Can you sell fruit pies from home in Florida?

Storage & refrigeration

Fruit Pies qualifies because it's shelf-stable — safe at room temperature. Keep it that way: the moment you add a cream or custard filling, fresh dairy, or anything that needs refrigeration, it stops being a cottage food. Store and transport fruit pies at room temperature and it stays compliant.

How to label fruit pies

Every package of fruit pies you sell needs a compliant label with all 6 required elements:

1. 1Your cottage food business name and address
2. 2The product name
3. 3Ingredients, listed in descending order by weight
4. 4Net weight or quantity
5. 5Allergen declaration (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish)
6. 6The cottage food statement (exact wording, below)

Where you can sell fruit pies in Florida

Cottage food is sold direct to the customer, within Florida. For fruit pies, that means:

Pricing fruit pies for profit

Add up your cost per unit (ingredients + packaging), multiply by 3–4× to cover your time and overhead, then sanity-check against what similar makers charge locally. Undercharging is the single most common mistake — your time is a real cost, not a freebie.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Underpricing — not counting your time, packaging, and market fees
• Missing a required label element, especially the exact cottage food statement
• Adding a filling or frosting that needs refrigeration, which quietly turns compliant fruit pies non-compliant
• Selling across state lines or wholesale to a shop for resale
• Losing track of the $250,000/year gross sales cap