# Florida West Coast "get started" questions on licensing?



## will75 (Sep 15, 2015)

My woman's sister runs a lot of weekend markets, and she does some food markets, has food trucks,vendors etc... What all do i need to be able to setup as a vendor and sell smoked products?  I would be smoking at home and bringing the pulled pork/brisket, and eventually some day get bigger smokers and haul etc...  But i suspect florida requires some type of license. On the web page it mentions coming and inspecting your kitchen? Do they mean your back porch smoker? lol


----------



## sfprankster (Sep 15, 2015)

You may need to check whether Florida allows a cottage foods industry health certification(home kitchen). Most states require a commercial kitchen certified by the county's or state's Environmental Health Department. Also possibly, packaging, storage and commissary certified by the state's Environmental Health Department. A local business license(city or county), resale license from the Board of Equalization(sales tax), EIN number from the IRS(if you are starting a business without using your SSN), fictitious business name filing with the county(if doing business under another name), insurance coverage, to name a few off the top of my head.

If Florida requires a commercial kitchen, I would look into incubator(shared) kitchens. This is one where you rent time on an hourly or monthly basis to help small businesses get a running start.

Wherever you are planning to sell, the market manager will have the information of the licensing, insurance and health permits they require to sell at their markets. Contacting them would be my first step.

Good luck!!


----------

