Expert: Carol Schlitt - 7/5/2006

Question
I am interested in selling a very distinctive and flavory dessert that no one else is selling at this time and I want to sell them to restaurants and bake them from my home.  What are the regulations and how can I start?

Can you please help?  I live in Aurora Illinois

Answer
Hi Yazmin,

Yum --your dessert sounds marvelous.

If you want to bake them from your home you must have a separate kitchen to prepare/bake.  Illinois Department of Public Health requires that this kitchen be separate from the family kitchen and have a 3 compartment sink, hand sink and backflow devise on your sewer (to prevent sewage from backing up into the kitchen).  Your county health department, environmental services division, can help you with the specifics for your kitchen since they are the ones who will be inspecting you.

You will also need to become a certified food handler. This involves taking a 15 hour class and passing a comprehensive exam. Again, your local health department can help you locate class locations in your area.

Since you want to sell them to restaurants, I assume you've already done the leg work to determine who will be purchasing.  It's not quite as simple as movies such as "Baby Boom" make it seem -- peddling your wares from store to store in hopes they'll take the product.

On August 11, the University of Nebraska Food Processing Center is offering a course for food entrepreners who have an idea for a food and are looking for ways to manufacturer and sell it to restaurants, grocery stores,etc.  For more information on this course, please see this website:  
http://fpc.unl.edu/FoodEntrepreneurProgram/recipe2reality.htm

Good luck Yazmin.  Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Carol C. Schlitt
Extension Educator, Nutrition and Wellness
University of Illinois Extension