warebyhow to sell food online from home
every state lets you sell some homemade food, and most let you take orders online. here’s how to do it legally, which apps work, and how to get orders into people’s hands.
in this post
1start with your state2what you can sell3step by step4which apps you can use5getting food to customers6what to expect7how wareby works for food8questions9sourcesyes, you can sell food online from home, under your state’s cottage food law. by the institute for justice’s last count (2022), 43 states plus washington, d.c. allowed cottage food sold online within the state, and 35 plus d.c. allowed mail delivery. the steps: check your state’s law, register if it asks you to, label your food, pick an app to take orders and payment, and hand orders over the way your state allows, which usually means pickup or delivering it yourself. foods that have to stay cold are almost always out.
is it legal to sell food from home?
yes, for the right foods. every state and washington, d.c. allows some cottage food: food made in your home kitchen and sold straight to the people who’ll eat it. what changes from state to state is what you can sell, how much you can earn, whether you register, and how food can reach your customers.
those rules decide which apps you can use, so start there. search “cottage food” and your state’s name, or start with your state’s department of agriculture or health.
in minnesota? our home bakery guide covers registering, the yearly sales caps and what changes in 2027.
what foods can you sell from home?
usually, foods that are safe at room temperature:
usually allowed
- breads, cookies, muffins and fruit pies
- candy, fudge and toffee
- jams and jellies
- granola, dry mixes and roasted nuts
usually not allowed
- meat, including jerky
- cheesecake, cream pies and custard
- anything that has to stay cold
- home-canned low-acid foods
every state draws its own lines, and a few “food freedom” states allow much more. check your state’s list before you sell anything new.
how do you start selling food online?
- read your state’s cottage food rules: what you can sell, your yearly sales cap, and how orders can reach customers.
- register or get a permit, if your state asks for one. some states also ask for a food safety course.
- label everything. states usually want your name, the ingredients and allergens, and a line saying it was made in a home kitchen.
- pick where people order. an ordering app or marketplace takes the order and the payment, so you’re not chasing payment requests.
- set up pickup and delivery: pickup windows at your home, a delivery area you can cover yourself, and shipping only if your state allows it.
- price it right: ingredients, packaging, your time and every fee. here’s a simple formula.
- tell people: neighbors, coworkers, your instagram, a sign at the market.
what’s the best app to sell homemade food?
it depends on who brings the customers and how the food gets to them:
| app | what it costs | good for | how food gets there |
|---|---|---|---|
| wareby | free to open. 10% + 3% + 30¢ a sale | being found by shoppers within 25 miles | pickup at your home, or delivery by you |
| hotplate | 2.9% + 30¢ from you, 5% + 55¢ from your customer | drops to a following you already have | pickup windows. its courier delivery is a closed beta |
| square online | free plan: 3.3% + 30¢ a sale | pairing with a square reader at markets | pickup, your own delivery, or couriers |
| bakesy | $9.99 a month | custom cake and cookie orders | you arrange it |
| instagram plus a payment link | card processing only | your first few orders | you arrange it |
| doordash and other courier apps | 15 to 30% of each delivery order | restaurants with licensed kitchens | a courier, which some states’ cottage food laws don’t allow |
two you can usually skip as a home cook: amazon handmade doesn’t allow food at all, and courier apps like doordash and uber eats are built for licensed restaurants. home-cook meal marketplaces like shef run in a handful of big cities, and shef isn’t taking new cooks in its biggest markets right now. more on the options in apps like hotplate.
how do you get orders to customers?
how much can you make selling food from home?
most people start small. in the institute for justice’s survey of 775 cottage food producers, the median producer sold $2,000 and made $500 in profit in a year (2016). your state may cap your sales, too: minnesota’s cap is $78,000 a year.
the ones who grow have regulars: people who order every week. a shop link they can come back to, pickup they can count on, and a message when you bake something new go a long way.
how does wareby work for home bakers and cooks?
wareby is a marketplace for verified local businesses, and home bakers and cooks are a big part of it:
- a real person checks your food permit (in minnesota, your cottage food registration) before your shop opens
- food is pickup or delivery by you, never shipped and never handed to a courier
- you set your pickup windows, your delivery area and your delivery days
- your address is shown only to customers who order for pickup
- it’s free to start: 10% per sale plus 3% + 30¢ card processing. the first 10 shops near you get the loved plan, with preorders and subscriptions, free for a year
questions people ask
can i sell food online from home?
yes, in most states. by the institute for justice’s 2022 count, 43 states plus washington, d.c. let cottage food producers sell online within the state. what you can sell, and how it reaches customers, depends on your state’s cottage food law.
do i need a license to sell food from home?
it depends on your state. some require a registration or permit and a food safety course, and some don’t. minnesota requires a registration: free if you sell $7,665 or less a year, and $50 a year up to $78,000.
can i ship homemade food?
in some states. by the institute for justice’s 2022 count, 35 states plus d.c. allowed mail delivery of cottage food. minnesota doesn’t allow shipping cottage food made for people until august 1, 2027, and then only within the state.
can i use doordash or uber eats to deliver homemade food?
not in minnesota, where the person who made cottage food, or their employee, has to deliver it. other states vary, and courier apps are built for licensed restaurants.
what’s the best app to sell baked goods?
wareby if you want people nearby to find you, hotplate for drops to a following you already have, square online if you also sell with a square reader, and bakesy for custom cake orders.
sources
- institute for justice: state reforms for homemade food businesses
- institute for justice: flour power, a survey of cottage food producers (2017)
- minnesota department of agriculture: cottage food producer registration
- minnesota department of agriculture: cottage food law guidance
- minnesota statutes, section 28A.152
- hotplate help center: understanding hotplate’s pricing
- hotplate help center: can i offer delivery?
- square: online store plans
- bakesy: pricing
- doordash: merchant pricing
- amazon seller central: amazon handmade
- shef help center: application checklist
- wareby: seller plans
this is general information to help you get started, not legal advice. rules change, so check with the agencies above (and your city) before you sell. last checked october 12, 2026.
we checked every fee and fact about other companies on october 12, 2026, on their own pages. fees change, so check theirs before you decide. spot something out of date? email hello@shopwareby.com and we’ll fix it.
hotplate, square online, bakesy, doordash, uber eats, shef and amazon handmade are trademarks of their owners. wareby isn’t affiliated with any of them, and we make wareby, so weigh our opinions with that in mind.
we started tandoco, a small bakery in minneapolis, and sold under a blue tent at farmers markets before we built wareby. our story
