Retail Food Establishment License

• Complete the application with your county’s health department
• Will also need to include Commissary Agreement & Application Fee
  • Larimer County; $100 application fee, $44/hour review fee and $200-$1,500 license fee
  • Weld County; $100 application fee, hourly review fee varies, $360-$715 license fee
  • Denver County; Restaurant Temporary License. $100 application fee + $10/day per market up to $50.
  • Arapahoe County;  $100 application fee, $60/review fee and $253.00 -$665.00 license fee
  • Jefferson County; $100 application fee, $50/review fee and $360-$445 license fee
  • Boulder County;$445 application fee,  $330-465 license fee
  • El Paso County; $100 application fee,  $253-$435 license fee
• Don’t reinvent the wheel!  The health department has a lot of resources that you can use to answer their questions about time and temperature control
• Be sure to fill out the correct form – a mobile license is for a portable unit like a food truck or pop-up tent.  A Retail Food license is to sell items at farmers markets or directly to the public through a restaurant, cafe or similar space.
• Depending on your activities, you may need a business license
  • Fort Collins Outdoor Vendor license
  • Denver License Information

• Submit a Label that meets the requirements with your license application

Need help with your logo or label design or making sure claims and nutrition panels are correct?  Cultivate can help!

• A Commissary Kitchen will require Product Liability Insurance with $1M in protection
  • FLIP– specifically for food businesses starting at $299/year
  • Other insurance options to look into are Hartford, Allstate, State Farm, National and Liberty
• It is not recommended to go through the same insurance company you have your house with as having a home-based business may increase your premiums

• A commissary is a shared commercial kitchen that you pay rent per hour.
• Depending on your product, you will also need a kitchen that offers dry storage, cooler space and/or freezer space; this will be an additional fee.
• Click here for a list of commissary kitchens

• **Note – most farmers markets will collect sales tax and remit on your behalf; if this is the case, you do NOT need to obtain a sales tax license if you are not selling in other direct to consumer outlets
• If you sell pre-packaged product outside of a farmers market that collects for you, you will need to obtain a sales tax license
  • Fort Collins – 2.25%
  • Greeley – 3.46%
  • Windsor – 3.95%
  • Loveland – 3%
• If you sell a ready for consumption food (ie: restaurant, cafe, food truck or push cart), you will need to collect city, county and state tax.
  • Colorado Department of Revenue
  • Counties
    • Larimer County

Cottage Food Act does not regulate your packaging, however, new and clean packaging is required.

The more you buy, the more you save and bring your COGS down, but it is an up front investment. Wholesale packaging options to look into:

• Papermart is great for bakery boxes and other food packaging for the smaller business not purchasing in large quantities.
• Imperial Packaging – Steve Maxson: [email protected]
  • Glass bottles and jars
  • Option to pick up in Denver to save money on shipping – mention that you found him through Sari at Cultivate
• TriCor Braun
  • Carlos: [email protected]
  • Flexible packaging (ie standup bags and pouches, glass and plastic jars)
  • Also located in Denver for local pick-up to avoid shipping fees
• PBFY Flexible Packaging
  • Nice online source – can see all your options and prices

Food labels options (must include the information required for Cottage Food including the disclaimer statement)

• A printed card that is attached to the product with a twist tie, staple or ribbon
• Avery labels affixed to the product
• Professional printed labels – we recommend Leapin Lizard Labels
  • Please mention that you found them through Cultivate – Cody is great to work with

• Form an LLC to protect your personal assets
  • Be sure to complete an operating agreement even if you are a single member LLC.  This goes into your files and helps show the differentiation between you and your business if there is ever an issue.
• Obtain your EIN number
• Open a business banking account at your local bank (bring copies of your EIN and State of CO business filing)
  • Going forward, use this account to make all of your business purchases

• You will be responsible for charging and remitting sales tax for your home city (where you produce)
  • Colorado is in the process of changing the rules around tax collection and remittance. Stay tuned for more info as things unfold.
  • Tax Jar and Avalera will run reports and remit on your behalf
• We recommend Shopify as it is built for commerce (starts at $29/mo with shipping discounts and easy to build your site)
• WordPress/WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace all have e-commerce platforms as well. We do NOT recommend GoDaddy
• You will want a strategy for shipping and how you will charge for this

• Purchasing a website domain name (for future use)
  • Don’t wait to purchase if you file an LLC as it may be purchased by “fishers” in the meantime
• Hover or Google Domains
• Set up a business email
  • can be the businessname@gmail or if you create a website add an email name@businessname
• Start a Facebook and Instagram business page if you are comfortable with social media
  • Facebook is great for events, photos and tagging other businesses to help promote each other
  • Facebook also has a “shop” function that you can list your products
  • Instagram is a visual medium and not as much as a “sales” pitch
    • Use this platform to show off beautiful product shots and people enjoying your food

• Colorado Farm to Market
• Colorado Proud
• Northern Colorado Food Cluster
• Larimer County Small Business Development Center Free Business Consulting
• Health Department Resources