Guide
Cottage food in Ohio: the checklist
What cottage food covers in Ohio, whether sales are capped, and why a ticketed micro hospitality dinner needs a different route. Checked Sep 2026.
Tenseats · Updated September 25, 2026
Not legal advice. This is a starting checklist, checked 2026-09-25. Rules change and differ by county and city. Talk to a lawyer and confirm with ODA before you sell a ticket or open your space.
At a glance
- Covers: shelf-stable bakery items, jams, jellies, candy, granola, popcorn, coffee and dry mixes, prepackaged and labelled. OAC 901:3-20-04 ODA
- Sales cap: none, for cottage food or a home bakery. ORC 3715.01 ORC 911.02
- Registration and fee: cottage food needs no licence or inspection. ODA A home bakery licence is $10 a year. ORC 911.02
- Doesn't cover: ticketed or plated dinners. Cottage food has to be prepackaged, and serving food open needs a temporary or mobile licence. ODA
- Home-kitchen meal law: pending. HB 134 passed the House 88-2 and sits in Senate committee. It covers sale and delivery, not on-site dining. HB 134 LSC
Quick answers
What does cottage food cover in Ohio? Shelf-stable bakery items, jams, jellies, candy, granola, popcorn, coffee and dry mixes, prepackaged and labelled. OAC 901:3-20-04 ODA
Is there a cottage food sales cap in Ohio? No, not for cottage food or a home bakery. ORC 3715.01 ORC 911.02
Does Ohio cottage food cover a ticketed dinner? No. Cottage food has to be prepackaged. A dinner may still fit an exemption: up to 13 people a day, or 115 meals a week in an owner-occupied home with a posted notice. ODA ORC 3717.42
What this means for a dinner
- Start with a free dinner for friends at home. The licence question starts when money changes hands, and a "required donation" counts as a charge. Nice try, though. ORC 3717.01
- A micro hospitality night of up to 13 people a day needs no food service licence. ORC 3717.42
- An owner-occupied home serving up to 115 meals a week on site, with a posted notice, needs no food service licence. ORC 3717.42
- Bigger nights: a temporary licence covers one event of up to 5 days (unverified: usually tied to a community event; call first). Or cook as a caterer from a licensed base kitchen. ORC 3717.01 ORC 3717.43
Your city
- Cincinnati: organizer checklist · venue host checklist
- Cleveland: organizer checklist · venue host checklist
- Columbus: organizer checklist · venue host checklist
Learn more
Not legal advice. Confirm with a lawyer and ODA before you act.
Guides by city in Ohio
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