What do I need to sell at a market?

The permit you need is a California Cottage Food Operation (CFO). If you make non-hazardous food in your own home kitchen, food that is shelf-stable and does not need refrigeration, you can register as a Cottage Food Operation. This is the most accessible legal path for a first-time food vendor.

1. Confirm your product qualifies. Check it against California's official Approved Cottage Food List. Anything needing refrigeration is not cottage food.
2. Take a food handler course. An ANSI-accredited course is required. You technically have three months after registering, but do it first.
3. Register your CFO with the SF Department of Public Health environmental health division.
4. Register your business with the SF Treasurer and Tax Collector.
5. Get a California seller's permit from CDTFA. It's free, and it lets you collect and remit sales tax.
6. Label every product with your name, address, CFO registration number, ingredients, and allergens.

Where to start: California Department of Public Health Cottage Food Operations page, cdph.ca.gov. Register the CFO itself through SF Department of Public Health.

This is the category where people get tripped up. The dividing line is the filling. Plain baked goods can be made at home. The moment a product has a cream filling, custard, fresh-fruit topping that needs a cold case, or a meat component, it stops being cottage food and the rules change.

1. Rent time at a licensed commissary or shared commercial kitchen. You bake and package there, not at home.
2. Apply for a Temporary Food Facility permit through SFDPH. San Francisco offers an Annual TFF permit that covers multiple permitted events under one fee.
3. Get a food handler card for every person who will sell.
4. Carry general liability insurance with a policy limit of at least $1,000,000. Most markets require it.
5. Register your business and get a California seller's permit.

The honest read: if you only sell plain cookies and breads, stay in Cottage Food. It's far cheaper and simpler. Only step up to a commercial kitchen when your recipes or your volume genuinely require it.

If you cook, heat, or assemble food at the market, you are operating a hot Temporary Food Facility (TFF). That is a ten-by-ten enclosed tent built to health code. You cannot prep this food at home. Preparation and equipment sanitation must happen in a licensed commercial or commissary kitchen.

1. Line up a licensed commissary kitchen for prep and clean-up.
2. Get approved by the market manager first. Markets have a limited number of food slots, and SFDPH wants to see you are confirmed at a real event.
3. Apply for the Temporary Food Facility permit with SFDPH. The Annual TFF permit lets you work multiple permitted events on one fee.
4. Get a food handler card for everyone working the booth.
5. Carry general liability insurance, $1,000,000 minimum.
6. Register your business and get a California seller's permit.

Give yourself time: event food permitting goes through the SFDPH Environmental Health team. Email your documents well before the event. Approvals are not instant, and showing up unpermitted means you don't sell.

Selling physical goods is simpler than food, but two things are not optional: a California seller's permit so you can legally collect sales tax, and a business registration with the city. At an organized indoor or private market, that is usually all you need, because the market holds the venue permits. If you vend on a public San Francisco sidewalk, you also need a Street Vendor Permit from SF Public Works.

1. Get a California seller's permit from CDTFA. It's free and you can register online. Selling at one spot for under 90 days? A temporary seller's permit covers you.
2. Register your business with the SF Treasurer and Tax Collector.
3. For a private or organized market, ask the organizer what they require. Usually a copy of your seller's permit and proof of insurance.
4. For public sidewalk vending, apply for a Street Vendor Permit from SF Public Works. It runs $484 a year plus an $11 surcharge. Low-income vendors can get the application fee waived and renew at half price.
5. Keep proof you own your goods. Sidewalk vendors must show receipts or supplier records on request.

For vintage and resale sellers: reselling secondhand goods still requires a seller's permit. Resale is still retail, and sales tax still applies.

Organizing a market means you carry the permits the venue and the event need, and you make sure every vendor under your roof is compliant. This is the part new organizers underestimate. If one vendor is operating illegally during an inspection, the fine and the shutdown can land on the whole market, not just that booth.

1. The venue. A certified farmers market has its own state and city process through SF.gov. A private-property pop-up needs the property owner's written permission and may need a use permit. A street closure needs an interagency or special event permit.
2. Food permitting. If food vendors are present, contact SFDPH early to set up the event's food permits, or confirm in writing that every food vendor holds their own.
3. A vendor application that collects each vendor's seller's permit, food permits, and insurance certificate before they are confirmed, not on market day.
4. Event insurance. Carry general liability for the event, and require every vendor to carry their own.
5. Business registration. Register the market itself as a business with the city.

Vet your vendors: the fastest way to lose a market is one uninsured, unpermitted food vendor during a health inspection. Make compliance a condition of being booked, and ask for the paperwork up front.