# Selling honey in PA.



## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

Has anyone gone through the process of selling retail honey off premise in Pa lately. I have been holding out because of the expense of having to build or purchase a separate yard shed , stainless steel sink , hot water heater etc. . Then today at a winter festival I talked to a guy that is selling honey all over the state without any licence at all ! I have the state requirements and the list of things they want you to have and its a pretty long list . Any ideas on how to get into this without dropping a couple thousand would be appreciated .


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## Steve in PA (Jan 26, 2015)

I have not but I believe you can do a limited number of "off farm" sales without applying for the license. Is your guy always counting his appearances or starting at 1 every time?

My fear is lawsuits. I have a friend who runs a high end restaurant (you'd probably know the name with where you are located). He bought some for personal use and told me "I will buy as much as you can sell me" for the business. Liability just scares the hell out of me and I am not ready to sell enough to make the insurance plus kitchen requirements worth the time and $.



> *If selling honey off-site of the “farm” for three days or less in a calendar year, a retail license is
> not required. If selling more than four calendar days in a year, a license may be required. If the
> only product sold is bottled honey, then the retail location would be exempt from a license fee. If
> other foods are sold in addition to honey, a license may be required, and a $14 temporary license,
> ...


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## Cjj (Dec 12, 2015)

We do a couple kraft shows a year then we sell the rest of our honey at a small honey stand on the proper


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## Cjj (Dec 12, 2015)

We also have liability insurance, you just never know!


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

The problem is even though we are exempt from the license which is only 35.00 ( which would be fine with me ) we are still open to inspections and that is where the expense starts , water tests every year ,hot water , stainless steel sinks , covered lighting , and it can't be done in the kitchen if you have even one pet inside .So now your looking at a stand alone shed or partitioning part of another building .A new shed is 2000.00 if you do only a couple festivals a year its not worth the expense . What is killing me is we are already doing festivals with are handmade soap and there I sit without my honey its killing me .This all started out to some day when we are retired to sell are soap and honey at the festivals etc. but with all of the restrictions its really making it hard .


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

Cjj , have you had the inspector out to your place , wondering how particular he was.


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## Cjj (Dec 12, 2015)

No he was not out, we keep are Kraft shows to 3 a year, i do get inspected 2 time a year for selling nuc's and Jeff are bee inspector said it is not that big of deal to get inspected to sell honey off the farm . we are thinking about finishing the other half of our honey house so we can get inspected , but we only sell a couple thousand pounds of honey a year and if we can sell that at the Kraft shows and at are stand we might just leave it at that i still work full time so keeping after around 100 hives after work keeps me busy


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## Steve in PA (Jan 26, 2015)

laketrout said:


> but with all of the restrictions its really making it hard .


Exactly! That is the reason I only bootleg friends and family sales now.


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

cjj how in the world do you take care of 100 hives and work full time too !!!!!!!!!! I can't keep up with my 10 or so !!! you must have some help


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

The way im reading the rules the 3 festivals a year limit doesn't exempt us from inspections , yes you don't need the 35.00 license but your open to inspections water tests and all the other stuff . Am i reading the rules wrong


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## Steve in PA (Jan 26, 2015)

This guy did a talk about bottling and selling at the local club. I was not there but since he's just across the river maybe he could provide some guidance?

https://www.localharvest.org/keiners-apiary-M72277


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

Yes I know them and might drop over sometime to see what they ran in to .


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## Cjj (Dec 12, 2015)

If they show up I do what ever they want , I know a guy that has been selling honey to supermarkets for the past 30 year without ever getting inspected, this year they showed up , he had to fix a few things and he is good to go no problem no fines


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## Cjj (Dec 12, 2015)

No help it’s like a second full time job


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