Compliance
Oregon lets you sell cottage food online — with one condition people miss
Oregon is one of the friendliest states in the country for a home food business, and most people selling here do not realise how much room the law actually gives them. They also tend to miss the single condition that can take all of it away.
You may sell in any manner
ORS 616.723(4) permits sales "directly to the end user in any manner, including from the home, online, through the mail and at events." SB 643 (2023) repealed the earlier ban on internet sales. This stands on its own text — it does not depend on Farm Direct or on any other exemption.
One word is untested: directly. Read in context, alongside the statute's own example of "through the mail," it describes the relationship between you and the buyer rather than who physically carries the box. No Oregon Department of Agriculture guidance or Attorney General opinion addresses couriers specifically. We think the reading is sound, and we say plainly that it has not been litigated.
The cap moves every year
$52,700 for 2026, inflation-indexed annually. Any document quoting a fixed figure with no year attached is out of date the moment the index moves. We hold it as a configuration value for exactly that reason.
Who you may not sell to
ORS 616.723(3) puts institutions off limits: restaurants, caterers, schools, day cares, hospitals, nursing homes and correctional facilities. This matters the moment anyone builds a wholesale or B2B feature, and it has to be enforced in software before that feature ships, not after.
When it is worth getting licensed
An ODA Domestic Kitchen licence removes the ambiguity and lifts the cap entirely: $179 a year for a bakery if your gross sales are under $50,000, stepping up with sales to $950 above $10M, or a flat $223 a year for a processor. For a maker approaching the cap, that is a rounding error against the ceiling it removes.
How this differs from Texas
Sharply. Texas prohibits third-party courier delivery outright under HSC §437.0194(b)(1), and shipping was removed entirely by SB 541 in 2025. Oregon permits both. Anyone telling you home-kitchen delivery is simply legal, or simply illegal, is describing one state and calling it a rule.
A plain-language summary of published Oregon statute, not legal advice. Verified against the statute text on 17 August 2026. Your county or city may add requirements.