Everything you need to cook and sell from home

Texas home kitchen rules

Most kitchens here sell under the Texas Cottage Food Law. The short version, from the Texas DSHS cottage food page:

• Sales cap: up to $150,000 in gross sales a year.
• No meat, poultry or seafood under the cottage food law. To sell non-veg here you need a food permit, which you upload in your admin panel (Settings → Non-veg).
• Foods that need time and temperature control (cooked curries, rice, dal, paneer dishes and so on) need a cottage food registration with DSHS. Dry snacks, sweets and baked goods usually don't.
• Food handler training: you need a food handler's card. Online courses take about an hour.
• Delivery: online orders must be delivered by you, someone you employ, or someone in your household. Not by an app driver.

This is a plain-English summary to get you started, not legal advice. Rules change. Check the DSHS page and your city before you start, and ask your city if you're unsure.

Labels and allergens

Every package needs a label, and the same details must be on your website before a customer pays. Little India Kitchen shows them on your menu and order page from what you enter in Menu.

• Your kitchen name and address, or your DSHS registration number.
• The name of the food.
• Allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy and sesame. Ghee and paneer are milk. Many sweets have nuts.
• This statement, word for word: “THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION.”
• For foods that need temperature control: the date it was made and a safe handling line, such as “Keep refrigerated. Reheat until hot.”

Tip: print labels on sticker sheets the night before. The Orders tab has a print view with each order's items.

Keeping food safe on the way

• Cold food at 41°F or below, hot food at 135°F or above. Use an insulated bag and ice packs or a hot box.
• Pack in sealed containers, label each one, and keep raw ingredients far away from cooked food.
• Plan your route so food spends as little time in the car as possible. Your route in the Orders tab is ordered for you.
• Remind customers to refrigerate right away if they won't eat within two hours.

Pricing your food

Add up ingredients, containers and labels, then add something for your time and gas. A simple start: ingredients × 3. Check what other kitchens nearby charge on the directory.

• Thalis and combo boxes sell better than single items and are easier to cook in batches.
• Set a daily limit on each dish so you never get more orders than you can cook.
• Use deals (a sale price with an end date) to fill a slow day instead of cutting prices for good.
• A delivery fee or minimum order keeps far-away deliveries worth the trip.

Photos that sell

• Daylight from a window, no flash. Shoot from above for thalis, from the side for stacked or tall food.
• Use a plain plate on a plain table. Wipe drips off the plate edge.
• Photograph the real portion you sell. Customers notice.
• One great photo per dish beats many dark ones. You can upload photos in Menu, and the AI helper can write descriptions.

Your first 20 customers

1. Tell friends, family and your WhatsApp groups. Use the WhatsApp share button in your admin panel.
2. Print your QR flyer (Overview → Flyers and QR) for your temple, community center, apartment notice board or office.
3. Put a QR sticker on every package so people can order again.
4. Ask happy customers for a review. We email them the day after delivery, and reviews from real orders show ✓ Verified order.
5. Post your weekly menu on the same day each week so people expect it.
6. Reply to catering requests (the Catering requests tab). One party can bring ten new regulars.

How to use your admin panel

Menu

Add dishes with price, photo, allergens, food type and daily limit. Import from a photo of your menu to save typing.

Schedule

Pick the days you cook, the order cut-off and pickup or delivery times. Pause ordering any time you need a break.

Delivery

Add the cities or ZIP areas you deliver to with a fee and minimum each, and turn pickup on or off.

Orders

Confirm, mark cooking, ready and delivered. Customers get an email at each step.

Catering requests

Customers planning a party send one request to several kitchens. Send a total price and what's included; the customer picks one.

Tiffin and festivals

Weekly meal plans, and special boxes for Diwali, Navratri and other festivals with their own order dates.

Support

Customer messages arrive here and by email. Reply from the panel. Anything you can't fix, send to us from the Help tab.

Overview

Sales, busiest days, regular customers and where orders come from (QR code, WhatsApp, the directory and so on).

Fees and referrals

The first months are free during the pilot. After that it's a small monthly fee plus a small fee per order, shown on Pricing and in your Billing tab. Customers pay you directly, so we never hold your money.

Refer a cook: share your link from Billing. When the kitchen you referred goes live, you both get a month free.