Question possibly only suits an Aussie researcher and not many of
those but giving this question a run on GA anyway. Basically as it
suggests above my old Mum with Dad just gone is in need of something
to keep her going and interested in life and thought about making a
few of her high quality home made cakes, little tarts,danish pastries
etc available to a few of the  typical local suburban corner
shops/general stores; usually  small family run affairs. She is in the
state of Victoria which perhaps has different laws to other states on
this question

 She asked me but I have not got a clue about the legalities of such a
small venture so hoping someone at GA can help. Making the  products
is not the issue but whether she can do so at home and sell from home
legally is,and if so under what conditions could she do so. Also would
she need to get some sort of food handlers license, and if so how much
in $$$,   display a business name  somewhere, could she she use her
own vehicle to transport her goods to shops?, would someone in
authority need to inspect her premises? and is all the above not worth
going any further with because the odds are stacked so high against
such little petty-change entrepreneurs like my old penshioner Mum
anyway that it is not worth the effort. If anyone in another country
is reading I would be  also interested to know if there is more
liberal laws in other parts that perhaps even encourage such activity
and business from old folk having a little fling in the world of
business

 Thanking you,

 John From Melbourne

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Clarification of Question by johnfrommelbourne-ga on 20 Aug 2003 08:20 PDT

..... now 1.18am so now going to bed so cant unfortunately clarify
anything for anyone who has a go at this at this moment; till later
anyway.

---

Request for Question Clarification by knowledge_seeker-ga on 09 Sep 2003 05:55 PDT

Hi John,

I just came back to this question and noticed your comment at the
bottom. Did you mean for me to post my comment as an answer?  Or do
you prefer to just leave things the way they are in case another
researcher comes up with something before your question expires?

I'm fine either way, just not clear on what you meant. :-) 

 -K~

John --

Good luck with the question -- and there are more Aussie researchers
than you'd ever guess!  From my limited knowledge of American rules,
almost certainly there will be kitchen equipment requirements (double-
or triple-sinks) and some basic (probably one-day) training in food
handling.

But I stumbled across this article about artisan bakers starting up in
Cleveland Heights, OH and thought that it might make interesting
reading:
http://www.cleveland.com/bread/index.ssf?/bread/more/1061372340123260.html

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

..thanks omnivorous, thats a start at least and gives me something to go on.
 I am also wondering what does one eat who calls themselves omnivorous??

Between your love of cooking, including making old fashioned meat pies
and your mum's baking, if I ever get to Australia, may I come for
dinner?

Sorry I can't help you with this current question but I'm confident
someone can.

Cheers
digs

Your welcome Digs, especially as you have been helpful in the past.
You cant miss my place  as the bus from  Melbourne International
airport stops in middle of  the big city right out front of my house.
I live in middle of city you see, Bring Pink and Missy etc with you
perhaps as they like to cook a little to.

John --

The omnivore really refers to reading and research.  It's probably
easier to tell you what I don't eat:
*  potato salad (it's a culture for salmonella)
*  haggis

Come to think of it, I've never had Vegemite either . . .

Good luck with the food research project!

Omnivorous-GA

Hi Johnfrommelbourne, I'mfrommelbourne too! 

I am going to sound like a real pessimist because I've been there,
done that with community events and, in Victoria, it's hard to fulfil
all the new health laws. A good place to start researching your Mum's
cake business would be to go to her local council. Each council has a
health department and if she was to bake at home, she'd have to have a
kitchen that passed an fairly stringent inspection. Plus she'd have to
have a food handling certificate. Anyone who serves food for public
consumption in Vic. has to have this certification. Plus there are
issues like labelling with her name and contact details as well as all
ingredients. The food handling laws in Victoria have been changed
recently, and they're pretty harsh -- so much so, that our tennis club
had to stop serving hotdogs and cakes for a while until we had a
health inspection. We had a Devonshire Tea stall at a fair and we had
to get a special temporary permit from the local council to avoid
incurring a hefty fine. We had to make sure we had a double bowl sink
and no curtains in the kitchen window and a separate handwashing sink
in the kitchen and floor and bench surfaces that 'rounded up' the wall
a bit so that cracks between floor and skirting boards could not trap
dirt. Then there's special temperatures to store and transport food.
Then there's packaging. I tell you, school canteens,kids'sporting
events, cake stalls at fetes, devonshire tea stalls are all in danger
of being so regulated that I think they'll just disappear. Have a look
at this site:  www.foodsafety.vic.gov.au It might have some info that
helps. I think it's a real shame because it effectively stops
enterprising, talented cooks like your Mum from making a modest income
and it means that people like us who love a good passionfruit sponge
or real scones etc miss out.

Then there's Centrelink... 

Sorry. It's pretty depressing, isn't it? And all in the name of
'progress'.

Hey John,

I can't answer to the Australian legal part of your question, but I
have answered a couple of questions for people who want to bring food
products from the home kitchens to market in the US.

Two key terms you need to know are COPACKER and KITCHEN INCUBATOR. 

In short, COPACKERS are companies that take your product (or recipe)
and scale it up and manufacture it, package it, label it, and even
help you market it and process your orders. This obviously isn't what
your Mum wants.  The whole point of her project is that she wants to
bake her goodies herself.

The other option, in the US is to use what they call a KITCHEN
INCUBATOR or PUBLIC COMMERCIAL KITCHEN.  These are certified
commercial kitchens that allow regular people to come it, bake their
wares, have them certified as suitable for public consumption, and
sometimes help them get them properly packaged and labeled.

This sounds more like something your Mum could use if they have such
thing in Australia. The ones in the US are usually associated with
Universities or Non-profit organizations that either help move people
into the workforce or help farmers get prepared food products to
market.

Take a look at these two questions. They'll give you a better idea of
the process.

Q: Implementing Powdered Fruit Drink Idea
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=241207

Q: Bottling Foods
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=214907


Hope that helps a bit –

-K~

..thankyou very very much Stressed Mum and Knowledge Seeker . You both
provided some really insightful, quality info that I certainly never
knew about before. I think I have what I need now to (a)get going or
(b) to end it all at this point.

  You beter send me an invoice I think!!

 John

John, 

Before you close, just one more point. Many cafes buy their based
goods elsewhere, from someone baking in their kitchen. Of course, the
kitchen should still comprehend to health (and business permit)
regulations, but it might be a whole lot easier to start with this
angle.

Sounds great idea, by the way.