Is A License Required To Sell Home Bakes In Singapore?
You might have a pastime of baking at home, which you could turn into a side company as a way to augment your income. Is it necessary for you to apply for a licence if this is the case(ecommerce platforms)?
The simple answer is that you don’t!
This is true whether you live in a HDB apartment or a private home. However, if you want to start a small-scale, home-based baking business, you should follow some criteria. This post will go over each one in depth.
It’s also worth noting that, while a licence isn’t required to run a small-scale baking business from home, you may need to register your company. Refer to our page on registering a business in Singapore for additional details(ecommerce platforms).
Update on COVID-19
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all home-based enterprises, including home bakeries that manufacture baked goods for consumers, need to follow current safe management procedures, such as tracing contacts via the TraceTogether app.
Guidelines for Singapore’s Home-Based Business Scheme
The Home-Based Business Scheme is overseen by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), and it allows home owners to run small enterprises (such as bakeries) from their homes. The Home-Based Small Scale Business Scheme was the prior name for this programme.
The following are some of the Home-Based Business Scheme’s guidelines that you should follow:
1. Only the property’s residents are permitted to work there.
Individuals residing in the residence, such as the owners and registered occupiers, must operate the home business. Tenants are allowed to run the business with the permission of the owners.
Employees who do not live on the property cannot be hired to work in the residence. Owners cannot also allow third people to operate a business from their home.
However, if you need a helping hand now and again, it’s totally acceptable for your friends and family to assist you by acquiring ingredients, combining or preparing them, or even tending to the oven. If you want to compensate them for their work, you can do so, but you should not consider the payments as a kind of compensation (especially in relation to your friends). Apart from the residents of the property, no one else can earn a living through your home-based business.
2. Be considerate of your surroundings.
You must be aware of your surroundings when baking. There should be no excessive noise, smoking, or odours that are bothersome to your neighbours.
3. There will be no usage of heavy machinery.
You can only use equipment designed for domestic usage. To put it another way, you can’t utilise big industrial equipment or appliances in your home company.
4. There will be no large-scale storage or products loading/unloading.
You can’t store huge quantities of goods or to load and unload them frequently, implying that you can’t create baked goods in large amounts.
You could not use your property as a distribution centre.
Instead of using a truck or public transportation to carry your baked goods, consider using a car or public transportation. At any given time, however, only modest amounts of food may be conveyed.
Remember that the sale of your food is only supposed to augment your income under the Home-Based Business Scheme, not to be your sole source of income.
5. No signboards or posters on the premises.
It should not be clear that you are operating a business from the outside of your home.
You may, however, use social media or other internet venues to promote your baked goods.
6. You can’t sell food at stalls.
When there are events or food fairs, you can’t set up your own food stations or stalls, and you can’t sell your home-baked goods in food stores.
Requirements for Fire Safety
Singapore’s fire safety regulations is what property owners and residents’ expect. If a home baker purchases fire extinguishers for their premises, for example, they are responsible for inspecting and maintaining these fire extinguishers.
Food Safety and Health Regulations
Even though home bakers might not need to seek for a licence to sell their baked goods, they must adhere to the Singapore Food Agency’s food hygiene rules (SFA).
This is because one of the risks of eating home-baked items is that they might not prepare the meal in a sanitary manner. Food enterprises such as restaurants and food outlets are subjected to a grading system that indicates the general cleanliness, hygiene, and upkeep of the premises where food is made (A being the best, and D being the worst). Customers can view the presented grades before deciding whether or not to visit the restaurant.
Residential properties, on the other hand, are not subject to such a system. Customers who consume home-baked goods may be at a higher risk of being unwell as a result of their consumption if they were not prepare it hygienically.
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