Due diligence: Contact your local health department and find out their requirements for you. Not every state, township or county has identical requirements.
Don't be shy to ask questions, so create a list of questions and have it ready to email out to your local township or county. I found that they are incredibly helpful both in CA & PA.
Have a deep understanding about your market share in baked goods, It's an exciting journey that you're getting ready to embark on. The bakery sector is a highly competitive market and you'll need to create a demand for your baked product(s).
Anticipate who your customers will be and how to get your products out to them.
Reflect into your inner self, to see if it is at all doable to run a mini bakery from your home kitchen
Start with logistics and identify the needs for your business and how it can effect your home life too. If you have pets CONTACT your local health department.
btw, Bread and rolls represent the leading segment of the commercial bakery product line.
Look around your kitchen and create a floor pan. If you are going to just need shelf space or cupboard space you'll need to dedicate that space to the business only.
Visit local stores to identify how much local competition you will be up against.
Create your recipes, once you've fine tuned and perfected them, "stay away from them.
"Start costing out ingredients. Costing out your ingredients will determine whether your baking business is financially doable. This decision will lead you to your final decision, if you should decide to proceed forward.
Once you've completed your plan and you're ready to proceed. It's time to cost out everything else from sanitizing buckets- equipment- gloves- mask- ingredients, packaging, labelling and everything you can imagine and then some...
"Every residential kitchen going forward with either a Limited Food Establishment or Cottage Food Operation will require a health inspector to sign off on their kitchen. If you don't you're compromising the health and safety of the consumers, face a fine and or penalty and basically compromise a system that enables fellow foodie-bakers to cook from their home kitchen.
For one to one consultation please use the contact form. Thank you and Good Luck!!
Lastly, just like any other food establishment we all have an obligation to producing food safely. From personal hygiene- hand washing- sanitizing and keeping surfaces clean, safety comes first, it's paramount.
Please note my topic on Limited Food Establishment in PA or Cottage Food Operation in CA is for "Perishable Baked Goods that are "shelf stable" baked product(s) that "DO NOT REQUIRE REFRIGERATION." at all. For a complete list of foods that are permitted at your location please call your local health department or local state authority. If you require guidance please feel free to contact me, thank you.