What is the best software for a home bakery in the US?
A US home bakery needs software that works inside your state's cottage food rules: orders and deposits in dollars, a record of which of the FDA's nine major allergens is in every product, your state and local sales tax rate on the order, and a clear view of how close you are to your state's sales cap. ibakepro, bakery management software for home bakers through to bakeries with teams, does that from US$17 a month, with US accounts held in a United States data region and a 14-day free trial.
Your state sets the rules, so the software has to follow them
Three things about a US home bakery change at the state line, and they decide what your software has to handle.
The cottage food law. Each state writes its own. Texas caps a cottage food operation at $150,000 in annual gross income and expects you or your household to hand the order over. Florida allows $250,000 a year and lets you sell on your website and by mail order inside the rules. Other states set no cap, a much lower one, or keep anything that needs refrigeration (cream cheese frosting, custard, cheesecake) off the list altogether. Find your state in home baking laws by state and country before you set your menu, and check with your local authority on anything the table marks "check".
Sales tax. There is no national sales tax. Whether a cake, a dozen cookies or a loaf is taxable, and at what combined state and local rate, is set where you sell. What your software has to do is apply the rate you are told to charge, by product category where bread and sweet goods differ, and show it on every order.
Allergens. The FDA lists nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame, which joined the list on January 1, 2023. When your state's cottage food label asks for allergens, these nine are the ones it means. Sesame is the one home bakers most often miss, because it hides in tahini, seeded rolls and some bought-in toppings.
What that means in the software
| Need | How ibakepro handles it |
|---|---|
| Staying under a sales cap | Financials shows revenue over any period you pick, so you see the cap coming in spring, not in November |
| Allergen labels | Each pantry item carries its allergens; they roll up through recipes to every product and order, and the storefront shows them as customers choose. See allergen management |
| Sales tax | Set the rate you charge, with a different rate by product category if bread is treated differently from cakes |
| In-state delivery or pickup only | Pickup and local delivery zones with your own fees, so you only offer the handover your state allows |
| Deposits on custom work | A quote with several options, a card deposit through your own Stripe account and a balance chased before the date. See payment schedules and deposits |
| Knowing what you make | Every product costed from what you paid for flour, butter and boxes, in pounds and ounces or grams. See recipe costing |
Your records sit in the United States data region, which is also where the data for Canadian accounts is held.
Which plan fits
| Plan | USD per month | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | US$17 | One person, up to 100 orders in the life of the account |
| Growth | US$22 | Two users, unlimited orders, an online shop with pre-orders, and Compliance for food safety records |
| Business | US$59 | Unlimited users, wholesale, route planning for delivery |
A home baker selling a few cakes, loaves or cookie boxes a week to people who message first usually starts on Essentials. Growth is the step when you want customers ordering and paying on your own site for a date you can bake, which is how most cottage food bakers handle Saturday pickups. More on the fit in is ibakepro right for a home baker, and the US setup is on bakery software for US bakers.