Thinking of Starting a Home Baking Business?

Bakehouse Studio
Apr 15
2 min read

Updated: May 23

Standard Rules for Home-based food businesses (each province and city may be different, please only use as a starting guide and further research your area).

✅ Steps to Start Your Home-Based Food Business

Contact The Public Health Department: Notify them of your intent to start a home-based food business and schedule a pre-opening inspection.
Verify Zoning Compliance: Ensure your home complies with local zoning by-laws and obtain necessary permits.
Obtain Food Handler Certification: Complete an approved Food Handler Certification course.
Prepare Your Kitchen: Ensure your food preparation area meets all health and safety requirements.
Develop Labelling: Create compliant labels for your products, including bilingual information and Nutrition Facts tables.

Baking is considered in the low risk area where-as cooking meals with raw meat in the kitchen would be high-risk. Some cities might limit you to not being able to use butter or cream cheese for frostings as they are not shelf-safe and run higher risk.

✅ Standard Requirements to make your home pass inspection

Remember to contact your local health department and city hall as each town has their own rules, just use this as a starting guide from standard Ontario guidelines.

Home Business Area

Access from the outside of the home to the proposed business area is required (to allow entry to the business area without entering the living area).
Separation within the home is required between all areas relevant to the business and home living areas.
Storage of food and or materials for use by the business must be stored in the proposed business area only.
Contact your local municipal building department before altering home structures and or electrical and plumbing.
- The number of sinks in the kitchen for your food business must meet the requirements under the your local food regulations. Requirements vary based on the type of food you are making and how your business is run.
Contact your local fire department to discuss cooking location in your home and the addition of cooking equipment.

Well Water

Well water must be potable if used in any process. Well water must be sampled and the results presented to a Public Health Inspector (PHI).
Sampling may be conducted by a PHI during inspections.
A PHI will determine sampling frequency.

Operation and Processing

The food premises must be operated to meet all applicable requirements under your local food regulations.
Valid food handler certificates must be available upon request.
Pets are not allowed in the food preparation area.
To protect food from contamination, limit the number of persons that access the food preparation area.
Inspections are carried out randomly one to three times per year or more depending on the type of food i.e. hazardous or non-hazardous, potential overall risk with processes, and inspection compliance history.