Wyoming Cottage Food and Food Freedom Act Business: W.S. 11-49, the 250,000 Item and $250,000 Caps, and Why Shipping and Restaurant Sales Are Out

October 29, 2026

Wyoming's cottage food law is not a permit program. It is an exemption. The Wyoming Food Freedom Act, found in W.S. 11-49-101 to -104, lets a home producer sell qualifying homemade food directly to informed end consumers without a state license, permit, inspection, or special packaging and labeling rules. The exemption has two hard ceilings: no more than 250,000 individual products and no more than $250,000 in gross revenue each year. It also stops at the Wyoming border and at the kitchen door of any restaurant.

If you searched for a wyoming cottage food license, you will not find one under this Act. Because the Act exempts producers from state licensure, there is no cottage food license or permit to apply for. What you may still need is a Secretary of State registration if you operate through an entity, a Department of Revenue sales and use tax license in some cases, and any licenses your city requires. This guide walks through each piece in the order you should handle it.

What the Act exempts, and what it does not

Under W.S. 11-49-103(b), homemade food that is produced, sold and consumed in compliance with the Act is exempt from state licensure, permitting, inspection, packaging and labeling requirements. Three conditions must all hold: you stay within the caps, you sell to an informed end consumer in Wyoming, and the food is consumed in compliance. If you fall outside any one of them, the exemption does not cover that sale.

The Act exempts you from licensure, not from tax or local rules. A producer can owe sales tax on taxable sales, may need a city business license, and may need to satisfy zoning rules for a home-based business, even though the state food rules do not apply to qualifying homemade food. Wyoming has no general statewide business license, so most of the paperwork sits with the Secretary of State, the Department of Revenue, and your city clerk.

An older exemption, W.S. 35-7-124(e), covers private-home kitchens making non-hazardous food for farmers markets and roadside stands. Ask the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Consumer Health Services, which exemption fits your operation before you rely on either one.

The two caps: 250,000 items and $250,000 in gross revenue

A producer qualifies only if the producer makes no more than 250,000 individual products and earns no more than $250,000 in gross revenue a year (W.S. 11-49-102(a)(vi)). Both limits apply at the same time. A producer under the dollar cap who makes more than 250,000 items is outside the Act, and so is a producer under the item cap who earns more than $250,000.

Because the caps apply each year, build your count from the first batch. For every production run, record the product name, the number of units made, the date, the price, and the total receipts. A spreadsheet handles this for most home operations. Gross revenue means the full amount you take in, so record receipts before you subtract ingredients, packaging, booth fees or other costs.

Requirement	What the Act says	Citation
Annual production	No more than 250,000 individual products	W.S. 11-49-102(a)(vi)
Annual gross revenue	No more than $250,000	W.S. 11-49-102(a)(vi)
Sale location	Wyoming only, no interstate commerce	W.S. 11-49-103(c)
Buyer	Informed end consumer, told the food is not licensed, regulated or inspected	W.S. 11-49-101 to -104

Materials and records to gather before your first sale

• A written product list that sorts each item as non-potentially hazardous or potentially hazardous
• A production and sales log that tracks item counts and gross receipts by product and by year
• Labels for any product that will sit on a shop shelf, using the required wording
• A written informed end consumer disclosure for direct sales, such as a table sign and a line on order forms or receipts
• Storage containers and shelving that keep your products physically separate from any licensed-kitchen food
• A sales tax worksheet and, if you determine you need one, the Department of Revenue application
• Your Secretary of State filing confirmation if you operate as an LLC or corporation
• Contact information for the city clerk where you will sell, and for your county or city planning office

Step-by-step: setting up a compliant Wyoming home food business

Step 1: Classify every product

Non-potentially hazardous foods include jams, uncut produce, pickles, hard candy, fudge, nut mixes, granola, dry soup mixes, coffee beans, popcorn, and baked goods without dairy or meat frosting or filling. Potentially hazardous foods include refrigerated foods, dairy fillings, quiches, pizzas, frozen doughs, meat, and cooked vegetables and beans. The classification controls where you can sell. Potentially hazardous items may be sold only by you or by a written designated agent who never takes ownership of the product.

A common surprise: a cupcake with cream cheese frosting falls outside the non-hazardous list, while the same cupcake with no dairy or meat frosting does not. Classify each recipe as you write it, not after your first market day.

Step 2: Choose where you will sell

The Act lists the places where an informed end consumer may buy from you: farmers markets, farms and ranches, your home or office, the retail location of a third-party seller (for non-hazardous food, eggs and dairy only), or any location you and the buyer agree on. Pick your venues with the classification from Step 1 in hand. A third-party shop can carry your labeled jam or eggs, but it cannot take your cream cheese cupcakes unless you or a written designated agent handle the sale.

Step 3: Start cap tracking on day one

Set up the log described above before your first sale. Review it at least monthly so you can see whether you are trending toward either cap. A producer who discovers in December that the year's receipts are close to $250,000 has little room to adjust. A monthly review is cheap insurance.

Step 4: Label, disclose and separate

Any product sold from a shop shelf needs this label: 'this food was made in a home kitchen, is not regulated or inspected and may contain allergens' (W.S. 11-49-103(k)). Shelf products must also stay separate from food made in a licensed kitchen. For direct sales, the informed end consumer must be told that the food is not licensed, regulated or inspected. A printed sign at your table and a line on every order form covers this well and gives you a record if a question comes up later.

Step 5: Keep homemade food out of commercial kitchens and menus

Homemade food cannot be served or used as an ingredient in a commercial food establishment (W.S. 11-49-103(d)). Raw unprocessed produce is the only exception. Your jam cannot go into a café's pastry, and your pickles cannot go on a restaurant sandwich, even if the restaurant offers to buy them.

Step 6: Register your business entity, if you use one

The Act's exemption does not replace entity registration. If you form an LLC, file Articles of Organization with the Wyoming Secretary of State through WyoBiz. The filing fee is $100. Your name must include Limited Liability Company or an approved abbreviation such as LLC, and it must be available on the WyoBiz filing search before you file. Every LLC owes an annual report license tax of $60, due the first day of the anniversary month of formation. If you sell under a trade name, registration is optional. It costs $100 for a 10 year term, and trade names are filed by mail with a notarized application.

Step 7: Work out sales tax

Wyoming's state sales tax rate is 4%. County option taxes and resort district taxes can be added on top, and there is no city sales tax. County rates change quarterly, so check the Department of Revenue rate chart at excise-tax-div.wyo.gov for the rate that applies on the date of your sale. Confirm the current rate before you set your prices.

Food for home consumption is exempt from sales tax, including most baked goods. Prepared food is taxable, so ask the Department of Revenue how it treats any items you serve on site. Whether your sales require a sales and use tax license is a question for the Department of Revenue Excise Tax Division. Businesses making taxable sales must hold that license, which carries a $60 non-refundable application fee. Apply through the sales tax registration page.

Step 8: Check city and county requirements

Only cities and towns may issue business licenses in Wyoming. Counties issue none, but they handle land use, building and septic matters that can affect a home operation. Call the city clerk in the town where you will sell and ask whether a home occupation license or permit is required, what it costs, and whether your address is zoned for the activity. Ask your county planning office about any rules that apply outside city limits. Answers vary from city to city, so get them in writing.

Step 9: Review workers' compensation before you hire

Wyoming workers' compensation is a monopolistic state fund run by the Department of Workforce Services, and it is compulsory only for listed extrahazardous industries. A producer with no employees has no compulsory coverage. Sole proprietors, partners, officers and LLC members are excluded unless they elect coverage. Once you employ people, manufacturing (NAICS 31-33) is on the compulsory list, so plan for coverage before you bring on help.

Step 10: Confirm open questions in writing

Before you deliver by mail, sell across any unclear boundary, or consider meat, get written guidance from the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Consumer Health Services. Keep a copy of every answer with your records. Phone calls are useful for background, but written confirmation is what protects you if your operation is questioned later.

Why shipping is out

The Act permits sales only within Wyoming. W.S. 11-49-103(c) excludes interstate commerce, so a buyer in another state is outside the Act. Section 103(m) refers to federal limits, which adds a second layer of restriction. The practical rule: do not ship homemade food and do not accept mail orders until the Department of Agriculture confirms in writing what is allowed. Local delivery inside Wyoming is a separate question that falls under the same confirmation step. Do not assume it is allowed.

Why restaurant sales are out

Under W.S. 11-49-103(d), homemade food cannot be served or used as an ingredient in a commercial food establishment, and raw unprocessed produce is the only exception. A restaurant, café, caterer, or other food service business that serves or cooks with your product falls outside the Act. The third-party retail exception in Step 2 covers shelves, not kitchens or menus.

Meat, animal products and the rest of the Act

The Act covers more than baked goods, but not all of it is open. Live animals, portions of live animals, and animal shares sold under a written contract and bill of sale with an uninspected warning are legal now. Domestic rabbit and farm-raised fish (not catfish) are also covered, along with up to 1,000 poultry a year that you raised yourself.

Red meat is not open. Sales of meat from cattle, sheep, swine and goats, added by SF0120 in 2025, stay off until the governor certifies that federal law has legalized direct sales of uninspected meat (W.S. 11-49-103(n) and (o)). Check the status with the Department of Agriculture before you consider any meat product.

Enforcement and pending legislation

Enforcement is real. In April 2026, the Department of Agriculture issued a stop-sale order to a Cody creamery selling raw-milk lattes next to the owners' kitchen.

A bill would change part of this picture. On a late-July 2026 vote, an interim committee advanced it 12 to 2. It would let the director grant each home seller one exemption to sell outside the designated sale sites. The earliest action would come in the January 2027 session, with an effective date of July 2027 if enacted (Cowboy State Daily, July 30, 2026). This is pending legislation, not law. Do not plan around it until it passes.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Searching for a license you do not need. The Act issues no cottage food license, and counties issue no business licenses.
• Tracking profit instead of gross receipts, or counting sales instead of individual products. The item cap counts products and the revenue cap counts gross receipts.
• Selling dairy-frosted baked goods through a third-party shop without a written designated agent.
• Accepting mail or out-of-state orders, or delivering to locations you have not confirmed are allowed.
• Selling to a café, caterer or restaurant, even for a single event.
• Shelf products without the required label, or stored beside licensed-kitchen food without separation.
• Assuming that exemption from licensure means exemption from sales tax.
• Adding health or disease claims to labels. Claims like these can create exposure even where state labeling rules do not apply.
• Hiring help before reviewing workers' compensation.

Expected results

Results depend on your product mix, your sales venues and how carefully you track your numbers. A home producer who classifies products, keeps monthly logs and sells only at permitted venues may find the state paperwork light, with the main costs coming from an entity filing, a possible sales tax license and any city license. Producers who skip tracking often find the cap question harder to answer later. Describe your products plainly and accurately on labels. Descriptions of what the food is, and how it was made at home, are generally safer ground than claims about health benefits.

Next steps and professional advice

This article is informational only. It is not legal or tax advice, and it does not replace a review of your specific operation. Consult a Wyoming attorney and a CPA if you plan to hire, sell at multiple venues, operate through an LLC, or have questions about the sales tax treatment of your products. Start with the Wyoming Secretary of State for entity questions and the Department of Revenue at excise-tax-div.wyo.gov for tax questions. Confirm food rules with the Department of Agriculture's Consumer Health Services and local rules with your city clerk.