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Senate bill would expand cottage food sales, raise revenue cap and allow nonprofit producers; advocates say law will help small farm and home‑based businesses
Summary
Senate Bill 541 would expand Texas’ cottage food law to allow nonprofit producers and broaden where cottage foods may be sold, raise the annual gross sales cap to $100,000 and allow certain refrigerated items and contracted vendor sales. Supporters described the law as an incubator for small producers and asked the committee to preserve existing
Senate Bill 541 would revise Texas’ cottage food law by raising the annual gross sales cap for cottage food operations from $50,000 to $100,000, allowing nonprofit officers or directors to produce cottage food in their homes, permitting sales through a contracted vendor (a one‑step‑removed sale such as a local cafe or co‑op), allowing some refrigerated products under specified conditions, and removing the requirement that a home address appear on the label if the operation registers with the Department of State Health Services.
Senator Kolkhorst, the bill’s sponsor, described the cottage food provisions as long‑standing economic incubators for small food businesses. “This is a small business incubator in essence,” she told the committee, and cited businesses that began under cottage laws and grew into established producers.
Supporters including the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Homemade Texas and the Institute for Justice said the bill will help small farmers and home bakers scale up without the cost of commercial kitchen rent. Judith McGarry of FARFA said the bill’s provision allowing contracted vendor sales is intended to permit local, limited wholesale relationships — for example, a local café buying from a cottage baker — not mass wholesale distribution. Homemade Texas asked the committee not to add a new made‑on date labeling requirement for direct‑to‑consumer sales, saying the existing labeling rules were settled in rulemaking.
The committee heard multiple public testimonies from cottage food operators who said the $50,000 cap currently limits growth; owners of micro‑bakeries and sourdough producers said the higher cap and allowance for refrigerated items or contracted sales would let them expand to local cafes and farmers markets. The committee left SB 541 pending for later public testimony.
