A cottage food vendor can sell low-risk homemade food to the public without a license or permit. Vendors can set up booths or arrange pick-up and deliveries within Montana. Examples of low-risk foods are cakes, cookies, standardized jams, or dry mixes. Registration with Missoula Public Health is required.
A cottage foods are a low-risk food items that does not need to be refrigerated to prevent it from spoiling. See the examples below:
- Baked goods including:
- Loaf breads, rolls, biscuits, quick breads, and muffins
- Cakes (except cakes topped or filled with fresh fruit, with cream cheese/dairy frosting, or other cakes requiring refrigeration)
- Cookies or bars
- Crackers
- Cereals, trail mixes or granola
- Nuts and nut mixes
- Snack mixes
- Pies (except custard style pies, pies topped with fresh fruit, or other pies requiring refrigeration)
- Dried fruits
- James, jellies, preserves and fruit butter made with satanized recipes
- Recombining and packaging of dry herbs, seasonings, or mixtures (like dry soup, teas, coffees, spice seasonings)
- Popcorn, popcorn balls, or cotton candy
- Fudge, candies or confections that require a cook step and do not require refrigeration after cooking
- Molded chocolate using commercial chocolate melts
- Honey
Please note that baked goods that contain chunks of chopped produce or high levels of cheese generally require refrigeration and are not considered cottage food.
Other foods may be approved on a case-by-case basis by Missoula Public Health if they can be determined to be low-risk and not require refrigeration. Generally, recipes that do not fall into the categories listed above must be tested by a Processing Authority before they can be approved.
You can only make your cottage food at the home kitchen you listed when you submitted your Cottage Food Registration application. You cannot make your cottage food at a commercial kitchen or onsite at events.
As a cottage food vendor, you can sell your food through any face-to-face sale in Montana. You can set up a booth anywhere, anytime (with landowner permission) or arrange personal pick up or delivery. You can also sell at farmer’s markets, or other events. You are also allowed to offer samples of your products.
You can only sell food directly to consumers. This means you cannot sell your food to grocery stores, restaurants, or any third parties for re-sale. You also cannot use a third-party delivery service like DoorDash or GrubHub. You also may not mail your food to customers.
1. Decide what cottage foods you will sell. Review the list of cottage foods above as well as the Cottage Food Registration Application Form.
2. Complete the Cottage Food Registration Application Form. Fill out Attachments 1-5 of the application. Have your ingredient lists recipes, packaging information, labels, and cleaning information ready.
3. Submit the application to Missoula Public Health. There is a $40 review fee. Include all the recipes that you plan to use. If you have additional recipes you want reviewed in the future, you will have to resubmit an application and pay the review fee again. You can submit the application here, bring it in-person to our office, or mail it to us.
4. Respond to questions and comments from your reviewer. Only the recipes that qualify as cottage food will be approved.
5. Wait for your approval letter and Cottage Food Registration. When your reviewer has finished their review, you will be emailed an approval letter which will allow you to start selling. You will receive your registration certificate in the mail within 1-3 months after your approval.
Both Cottage Food Registrations and MLFCA are ways to sell homemade food in Montana, with some key differences. The main difference is that cottage foods are only foods that do not require refrigeration. For example, cookies, muffins, breads, and standard jams.
Under MLFCA, you can sell any homemade food that doesn’t contain meat.
Another difference is that cottage food vendors register with Missoula Public Health. To register, people submit their plans to us and we review their recipes, review their labels, and advise on hygiene.
Selling under MLFCA requires no kind of review from Missoula Public Health.
The last big difference is that cottage food vendors are allowed to set up a booth anywhere, anytime (with landowner permission) to sell their foods. People selling under MLCFA are restricted to only selling at events, farmer’s markets, farm stands, directly from your home, or arranged pick-up/delivery.
For more information on the different food service pathways, please see our Food Service Pathways Guide.
A Temporary Food Service (TFS) is a fully regulated way to provide permitted food to the public at an event.
TFS permits must be tied to an event, while cottage food vendors can sell at any time.
Cottage Food Registrations only allow you to sell foods that do not need refrigeration, but you can apply for a TFS to sell any type of food.
While you can make cottage foods at home, a TFS requires that food is prepared at commercial commissary kitchen or onsite at the event.
A TFS also requires permitting by Missoula Public Health and may be inspected during events. A Cottage Food Registration just requires an initial review from Missoula Public Health.
For more information on the different food service pathways, please see our Food Service Pathways Guide.