The Homegrown Vendor Blog

A food vendor needs a clean way to invoice and get paid for custom, bulk, and wholesale orders, and to keep records for taxes. Several free tools exist. Here's what to look for, the types available, a

A cottage food business is one of the most realistic incomes for a stay-at-home parent: home-based, low-cost, and flexible. The keys are scheduling production around naps and school hours, and keeping

TikTok is a powerful discovery tool for food vendors, but TikTok Shop has a catch: it ships nationwide, while cottage food is often limited to in-state or direct sales. Here's the geographic catch, ho

A Facebook business page is one of the most useful free tools a local food vendor can set up: it reaches your community, builds trust through reviews, and drives orders. Here's how to set it up, what

A tasting event pairs your food with a wine shop or specialty store's products and customers. The key thing to sort first is sampling: some states require cottage food samples to be prepackaged. Here'

Craft fair table fees range widely, and not every fair is worth it. Here's how a food vendor calculates the true cost, works out break-even, estimates sales realistically, and tracks ROI, so you spend

A baby shower dessert table is one of the highest-value custom orders a home baker can land: a styled, themed spread of cookies, cupcakes, cake pops, and candy. Here's what goes on it, cottage food el

Summer is ideal for a teacher to earn income with a home food business: you have the time, the organizational skills, and a built-in community. Here's the seasonal cottage food model, what to sell, ho

Offering both pickup and local delivery lets every customer choose what suits them, capturing more orders. Here's the hybrid model: cottage food delivery rules that vary by state, how to run pickup an