For Florida food trucks & cottage food
Serving the public food is the most regulated thing a small business can do. The LLC is the easy part — so do it first.
Health department licensing, commissary agreements, event permits — a food business signs a lot of paper. Every one of those signatures is cleaner, and safer, from an LLC.
Start My LLC — $164.99 All-In →Florida's $125 state fee included · filed by real people in our team
Why food trucks & cottage food in Florida use an LLC
Foodborne-illness claims
One bad batch can generate claims from dozens of customers at once. This is the textbook case for entity protection plus product liability insurance.
Licenses and leases stack up
County health license, commissary kitchen agreement, event contracts, maybe a truck loan — signing personally means personal exposure on every one.
Cottage food has a ceiling
Florida's cottage food law caps direct sales and skips licensing — great for testing. The day you outgrow it, the LLC + licensed kitchen is the next rung.
What your food business needs alongside the LLC
- County health department license (the LLC applies)
- Commissary agreement in the business's name
- Product liability insurance quoted to the LLC
EIN filing: Health departments and commissaries ask for your EIN early — filed for you, $49. Learn more →
Questions food trucks & cottage food ask us
Does a Florida food truck need an LLC?
The health department will license a sole proprietor — but food service is the highest-liability small business there is. Nearly every serious operator forms the entity before the first permit.
Can I start under cottage food law and form the LLC later?
Yes — many do. But the LLC costs $89 once and $25/yr; forming early means every permit, lease, and loan is already in the right name when you scale.
What comes after the LLC?
EIN → health license → commissary agreement → insurance → permits for your event calendar. We handle step one and two; the guide that ships with your formation maps the rest.