state cottage food license, permit or registration, so the state food fee is $0, but that is not the same as no paperwork. DHSS's guidance says it plainly: "There is no food permit or license for cottage food production operations, but products must meet the labeling requirements listed by law."

The law gets there in two moves. RSMo 196.298 says a home operation that makes these foods "is not a food service establishment" and is not subject to the state's health or food code laws other than that one section. It also says a local health department "shall not regulate the production of food" at a cottage food operation. That is why nobody comes to inspect your kitchen before you start.

The statute does not mention business licenses, zoning or sales tax, and it does not stop a city or the Department of Revenue from asking for them. So "no cottage food license" means no food permit. It does not mean no license of any kind.

What permits do you need to sell food from home in Missouri?

You need a free retail sales license from the Department of Revenue, and depending on where you live and what you call your business, a city business license and a $7 name filing. Here is the paperwork a Missouri cottage food vendor is most likely to run into, and whether it applies to you:

Scroll sideways to see every column.

We read each source on October 7, 2026: DHSS's Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance and food safety FAQ, the statute on the Missouri Revisor of Statutes site, the Department of Revenue's registration FAQ and RSMo 144.083, the Secretary of State's fictitious name FAQ and fee schedule, and the St. Joseph and Springfield health department pages.

Missouri also has a second path, for sales from a stand only, that covers other low-risk foods such as honey, fruit butters and dry soup mixes. It sits in the Missouri Food Code and only applies where your local code allows it, so ask your health department before you count on it. Our guide to Missouri's cottage food rules compares the two paths side by side.

How Do You Get a Missouri Retail Sales License?

You register with the Missouri Department of Revenue before your first sale, the license costs $0, and DOR's FAQ says processing takes 10 business days. The same FAQ says "Taxpayers are required to have a Missouri retail sales license prior to making sales," and RSMo 144.083 says the license is issued "at no cost to the licensee."

Farmers markets count. DOR's small business registration page lists craft shows and farmers markets as special events and says anyone selling goods to a final consumer there must register for retail sales tax using Missouri Tax Registration Application Form 2643.

What to know before you apply:

• Timing. Apply on day one. The statute gives the director ten working days after a properly completed application, so fill in every field; DOR's registration page lists common misses, such as leaving out the "begin date" for a tax type.
• Bond. Form 2643 says a sales and use tax bond is "not required unless requested by the Department of Revenue."
• Penalty for skipping it. DOR's FAQ says selling without the license can cost $500 for the first day and $100 a day after that, up to $10,000.
• How often you file. DOR assigns you a schedule. If the state tax you collect is under $200 a quarter, you file once a year; under $500 a month, every quarter; $500 or more a month, every month. Every license holder files, even for a period with no sales.
• The food rate. DOR taxes qualifying food at "a reduced state tax rate of 1.225% plus any applicable local tax," where qualifying food follows the federal food stamp list. Ask DOR whether your products qualify before you set prices.
• City licenses wait on it. RSMo 144.083 makes a retail sales license and a DOR "no tax due" statement, dated within 90 days, a prerequisite for a city or county license where goods are sold at retail.

That last point is why the sales license comes first. Where a city requires a business license, RSMo 144.083 says it has to see your DOR license and "no tax due" statement before it issues or renews one. Our guide to sales tax at farmers markets covers how to track cash and card sales so the return is quick.

Do You Need to Register a Business Name in Missouri?

Only when the name on your labels differs from your legal name. Missouri's fictitious name law, RSMo 417.200, requires anyone doing business under a name that is not their "true name" to file a fictitious name registration with the Secretary of State. People often call this a DBA, short for "doing business as."

Here is how it works, from the Secretary of State's FAQ and fee schedule on October 7, 2026:

• Cost. The filing fee is $7.
• How long it lasts. A registration is good for five years. You renew it in the six months before it expires; once it expires, you file a new one.
• Where to file. Online through the Secretary of State's business portal, or by mail on the paper form.
• What it does not do. The FAQ says filing "does not afford or secure any exclusive rights to the name." Another business can use the same name.

So if you sell as "Jane Smith," you file nothing. If your labels and storefront say "Your Town] Cookie Co.," you file the $7 registration and use that same name on your labels, your storefront and your bank account. Before you print 2,500 labels, search the name online and on the Secretary of State's business search, because the filing does not protect it. Our guide on [how to name a food business walks through picking one that is easy to find and say out loud.

If you form an LLC instead, the LLC's legal name is your business name, and the fictitious name filing only comes in if you sell under a different name.

How Much Does It Cost to Start a Cottage Food Business in Missouri?

You pay $0 to the state for food permits and $0 for the sales license, and the four starter supplies we priced on October 7, 2026 (a name filing, a label pack, a 10-pack of boxes and a scale) totaled $58.47. Ingredients come on top, and so does anything your city charges.

Swipe the table to see each cost.

Supply prices from WebstaurantStore product pages, insurance from FLIP's home page, fees from the Missouri Secretary of State and Department of Revenue, and Homegrown's price from its signup page, all checked October 7, 2026, before shipping and sales tax. The 10" x 10" box fits nine 3-inch cookies per layer, so a dozen sits in two layers.

A few notes on the numbers. The box and label for one dozen cookies come to about $1.21, which belongs in your price along with flour, butter and chocolate. If you sell under your own name, drop the $7 and the kit is $51.47. If you add an LLC filed online, the kit plus the LLC is $108.47.

How Long Does It Take to Start in Missouri?

Plan on about 14 days from your first phone call to your first legal sale, because the retail sales license takes up to 10 business days to process. Nothing on the food side makes you wait: there is no application, no inspection and no class to schedule.

A realistic timeline:

1. Day 1. Confirm your product fits the three categories, call your local health department and city hall, file your business name if you use one, and submit your DOR application.
2. Days 2 to 9. Test your recipes, weigh finished packages, design and print labels, order boxes, and plan your menu. Build your ordering page a few days before the sales license is due, so it is ready to share the day the license arrives.
3. About day 14. Ten business days after you apply, your sales license should arrive. If your city has no business license requirement, open orders to the Missouri customers who already ask you for cookies or jam.
4. If your city requires a license. Apply as soon as you have the DOR license and a "no tax due" statement, since RSMo 144.083 makes those a prerequisite, and open orders once the city license is issued.

Your city's timing is the one number this guide cannot give you. St. Joseph, for example, requires a city business license and may require a fire inspection permit, so ask your city hall how long each takes when you call on day one.

What Can You Sell as a Missouri Cottage Food Business?

You can sell three kinds of food and nothing else under Missouri's cottage food law: baked goods, canned jams or jellies, and dried herbs or herb mixes. The statute defines baked goods as cookies, cakes, breads, danish, donuts, pastries, pies "and other items that are prepared by baking the item in an oven," as long as they are not potentially hazardous, meaning they do not need a fridge to stay safe.

Baked goods are also the biggest category on Homegrown. In our October 7, 2026 pull of the Homegrown catalog, 1,471 of the 2,901 products sat in the Bakery category their vendors chose, so most of what you will see when you look for pricing ideas is bread, cookies and cakes.

DHSS's guidance lists these foods as not allowed under the cottage food law, and ends the list with "And more":

• Cut produce
• Baked goods garnished with fresh fruit
• Freeze-dried foods
• Salsa, pickles and sauces such as BBQ sauce and hot sauce
• Sprouts and wild mushrooms
• Meats, dairy and eggs
• Pet foods

DHSS also leaves out "No Sugar Added," "Sugar Free" and hot pepper jams and jellies, and says meringue and cream pies need an inspected kitchen. The St. Joseph and Springfield health departments both add pumpkin pies, meringue pies and cream cheese frosting or filling to their not-allowed lists. If your best product is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, ask your local agency before you list it.

The full list, with every exception and where it comes from, lives in our complete Missouri food list, and our cottage food labeling guide covers how to word each label.

When do you need a commercial kitchen in Missouri?

You usually need an inspected kitchen once your product falls outside the three categories, unless your local agency allows it under the Food Code stand exemption described above, and you always need one to sell to stores. DHSS's guidance says foods outside the cottage food law "may have to be produced in an approved commercial kitchen and are subject to routine inspection" by your local public health agency. Salsa, pickles and BBQ sauce go further: DHSS says the vendor must submit the recipe and process to a process authority, may need a better process control school, and must test the pH of every batch and keep records. Selling to a store or restaurant moves you under the DHSS Manufactured Food program, which Springfield's page says does not allow food made in a home. Meat needs a USDA or Missouri Department of Agriculture inspection mark, pet treats go through the Department of Agriculture, and eggs sold straight to customers fall under your local health agency, with a Department of Agriculture egg license needed to package them.

How Do You Start a Cottage Bakery in Missouri?

Start a Missouri cottage bakery with two or three shelf-stable products you can bake well every week, priced from what similar listings actually charge. Baked goods are the widest of the three categories, and the same steps above apply to a home bakery: no food permit, a free sales license, labels, and in-state customers only.

How to pick your first menu:

• Start with what sells without a fridge. Cookies, brownies, breads, muffins and fruit pies such as apple, cherry and berry are on the allowed lists from both St. Joseph and Springfield.
• Leave the risky toppings for later. Cream cheese frosting, meringue and pumpkin pie are on those same cities' not-allowed lists.
• Pick products that travel. A dozen cookies in a box survives porch pickup and a car ride; a tall layer cake makes delivery harder.
• Match your oven. One home oven and two sheet pans set your weekly limit more than demand does at the start.
• Price from real listings, then check your margin. Our cost per dozen cookies breakdown shows the ingredient math, and the guide on how to price baked goods covers your time and packaging.

Of the 35 listings, 18 sat between $15 and $25. Six of the 11 listings above $25 named a reason in the title: sourdough, organic, gluten-free or a large bakery-style cookie. If you are new, a price near the middle with a clear reason to pick you (a family recipe, a bigger cookie, a weekly flavor) is easier to defend than the cheapest dozen in town.

What Must Your Missouri Cottage Food Label Say?

Every Missouri cottage food label needs your name, your address and a statement that the food was not inspected. Those three come from the statute itself, which says the label "shall include the name and address of the cottage food production operation and a statement that the food is not inspected by the department or local health department."

DHSS's guidance asks for six things in all, and says the label "must be legible to the consumer":

1. Your full name and address
2. The common name of the food
3. All ingredients, listed by weight from most to least
4. The net weight
5. Any allergens in the food
6. A statement that the product is prepared in a kitchen not subject to inspection by DHSS, with the department's full name written out

Wording differs by agency. Springfield-Greene County's page asks for a statement naming its own health department, and St. Joseph's names the state health department. A sentence that names both DHSS and your local health department covers the statute's own words.

A sample for a box of cookies might read: *"Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, one dozen. Your Name], [Street Address, City, MO ZIP]. Ingredients [listed heaviest first; weigh your own recipe to set the order]: chocolate chips (list the ingredients exactly as printed on your chocolate chip bag), flour, butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt. Contains: wheat, milk, eggs [plus any allergen your chocolate chip bag lists]. Net wt. 20 oz (567 g). This product was prepared in a home kitchen that is not inspected by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services or the local health department."* Check the allergen line against every ingredient you use, including the fine print on store-bought chips and sprinkles. At $24.49 for 2,500 labels, a printed label like this costs about a penny. Our [cottage food labeling guide has more templates.

Where Can You Sell in Missouri?

You can sell directly to the person who will eat the food, from your home and online, as long as you and every buyer are in Missouri. The statute covers food made "for sale at the individual's home" and sold "only directly to consumers," and since 2022 it allows internet sales only when "both the cottage food production operation and the purchaser are located in this state."

Where you can sell:

• From your home, the one place the statute names.
• Online to Missouri buyers, with porch pickup or hand delivery.
• At farmers markets, roadside stands and events, if your local agency allows it. St. Joseph's guidance lists all three; DHSS's guidance points stand sales to the Food Code exemption, which depends on local law.

Where you cannot sell:

• Across state lines. DHSS answers "No" and warns that it "may be subject to inspection by the FDA."
• To stores, restaurants or other resellers. DHSS says wholesaled food is no longer covered by the cottage food law.
• Through someone else. DHSS's guidance says only the person who made the food, or a household member who knows it well, can sell it.

Mail is the gray area. The statute only says you and the buyer must both be in Missouri, while St. Joseph's health department says "No delivery via mail is allowed." Plan on pickup and hand delivery until your own health department says otherwise, and read our guide on whether you can ship cottage food before you buy mailers. For market day paperwork, see our Missouri farmers market vendor permit guide.

How Do You Take Your First Missouri Orders Online?

Missouri's 2022 change made online ordering legal for cottage food, so the fastest way to fill your first two weeks of orders is one link that Missouri customers can order and pay from, instead of a pile of text threads. Taking orders through Facebook or Instagram messages and a payment app works for the first few, but the tracking gets hard fast: who paid, who wants which flavor, and which pickup day.

Homegrown is $10 per month billed annually (or $12.50 billed monthly), with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per order, which the vendor pays. New stores get a 7-day trial with no charge until day 8. For a Missouri cottage bakery, the parts that matter are:

• Pickup times you set, so porch pickups land on your baking day.
• Local delivery within a radius you choose, from 1 to 25 miles, with a flat fee you keep (minus card processing).
• Prepaid orders, so you bake to a count instead of guessing.
• Sales tax on storefront orders, which Homegrown's signup page says it calculates and files for you. Cash sales at a market or your door are still yours to report on your DOR return.

Here is how it compares with two other ordering tools, on a $24 dozen (the median price in our catalog pull) and a month of 30 orders:

Swipe to see all four options.

We checked these on each company's own page on October 7, 2026: Homegrown's signup page, Hotplate's pricing page and its post "What Hotplate does" (which says "we charge a fee to your customer" by default and that 80% of chefs keep the default), and Square's online store plans page. Per-order figures are rounded to the cent; monthly totals use the unrounded amounts. Sales tax and delivery fees are left out of every row.

The fair read: on fees alone, Hotplate's default ($31.40, all of it the vendor's 2.9% + $0.30 card processing, taken on the customer's $25.75 total) and Square's Free plan ($32.76, all of it 3.3% + 30¢ online processing) cost the vendor less than Homegrown ($39.88, the $10 plan plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing) at 30 orders a month. Hotplate gets there by adding $1.75 to each customer's $24 order, $52.50 across the month, and every Hotplate order is placed through a "drop," a pre-order window that opens and closes at set times. Square's Free plan has no monthly cost but charges 3.3% + 30¢ on online card payments, and you set up and run the site yourself.

What Homegrown does not do:

• Your customers create a Homegrown account to place their first order.
• There is no drops or countdown-timer feature, and no release date to share.
• Your storefront is listed on Homegrown's marketplace, but plan on most orders coming from people you send to your own link.
• Homegrown does not check where a buyer lives or which foods are legal for you. Keeping every order inside Missouri is your job.

If that fits how you plan to sell, set up your Missouri storefront a few days before your sales license is due, so nothing is left to build once DOR's approval comes through. Start it on day one and the 7-day trial runs out before a 10-business-day wait does.

How Much Can You Make Selling Cottage Food in Missouri?

Missouri puts no cap on what you earn from cottage food, so your income is set by demand and by how much you can bake. HB 1697 removed the state's old $50,000 yearly cap on August 28, 2022, and DHSS's guidance now says "There is no longer a limit to how much a cottage food producer can make annually." Your real limits are your oven, your weekends and the number of Missouri customers you can reach.

A simple way to size it: 30 dozen cookies a month at the $24 median is $720 a month in sales before ingredients, packaging, fees and taxes. Double the orders and you double the baking, so the next limit is time, not the law.

Ways to get the most out of a no-cap state:

• Master a few products. With only three categories, doing cookies, bread or jam really well pays off more than a long menu.
• Price for profit. Cover ingredients, the $1.21 box and label, card processing and your time, then add margin.
• Sell online statewide. Reach customers across your part of Missouri, not just your street, as long as they pick up or you deliver.
• Build repeat buyers. Weekly pickup days, pre-orders and seasonal boxes turn one-time buyers into regulars.
• Reinvest in capacity. A second oven or a pre-order cutoff does more for income than another market day.

Do You Need an LLC or to Worry About Taxes in Missouri?

You do not need an LLC to start a cottage food business in Missouri, but you do need to handle two kinds of tax: sales tax through your DOR license, and income tax on your profit. The simplest setup is a sole proprietorship, which means you and the business are the same person for tax purposes and there is nothing to file with the state to form it.

The choices, with the Secretary of State's fees from October 7, 2026:

• Sole proprietor. No state filing. Add the $7 fictitious name registration if you use a business name.
• LLC. Articles of organization cost $50 filed online or $105 on paper. An LLC is mainly about separating business debts and claims from your personal assets; it does not change the food rules.
• Sales tax. File on the schedule DOR gives you, even when a period had no sales, and report qualifying food on the food line of the return, as DOR's sales tax page instructs.
• Income tax. Profit from cottage food sales is income. Our guide on cottage food taxes and Schedule C walks through the federal form a sole proprietor files.

For the LLC question in more depth, read whether you need an LLC to sell food from home. If your city requires a business license, our guide to whether you need a business license to sell food from home covers what to ask at city hall.

Do You Need Insurance or Food Safety Training in Missouri?

Neither is required statewide for a Missouri cottage food business, but both are worth a look before you sell to strangers. DHSS's food safety FAQ says "There currently is no statewide food handler certification," and adds that some city or county agencies require one for the food establishments they inspect. St. Joseph's guidance, answering whether you need a food handler's license or training, says neither Missouri nor the city requires cottage food producers to have training, though the city does require a business license.

Training still helps you avoid the mistakes that cause complaints. DHSS's guidance names nine major allergens (milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame) and warns about allergen cross contact, which is when a food picks up an allergen from shared tools that were not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized. If you bake with peanuts and also sell a peanut-free cookie, that is the risk to plan around.

Insurance is a business choice, not a cottage food rule. Nothing in RSMo 196.298 requires it. On October 7, 2026, FLIP, a food liability insurance program, listed its FLIP Pro general liability plan at $25.92 a month, or an annual option from $299 a year. Some farmers markets ask vendors for proof of insurance, so ask your market manager before you apply. Our guide to cottage food business insurance explains what a policy covers.

Also remember that DHSS and your local health department keep a record of complaints about cottage food operations, and the statute still lets them investigate a foodborne illness or outbreak. No inspection before you start does not mean no one can ever look.

What Mistakes Should You Avoid When Starting in Missouri?

The nine mistakes below come from three places: what you sell, where it goes, and paperwork that sits outside the food law. The sales license one carries a penalty that starts at $500:

• Selling a food outside the three categories. Only baked goods, jams and jellies, and dried herbs qualify under the cottage food law.
• Making no-sugar or hot pepper jams. DHSS excludes them, even when the recipe is a family favorite.
• Selling wholesale. Missouri cottage food is direct to consumers only; a coffee shop that resells your muffins ends the exemption.
• Shipping or delivering out of state. Every buyer must be in Missouri, which matters most near Kansas City and St. Louis.
• Missing the label statement. The not-inspected statement is in the statute itself.
• Selling before your sales license arrives. DOR's penalty for selling without one starts at $500 for the first day.
• Assuming "no permit" means no paperwork. You may still need a city business license, a fire inspection permit or a name filing.
• Trusting an old county page. At least one still lists the $50,000 cap that ended in 2022.
• Underpricing. It is easy to forget to pay yourself; cost out your time along with the $1.21 for the box and label.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you need a license to start a cottage food business in Missouri?

Not a food license. DHSS's guidance says "There is no food permit or license for cottage food production operations," and RSMo 196.298 bars local health departments from regulating how you make the food. You still need a free Missouri retail sales license before your first sale, and some cities, such as St. Joseph, require a city business license.

How much is a cottage food license in Missouri?

There is no cottage food license in Missouri, so it costs $0. The Department of Revenue's retail sales license is also $0 under RSMo 144.083. A business name filing with the Secretary of State is $7 when your business name differs from your legal name, and city business license fees vary by city.

How much does it cost to start a cottage food business in Missouri?

When we priced a starter kit on October 7, 2026, a $7 name filing, 2,500 printable labels, a 10-pack of bakery boxes and a kitchen scale came to $58.47 before ingredients. State food fees are $0. Optional costs include an LLC ($50 online), liability insurance and an online storefront at $10 a month billed annually.

How much can you make selling cottage food in Missouri?

There is no sales cap. HB 1697 removed Missouri's old $50,000 limit effective August 28, 2022, so you can sell as much as demand and your kitchen allow, within the three allowed categories. As an example, 30 dozen cookies a month at $24 is $720 in monthly sales before costs.

What can you sell as a Missouri cottage food business?

Only three categories: baked goods, canned jams and jellies, and dried herbs and herb mixes. DHSS leaves out sugar-free, no-sugar-added and hot pepper jams and anything that needs refrigeration, such as cream pies, and the St. Joseph and Springfield health departments also list cream cheese frosting and pumpkin pie as not allowed.

Can you sell cottage food online in Missouri?

Yes, when both you and the buyer are in Missouri, which RSMo 196.298.5 has allowed since 2022. Plan on pickup or hand delivery, because St. Joseph's health department says mail delivery is not allowed and the statute does not settle it. Selling to someone in another state, or to a store, is not allowed.

How long does it take to start in Missouri?

Plan on about two weeks. There is no food permit to wait for, but the Department of Revenue says a retail sales license takes 10 business days to process, and you need it before your first sale. A city business license, where your city requires one, comes after that.

Do you need an LLC to sell food from home in Missouri?

No. You can start as a sole proprietor with nothing to file with the state, and an LLC is optional. If you want one, the Secretary of State's fee is $50 to file online or $105 on paper, and it mainly separates business claims from your personal assets.

Related Reading

Six Homegrown guides pick up where single steps on this page leave off. Start with the Missouri cottage food law guide if you are still deciding what to bake, then use the rest when you get to markets, labels, pricing and shipping:

• Missouri cottage food law: every allowed and excluded food, the Food Code stand exemption for honey and dry mixes, what the local health departments add, and what HB 3108 would have changed.
• Missouri farmers market vendor permits: county permits, sales tax, sampling rules and where to apply before market day.
• Cottage food labeling requirements: label templates you can adapt, with allergen lines and how to state net weight.
• Cost per dozen cookies: the ingredient math behind a dozen, so the price you pick covers flour, butter and chocolate.
• Can you ship cottage food?: how shipping rules differ from state to state and what to ask your health department before you mail anything.
• Cottage food laws by state: the full hub, with a page for each state, handy if you live near the Kansas or Illinois line.

Start Your Missouri Cottage Food Business

Missouri asks very little of a home baker on the food side: no permit, no inspection and no cap, as long as you stick to baked goods, jam and jelly, and dried herbs, and label every package. The paperwork that does exist is quick and mostly free: a $0 retail sales license, a $7 name filing if you use a business name, and whatever your city asks for. Make your two calls and send your DOR application on day one, use the 10 business days to perfect two or three products, and open orders when the sales license, and any city license you need, comes in. When you are ready to take Missouri orders with pickup times and local delivery, set up a Homegrown storefront, compare platforms in our guide to the best platform to sell food from home, and check the rules next door in Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas and Illinois.

*This guide is general information, not legal advice. Cottage food rules change, so verify your state's current rules in DHSS's Home-Based Kitchen Food Production Guidance and with your local public health agency before you sell. Last checked: October 7, 2026.*

Selling at farmers markets? See our Missouri farmers market vendor permit guide for the permits you need on market day.