This section provides information about filing the cottage permit application.
The Cottage Permit Application
A Cottage Food Permit must be issued before you sell your product
The permit is valid only for the person applying and their primary domestic residence identified on the application
On average, the application process takes 4-6 weeks from the time a complete application is received and when the permit is issued
All information included in the application is subject to the Washington State Public Records Act, including recipes, so do not submit recipes with your application
Application Overview
For more information, check out Washington’s Cottage Food Laws
Sample Cottage Application
We began with contacting our local food safety inspector to go over whether our recipes would be approved since they’re uncommon. After confirming that they would, it took us around 6 weeks to get our cottage permit. Below is a copy of our application:
An inspector reached out to us requesting pictures of our kitchen, verifying that our bathroom had paper towels, floor wasn’t carpet, and had the necessary systems in place to prevent children and pets during business hours. We later had a phone call discussing food safety practices. The whole process was quite simple - just took time.