Do I need a license to sell homemade food in Illinois?

Well, in this video for Cottage Foods Laws, we're gonna cover just that. If you're looking to create a homemade-based food business in Illinois, under the Cottage Food Laws, we're gonna discuss a little bit about what you might need to get and you might be quite surprised at what you can sell and how much you could sell. We're gonna get to that right now. All right, so welcome back to Cottage Food Laws. This is YouTube's premier food entrepreneur channel, dedicated to the homemade food entrepreneur. So if you are interested in starting a home-based food business and you wanna create that food product from home and make some money on the side, definitely hit the subscribe button and the bell notification. Check out also our other channels here on YouTube. We have a ton of useful information and multiple channels, all about food entrepreneurship. So let's dive right into it. In the state of Illinois, they actually do not have a license or permit that is needed for you to get up and running in Illinois, but you may need to register with your local health department.

Do I need a license to sell homemade food in Illinois?

You need to contact them and each city or county, of course, it slightly varies and different, but you may need to get a registration set up with the local health department. That really runs about 50 to 60 or even $75 a year. It's an annual renewed item that you need to make sure that you get, but they don't necessarily have a licensed or permit. Now, with that being said, you wanna also keep in mind, too, that it's really highly recommended that you get a business license and get yourself incorporated as an LLC and a very basic food business insurance policy. Why is that necessary? Well, the problem with having a home-based food business, a lot of people misunderstand that even though they may not need permits or licenses in that specific state, they don't actually make it necessary for you to have a business license or incorporate and there's a liability factor that could really fall on your shoulders if someone gets sick or ill or decides to sue you for any reason.

Do I need a license to sell homemade food in Illinois?

That they ate one of your items and they've got really, really sick and they incurred some hospital bills or some debts, you need to make sure that you protect yourself, so I highly recommend that you look into getting an LLC, which you can do, a limited liability corporation is what that is known as, and that's very simple to do. We, even as a matter of fact, have some resources right down below this video in the description section. Open that up and you'll see a ton of new, additional resources for you, as well. And also, get a basic liability insurance policy for your food business because that, too, is gonna give you a layer of protection and coverage. Because as a sole proprietor, if you operate your business from home, you are liable for everything that goes on as a sole proprietor. But if you create an LLC for your baking business or home-based food business in Illinois, you'll have the opportunity to have some protection so you personally cannot get sued.

Do I need a license to sell homemade food in Illinois?

Your business could, but that's separate, okay? So that's something you wanna take a look at, but to answer that really quick question about do I need a license to sell homemade food in Illinois? You don't need a specific license or permit, but you will need to potentially register with your local health department and that's an annual thing that you need to renew, so keep that in mind, as well. Now, with that being said, let me tell you a couple other really quick things that you need to know. The really unique thing in Illinois is that you can ship non-perishable food items actually in the mail through a website. If you have a website online and people are buying items, but it has to be within the state of Illinois, your shipped products must be also sealed and make sure that it's got some type of tamper-evident labeling on it, as well.

Do I need a license to sell homemade food in Illinois?

So in addition to the above allowed venue, you can also actually have pick up from third party private property. You can also have people come to your home, basically, and pick up your items, if you are willing to do that, as well. That's pretty cool and that's also very flexible, but do keep in mind that you can ship items in the state of Illinois through your Cottage Food Law, but you do need to make sure that it is within the state. What's known as interstate sales is normally not allowed in most Cottage Food Laws, which is kind of a normal thing across the board, no matter what state that you're in, but Illinois is really unique, as well. Now, lastly, I was gonna tell you, this is really unique is that they have no sales limit. So you could potentially be selling, if you sold a half a million dollars worth of product from your home in Illinois, go ahead and do it because they have no sales limit. Now, you also need to keep track of your sales and, of course, your expenses, as well. That, obviously, makes sense to do that, but you need to make sure that you do that. There is no sales limit, so that's one of the few states that has that. A lot of states limit the amount of money that you can make. Cottage Food Laws in Illinois is unlimited, which is fantastic. So take a look at the rest of our videos. We've got a lot of other videos dedicated specifically to the state of Illinois, as well. Check those links down below and our website and I'll see you guys on our next video.