A home-based bakery seemed to make perfect sense to Portsmouth resident Kara Donovan. Friends and family had already asked to buy her creations, and the business allowed her to bring in extra money while staying at home with her four young children during the day.
At first, everything seemed to run smoothly, and Donovan’s bakery, A Spoonful of Sugar, allowed her to leave her job waitressing at night. But in January 2021, the R.I. Department of Health ordered the business shut down, citing a state law prohibiting the sale of any food made in a home kitchen.
This law isn’t new but has made Rhode Island an anomaly in recent years. Following New Jersey’s easing of similar restrictions in October, Rhode Island is the last holdout in the U.S. to prohibit the sale of home-prepared “cottage food.”
Cottage food-friendly laws have emerged in “a groundswell of movement across the country over the past couple of decades,” said Benjamin Mays, a policy adviser at R.I. Commerce Corp. “For now, Rhode Island is the major – and only – outlier in cottage food.”
But Rhode Island may join the rest of the country soon: Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s proposed budget includes a provision to allow “home-based production of baked goods that do not require refrigeration or time/temperature control for safety.”
Under current state laws, home cooking or baking can only be sold if it was prepared in a commercial or farm kitchen, and residents must also obtain a “farm home food manufacture” certificate. These restrictions apply whether someone wants to sell food to a business, at a farmers market or to an individual.
‘I’m just hopeful that this year will be the year we can turn it around.’
KARA DONOVAN, A Spoonful of Sugar owner
Donovan eventually found a commercial kitchen to rent, allowing her to continue operating. But this may not have been practical if Donovan’s children were still too young to go to school during the day, and rental fees now cut into her revenue.
Since the shutdown order on her home-based business, Donovan has become a vocal advocate for relaxing cottage food laws in Rhode Island.
“I’m just hopeful that this year will be the year we can turn it around, or at least have a place to start,” she said. “We’re so behind everyone else – it would be nice to have a chance to catch up.”
Lisa Raiola, president and founder of the food industry incubator Hope & Main in Warren, said that local businesses sometimes rent the facility’s commercial kitchen because of the state’s restriction on cottage food sales.
But for very small businesses bringing in limited revenue, Raiola said, renting a commercial kitchen isn’t always a practical option.
“I really think the time has come to support this for our home cooks,” Raiola said, “particularly for bakers, who are making foods that are very low risk.”
Cottage food-friendly laws “would very much lower the barrier for [bakers] to start a business,” she added, “because right now, they would have to come to a place like Hope & Main even if they wanted to bake cookies at home.”
While McKee’s proposal has gained the support of several state officials and offices, a similar measure proposed in the last legislative session went nowhere.
R.I. Commerce has been collaborating with RIDOH to potentially ease the state’s restrictions on cottage food sales, Mays said, pointing to the state’s unusually prohibitive status and the potential for cottage food sales to promote wealth building and individual innovation.
RIDOH did not provide comment and deferred to R.I. Commerce.
The department has been receptive to cottage food law amendments, Mays said, though he noted that RIDOH “rightfully raised” that relaxed laws would need to come with strong oversight to ensure that food is prepared safely.
For this reason, Mays said, the proposal includes funding for RIDOH to create two new, full-time positions to oversee the program and food inspection operations. Additionally, the law only allows for the sale of baked goods that do not require specific temperature control.
“Public safety is a significant focus here,” Mays said, “so I think one thing that is really important to emphasize is the kinds of products that can be produced in cottage food businesses.”
The bill also caps eligibility at $25,000 in annual sales per year, “to really emphasize that these are small-scale operates that are home-based,” Mays said.
Rhode Island’s setup with a single department of health, rather than county or regional offices, can create additional barriers for the state to regulate health and safety regulations on food, Raiola said, which may have contributed to the state’s unusually strict regulations on cottage food.
Rhode Island also has “an amazing record of food safety,” she added, “and I think there’s been a very conservative effort” to support this status.
With the proper regulations and food safety education, as well as transparency in indicating when food was prepared at home, Raiola believes the state can maintain its reputation for food safety while allowing the sale of cottage foods.
“If there are those kinds of parameters around it, I think it can be done safely,” Raiola said, “and it would get people started” on establishing a business.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Voghel@PBN.com.
