ottawa foodies

Hi Everyone...

We're starting the process of opening a small food selling business of homemade snacks - or rather starting to look into what's required. Clear information is hard to find, so any tips would be much appreciated! :)

- We will have to rent commercial kitchen space. I'm aware of the Cauldron Kitchen (exciting!), but looking for something that's open now. We have a few leads, but any advice is appreciated!

- Also, any tips on licensing and food safety and labelling requirements would be a big help.

Thank you fellow foodies!
J

re. nutritional labels, i can recommend fellow OF-user AndrewC on the basis of a friend's experience who needed labels for some prepared food items she sells to various stores. Andrew's post here Forum - Promotion for Local Foodies/businesses came around the time friend and i attempted a DYI approach, using some free-to-use label app/site from the US. Well ... after reviewing CFIA's v. specific label requirements (www.inspection.gc.ca) and speaking w/ a rep there, my friend decided to contract Andrew, a v. positive decision on her behalf in terms of taking a lot of the grief out of the process.

This noted, you might want to call CFIA first to determine which of your snacks require labels at all. There are some categories, i believe, that may be excluded.

Good info here:

Forum - Home Based Business Regulations

I think the city of Ottawa has info as well. Their Economic Development people may be able to help with getting through the city hurdles .... or point you in the right direction.

Also there are provincial Economic Dev. dept that I used once. Found them very helpful.

Will follow those leads/info. Thank you :)