Compliance
Can a delivery service bring Texas cottage food to my door?
No. And the reason matters more than most people selling homemade food in Texas realise, because getting it wrong does not produce a fine — it removes the exemption you were relying on in the first place.
What the statute actually says
Texas Health and Safety Code §437.0194(b)(1) permits a cottage food production operation to deliver its products only through the operator, an employee of the operator, or a member of the operator's household. A third-party courier is not on that list. There is no exception for app-based delivery, and there is no exception for a courier the customer arranges themselves.
Every order placed through an app is an internet sale, which puts it squarely inside the delivery rules rather than outside them.
The consequence is not what people expect
Cottage food law is an exemption from ordinary food establishment permitting. Operate outside its boundaries and you were never a cottage food production operation for that transaction — which means the local permit preemption that exemption gave you evaporates. What is left is an unpermitted food establishment, exposed to citation, closure, and in some circumstances criminal liability.
That is a materially different risk from "a fine for breaking a delivery rule," and it is why we will not quietly let a Texas cottage food seller list for delivery and hope nobody notices.
Two more Texas rules that surprise people
An LLC cannot be a cottage food operation
§437.001(2-b) defines a cottage food production operation as an individual or a 501(c)(3). If you formed an LLC to look professional, you moved yourself outside the exemption.
The rule book is out of date, and inspectors still carry it
25 TAC §229.661 still reads $50,000 and still says no time/temperature-control foods. The statute — which controls — sets the cap at $150,000, CPI-indexed, and permits TCS foods with DSHS registration. The statute wins, but an inspector may cite the stale rule, so it is worth knowing both.
So what can a Texas home kitchen do on Only Local Co.?
| Channel | Texas cottage food |
|---|---|
| List a storefront and take orders online | Yes |
| Customer pickup | Yes |
| Delivery by you, your employee, or your household | Yes |
| Delivery by an Only Local Co. driver | No |
| Shipping or mail | No |
Our software enforces this rather than describing it. A Texas seller on the cottage food lane cannot switch delivery on, because the rule lives in the database and is re-checked on the server, not hidden in the interface.
The upgrade is cheaper than it used to be
A licensed kitchen removes the ceiling and unlocks delivery. And from 1 July 2026, HSC §437.0063 stops local authorities charging permit fees to a producer under $1.5 million who holds a state DSHS licence. For a small maker who wants to grow, that changed the maths considerably.
This is a plain-language summary of published Texas statute, not legal advice, and your county may impose requirements of its own. Verified against the statute text on 17 August 2026. If your situation is close to a line, talk to a lawyer before you list.