Rita Magalde sells baklava and other baked goods with her bakery, Sheer Ambrosia, in Salt Lake City, UT.

Rita started her bakery from home back in 2008, and still retains a wholesale account that she acquired in her first year in business.

But while some things have been consistent, most haven’t. Her roller coaster business journey includes big risks, life changes, and many surprises.

Rita calls Sheer Ambrosia her third child, and although it hasn’t been easy, she has now built it into a national brand and is confident it will become a multi-million dollar business.

• How Rita’s business saved her from a very dark time in her life
• What to consider when transitioning from a home kitchen to a commercial space
• Why your business should not look like it’s home-based
• The importance of being honest in your business endeavors
• Why it’s essential to align your business with your passion
• The difference between clients and customers
• How to offer exceptional customer service
• The mindset you need to have to set your business up for success
• The importance of continuously adapting your business to meet customers’ needs
• The sales method that gets you the best of both retail and wholesale

Sheer Ambrosia website (Instagram | Facebook)

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses

Utah Cottage Food Law

The Cottage Foodie is an online directory that will expand your customer base and connect you with food enthusiasts not only across your own state, but around the country as well. It’s the go-to resource for consumers everywhere seeking unique, locally-made treats.

The founder, Matt Rosen, was on Episode 133 and shared that he was inspired to start The Cottage Foodie to help other bakers fulfill their dreams.

By joining The Cottage Foodie, you’ll also get to connect and network with an exclusive community of Cottage Food Producers who are passionate about running their food businesses from the comfort of home.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to showcase your talents and grow your cottage food business!

To join The Cottage Foodie and learn more, go to forrager.com/cottagefoodie

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/141

Michelle Chesser lives in Millersville, MO and sells cinnamon rolls and other baked goods with her home food business, Home Sweet Home Bakery.

Michelle started her cottage bakery 16 years ago when she was living in a mobile home trailer and homeschooling her four young kids. She started very small and steadily grew her business until it became so successful that she had to intentionally scale back multiple times.

She now has a commercial kitchen built into her home and sells thousands of baked goods each year. But that’s not all: she also has a separate, very popular lemonade business in the summertime, a weekly catering gig, and a coaching business where she helps other food entrepreneurs build their bakeries.

She is well known online as the Home Sweet Home Baker and now has over 180,000 followers on Instagram. Rest assured, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!

• That you can be successful with your cottage food business no matter how small your kitchen is
• What to do when you face obstacles in your business
• The mindset you need to have to be a successful home baker
• How to make yourself more productive when you have too much on your plate
• How to increase the chances that someone will buy from you
• Tips for growing your social media presence
• The trap of chasing every dollar and what to focus on instead
• How to get your kids involved in your business
• A side-hustle that can get you through a summer slowdown
• When to start hiring help, and how it can transform your business
• How to grow through life’s seasons while staying true to your vision

Home Sweet Home Bakery website (Instagram | Facebook)

The Baker’s Library

Missouri Cottage Food Law

The Cottage Foodie is an online directory that will expand your customer base and connect you with food enthusiasts not only across your own state, but around the country as well. It’s the go-to resource for consumers everywhere seeking unique, locally-made treats.

The founder, Matt Rosen, was on Episode 133 and shared that he was inspired to start The Cottage Foodie to help other bakers fulfill their dreams.

By joining The Cottage Foodie, you’ll also get to connect and network with an exclusive community of Cottage Food Producers who are passionate about running their food businesses from the comfort of home.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to showcase your talents and grow your cottage food business!

To join The Cottage Foodie and learn more, go to forrager.com/cottagefoodie

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/140

Chris Martin lives in Charlottesville, VA and sells Latin American baked goods with her cottage food business, bakernobakery.

Chris has been selling baked goods since she was in high school, which led her to culinary school and eventually working for some of the best chefs in the country.

While working at a high-end hotel and restaurant, she started selling her own French pastries on the side just for fun, and they eventually became so popular that she quit her career in fine dining to focus solely on her cottage food bakery.

But a couple of years later, when her business was booming, she completely pivoted to selling Latin American baked goods instead. In many ways she had to start over, but after only a year or two, she was able to rebuild her business back to the same level as before.

In this episode, Chris shares how she used grants to raise money for her bakery, how she built a dream kitchen in her basement, and many of the ups and downs in her business journey.

• How Chris landed jobs at three different Michelin 3-star restaurants
• Techniques in fine dining kitchens that Chris has applied to her home bakery
• Why Chris decided to leave her prestigious career to pursue a cottage food business
• How Chris runs her closed loop farm to keep her business very sustainable
• About Chris’ incredible commercial equipment setup in her basement
• How to apply for grants to get money to invest in your business
• How to attract returning customers at different events during the same weekend
• Why Chris abandoned her very successful products and pivoted to a brand new menu

bakernobakery website (Instagram | TikTok | Bio Site)

Virginia Home Food Processing Law

A lot of entrepreneurs still think they need to spend money to get a good website, and that is simply not true anymore.

I created this free tutorial that will walk you through how to set up a totally free website on Square Online in less than an hour!

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/139

Davia Delgado lives in Trenton, NJ and sells German baked goods with her cottage food business, Raven Cakes Bakery.

Davia has only been running her business for one year, and she is absolutely crushing it!

She consistently sells over $2,000 and sometimes even over $3,000 worth of products at her farmers market, and is already at the point where the sales limit in New Jersey is restricting her business.

How did she become so successful so quickly? That’s what I tried to find out in this episode.

• The difference between German and American baked goods
• How Davia made $1,500 of sales at her very first market, and over $3,000 at markets within her first year
• Potential challenges with building a commercial kitchen in your home
• The importance of building a community and fostering personal connections that extend beyond your business
• The #1 thing you should do if you consistently sell at markets
• A strategy for increasing your average order value
• Simple techniques to make your product photos look stunning
• An extra source of social media content that you’re probably not leveraging
• The mindset you need to be successful

Raven Cakes Bakery website (Instagram | Facebook)

SCORE (Free Small Business Mentorship)

New Jersey Cottage Food Law

The Cottage Foodie is an online directory that will expand your customer base and connect you with food enthusiasts not only across your own state, but around the country as well. It’s the go-to resource for consumers everywhere seeking unique, locally-made treats.

The founder, Matt Rosen, was on Episode 133 and shared that he was inspired to start The Cottage Foodie to help other bakers fulfill their dreams.

By joining The Cottage Foodie, you’ll also get to connect and network with an exclusive community of Cottage Food Producers who are passionate about running their food businesses from the comfort of home.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to showcase your talents and grow your cottage food business!

To join The Cottage Foodie and learn more, go to forrager.com/cottagefoodie

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/138

Elena-Maria Hert lives in Billings, MT and sells European baked goods with her cottage food business, European Baked Delights.

Elena grew up in Romania and moved to the United States in 2021. She started sharing her baked goods with neighbors, and they encouraged her to start selling them.

Elena started her cottage food bakery in the summer of 2022, and she’s not shy to admit that her growth went slower than she expected. She mostly sells products that most people in her area aren’t familiar with, so it’s taken a long time to find and educate her customer base.

It wasn’t until 2024 that she started to see significant growth in her business, and now her persistence is paying off, with her being fully booked with orders by the end of that year.

In this episode, Elena shares an honest view of some of the challenges of starting a bakery from home, especially when you don’t initially find product/market fit.

• The risk of choosing a niche you are passionate about
• Why patience and persistence are essential when introducing unfamiliar products
• The challenge of balancing labor-intensive baking with profitability
• Why Elena focuses on an international menu, instead of only selling Romanian baked goods
• How to promote a porch popup
• The benefits of incorporating digital products to supplement baking income
• The reality of work/life balance when starting a business with young kids
• How Elena’s residency status affected her ability to sell homemade food

European Baked Delights website (Instagram | Facebook | TikTok)

Elena’s Stan Store (digital info products for bakers)

Montana Cottage Food Law

The Cottage Foodie is an online directory that will expand your customer base and connect you with food enthusiasts not only across your own state, but around the country as well. It’s the go-to resource for consumers everywhere seeking unique, locally-made treats.

The founder, Matt Rosen, was on Episode 133 and shared that he was inspired to start The Cottage Foodie to help other bakers fulfill their dreams.

By joining The Cottage Foodie, you’ll also get to connect and network with an exclusive community of Cottage Food Producers who are passionate about running their food businesses from the comfort of home.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to showcase your talents and grow your cottage food business!

To join The Cottage Foodie and learn more, go to forrager.com/cottagefoodie

Chef Amanda Schonberg’s course will help you make extra money by adding digital products to your business, just like Elena has done.

More and more bakers are finding ways to earn additional revenue outside of the kitchen, so what’s stopping you?

Let this be the year that you start to earn extra income and have success the digital way.

To learn more about Amanda’s course, go to forrager.com/digital

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/137

Allyson Grant lives in Baldwin City, Kansas and runs an online academy for food entrepreneurs called The Better Baker Club.

Allyson started her home bakery 25 years ago, well before the term “cottage food” was even a thing. Her home business expanded so quickly that within just a couple of years, she fulfilled her lifelong dream of opening her own brick-and-mortar bakery.

Unforeseen circumstances caused her to sell that bakery, but a year later, she started a cupcake shop that was wildly successful. It was featured in Rachael Ray Magazine and led Allyson to appear on the very first episode of Cupcake Wars on The Food Network.

After a leg injury that left her unable to run a baking business, Allyson shifted to coaching and now helps other entrepreneurs fulfill their bakery dreams. As you might expect, she shared tons of helpful advice and key takeaways in this episode.

• Whether you not you need prior experience in the food industry to start a cottage food business
• The danger in comparing yourself to others
• Why Allyson was living her “best dream and worst nightmare at the same time”
• The value in learning to close businesses, as well as open them
• The hard thing about appearing on reality TV
• When you should trademark your brand and business name
• Your biggest asset in business, and how to leverage it
• Allyson’s #1 social media strategy
• The importance of authenticity when posting on social media
• How to leverage your unique story to market and sell your products
• How to use TikTok effectively for promoting your baking business
• The hidden costs that many bakers miss when pricing their products
• How to find a “Goldilocks” niche
• How to be successful at popups and events
• The two qualities you need to grow your cottage food business quickly

Better Baker Club website

Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | Pinterest |Youtube

Free Social Media Guide For Bakers

Home Bakery Business Tips (Facebook Group)

Kansas Cottage Food Law

Are you building an email list for your business yet? If not, you really should be collecting customers’ email addresses and emailing them on a regular basis. Even these days, email continues to be better than social media for generating consistent sales, and the best part is that you own it. Once you build an email list, nobody can take it away from you.

I created this free tutorial that will walk you through the essentials of using Kit to build an email list and get more followers!

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/136

Rachel Laukala lives in Ravensdale, WA and sells cake pops with her bakery, Cakepops by Rachel.

Rachel started her cake pop business back in 2011, and although it was steadily growing, she stopped it to focus more on work and family.

But when she had her third son, she realized she wanted to spend more time at home, and her business was reborn.

The rest is history. Within the next few years, she quit her teaching job, started hiring help, moved into a commercial kitchen, and now sells well over 1,000 cake pops per week!

She now has over 116,000 followers on Instagram and runs an online school for cake pop artists, called School of Cakepop.

• How the cake pop industry has changed over time
• What to do if you don’t feel skilled enough to sell artistic baked goods
• A new and easier way to make cake pops that will make your business more profitable
• What to do if you face burnout in business
• How to set appropriate prices for your products
• When to invest in hiring help
• Whether it’s okay to use boxed cake mixes for a cottage food business
• Why launching too quickly into wholesale can cause problems
• How to grow an audience on social media the right way
• The advantages of partnering with local businesses to help with product pickup
• Why you should consider offering digital products to complement your physical goods  

Cakepops by Rachel website (Instagram | Facebook)

School of Cakepop

What’s Popping Con (save $25 on registration with code FORRAGER)

Amanda’s Digital Product Community

Episode 80 with Chef Amanda Schonberg

Bakerella (cake pop books)

Washington Cottage Food Law

Rachel Laukala is one of the top cake pop experts in the country, and this year, you have the chance to meet her in person! She will be the keynote speaker for a brand new conference this year for cake pop makers, called What’s Popping Con.

This conference will be the ultimate celebration of creativity, community, and cake pops!

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this conference is designed to inspire, educate, and connect cake pop enthusiasts from all over.

With playful sessions, expert-led workshops, exciting shopping opportunities, and plenty of chances to meet fellow decorators, What’s Popping Con is the perfect place to elevate your skills, spark new ideas, and have a blast doing it!

This conference will be held on May 4-6 in Kent, Ohio, and you can get $25 off registration by using the coupon code FORRAGER.

To learn more and register, go to whatspoppingcon.com

Chef Amanda Schonberg’s course will help you make extra money by adding digital products to your business, just like Rachel has done.

More and more bakers are finding ways to earn additional revenue outside of the kitchen, so what’s stopping you?

Let this be the year that you start to earn extra income and have success the digital way.

To learn more about Amanda’s course, go to forrager.com/digital

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/135

Meggen Wilson lives in Whitefish, MT and sells vanilla products and apple cider vinegar with her food business, Pine & Palm Kitchen.

Meggen only started her cottage food business a year and a half ago, but it has already taken many turns and is growing rapidly.

She initially sold at local markets using both Montana’s food freedom law and cottage food law, but last year, she transitioned into a commercial kitchen to sell online and ship nationwide.

In this episode, she covers tons of business topics, including branding, packaging, licensing, trademarking, organic labeling, sourcing, copacking, ecommerce, SEO, email marketing, and more!

• What you should NOT do at farmers markets and local events
• About free resources in your local community that you should be taking advantage of
• Why it was important for Meggen to invest in a strong brand from the start
• Whether you should consider trademarking your brand assets
• The legalities for moving to a commercial manufacturing license
• Tips for finding a commercial kitchen to rent
• How to create a HACCP plan, and when it’s necessary
• The issues involved with selling extracts and whether you need a liquor license
• How to research your products in advance to prove market demand
• SEO strategies for getting your website to appear in search results
• The logistical challenges involved with products that require a long processing time
• The challenges with co-packing and how to know if it would work well for your products
• What data you should be collecting from customers at markets, and what to do with it
• How to use an email newsletter to engage with your customers
• How to use a food blog to support your cottage food business
• Tips on getting social media ads to work for your business

Pine & Palm Kitchen website (Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | Bluesky)

How to Launch a Craft Food Business From Scratch

KeySearch (SEO tool)

Episode 98 with Stephanie Wiley

Montana Cottage Food Law

Are you building an email list for your business yet? If not, you really should be collecting customers’ email addresses and emailing them on a regular basis. Even these days, email continues to be better than social media for generating consistent sales, and the best part is that you own it. Once you build an email list, nobody can take it away from you.

I created this free tutorial that will walk you through the essentials of using Kit to build an email list and get more followers!

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/134

Matt Rosen lives in Eden Prairie, MN and sells gourmet shortbread cookies with his cottage food business, Sergeant Shortbread.

Matt has a fascinating story that started completely randomly while he was on vacation. It inspired him to start making shortbread cookies, despite having zero prior baking experience.

Before long, he started receiving requests for his cookies from friends and coworkers, and his business was born.

Over the past 6+ years, his business has taken a number of turns, including finding commercial kitchens to take on larger events and wholesale orders, doing a full rebrand and business name change midway through, and finding a focus in business-to-business orders.

• How a random vacation inspired Matt to start his shortbread cookie business  
• The benefits of joining your local Chamber of Commerce
• Why you should consider rebranding to focus on your USP (unique selling proposition) 
• The mindset you need to have to be successful in business
• The downsides to focusing on wholesale
• Why you should leverage your personal story and background
• How to boost B2B sales by white labeling your products
• How Matt found a kitchen that allows him to make 500 cookies at once
• The importance of connecting with other cottage food entrepreneurs and advocating for cottage food laws
• Why Matt started a directory for cottage food businesses

Sergeant Shortbread website (Facebook | Instagram)

The Cottage Foodie website (Facebook | Instagram)

Minnesota Cottage Food Producer’s Association

Episode 45 with Shelley Erickson

Minnesota Cottage Food Law

Are you building an email list for your business yet? If not, you really should be collecting customers’ email addresses and emailing them on a regular basis. Even these days, email continues to be better than social media for generating consistent sales, and the best part is that you own it. Once you build an email list, nobody can take it away from you.

I created this free tutorial that will walk you through the essentials of using Kit to build an email list and get more followers!

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/133

Delaney Peters lives in Wasilla, AK and sells sourdough baked goods with her cottage food bakery, Delaney’s Sourdough.

Delaney has only been in business for just one year, but her sourdough bakery has already grown immensely. At her weekly farmers market, she usually sells over $2k worth of bread in just a few hours!

And yet, she says that she started the business by accident, and had no expectations of it becoming a big thing.

• How a serious eating disorder led Delaney to artisan sourdough bread
• How Delaney “accidentally” started her cottage food business and experienced unexpected growth
• The “best decision” Delaney made when starting her business, and how it can boost your sales
• How to manage and optimize your production schedule for maximum efficiency
• Why you must choose the right markets for your business
• When to upgrade to a commercial bread oven
• How Delaney rapidly grew her Facebook & Instagram accounts without focusing on the algorithm
• The importance of limiting your menu options
• How to find balance when building a business while raising an infant

Delaney’s Sourdough website (Instagram | HotPlate | Facebook |TikTok)

HotPlate (ordering platform)

Alaska Cottage Food Law

Simply Bread mixes technology and community to power the next generation of bakers. 

Baking is not just a hobby or a business; it’s one of the simplest things that brings us together as family and friends, cultures and communities, all around the globe.

The Simply Bread oven marries traditional baking techniques with cutting-edge technology.

Simply Bread aims to make the world’s highest-quality baking products accessible to everyone, and the oven’s versatility allows it to bake bread, desserts, and more.

You can bake up to 15 loaves in 40 minutes, use its programmable steam generation and manual steam release feature, control each of its three deck’s temperature individually, and connect it to WiFi to access data about your bakes. They have also designed a line of baking accessories, the perfect addition to anyone’s bakery.

If you’re looking to upgrade your baking game from beginner to professional, they simply have the right products for you. Simply Bread is a baker’s best friend.

To check them out, go to forrager.com/simplybread

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/132