Confita
What New Hampshire actually decides
New Hampshire draws the line by channel rather than by volume, and the exempt side is wider than most states. Selling from your own residence, your own farm stand, a farmers market or a retail food store needs no licence at all. That includes grocery stores, which many states treat as wholesale and close off.
The licence starts mattering the moment you go beyond that. Offering products to restaurants, to food establishments other than retail food stores, over the internet, by mail order, or to wholesalers and brokers requires a Class H Homestead Food License, Category H-1, at $150 a year. Internet sales are the one that catches people, because it feels like direct selling but is treated as the licensed tier.
There is no sales cap on either tier, and no training requirement appears in either rule part or in the FAQ. Commercial equipment is not required and nothing has to be NSF approved, which keeps the setup cost low.
Kitchen requirements are modest: either a two-compartment sink, or a residential dishmachine plus a one-compartment sink, and no pets in the kitchen or food production area during production. A July 2025 change lets a QR code or a website carry the ingredient list for certain sales, which is useful on a small label.
One caveat on the sourcing. The agency's own page did not spell out the permit or registration, the training requirement or the date a recent change took effect, so those came from the statute and secondary sources rather than from New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services directly. Everything else on this page was read off an official source on September 13, 2026. If one of those points decides your case, ask them.
The short version
What you can sell in New Hampshire
Straight from the official record. Read these as categories rather than a menu, because one recipe can cross the line on its own: a filling that needs refrigeration, a pH that needs testing, or a process that needs an authority to sign it off.
- Baked items, including breads, rolls, muffins, cookies, brownies and cakes
- Double-crusted fruit pies
- Candy and fudge
- Packaged dry products, spices and herbs included
- Acid foods, including vinegars and mustards
- Jams and jellies
- Roasted whole-bean or ground coffee, dry bread and instant bread mixes, freeze-dried candy, hard candies and lollipops
- Sweet breads and muffins made with fresh or frozen fruit or vegetables worked into the batter, never used as decoration or garnish
What is outside the rule
If your product is on this list, the answer is not "ask nicely". It is a different licence, a different kitchen, or both.
- Any food needing time or temperature control, including anything that must be refrigerated
- Processed acidified and low-acid canned foods such as canned gravies and some canned vegetables
- Dehydrated meats, and dehydrated fruits or vegetables
- Live sourdough starters, and uncooked frozen bread or pizza dough
- Apple cider and bottled beverages such as iced coffee, iced tea, lemonade and fruit juices
- Pumpkin butter, which is low acid, and apple or other fruit butters until a process review clears them
- Honey and maple syrup, which the Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food regulates instead
- Pet treats, also the Department of Agriculture
Where you are allowed to sell it
The researched record lists direct sales, farmers markets, online orders, delivery, in-state shipping, interstate shipping, retail or wholesale, restaurants.
One channel being open does not open the rest. Shipping, delivery and wholesale each turn on the product and where it is going, so check the route you actually plan to use.
