If I may give you my two cents, be informed. What I mean is, if your going to make a few pies to sale to the public, make sure you now the law in your city and state. I'm not trying to scare you away for the idea, but be informed.
I had made par-baked pies for the local golf courses here in southeast Wisconsin. And what started out as a few pies evolved in to making at least 60-70 pies per weekend. I was able to do this because I had the equipment to do it. My hobby evolved in to buying some commercial equipment. Plus I had cheap labor. My wife and kids.
This was working out very well until I had a family member whom was a state inspector sat me down and educated me. I was breaking a few laws and could have gotten into a heap of trouble. At the city level, I was breaking the law by catering out of my home. Now my setup was better and cleaner than some of the joints in town, but still you could not cater out of a home.
At the state level, I was breaking the law on labeling. Although I had a really neat looking label which gave the basic ingredients, it was not legal because it had a lot of missing information.
I also was pushing my luck because I did not keep record of the materials I was using to make my pies. ex. food companies, lot numbers, etc. I just purchased my ingredients from the local major chain food supply depot with all my trust in them.
Well that was more than my two cents. Again, not trying to scare you out of it. Just be informed.
Good Luck,
Tim
