Oswego Village Board Passes 'Cupcake Ordinance'

OSWEGO, IL — Work just got a whole lot sweeter for Oswego home bakers.

The Oswego Village Board unanimously approved a “Cupcake Ordinance” that allows for the sale of baked goods from home kitchens.

According to a Village of Oswego staff report, retail sales of baked goods were not allowed, but acknowledged that many “communities are revising their ordinances to allow for limited retail sale of baked goods, called 'cupcake ordinances,' to allow flexibility for the businesses to operate in a limited fashion that does not alter the character of the residential neighborhood."

The Village of Oswego defines baked goods as breads, cookies, cakes, pies and pastries. Additionally, only high-acid fruit pies with the following fruits are allowed: apple, apricot, grape, peach, plum, quince, orange, nectarine, tangerine, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, boysenberry, cherry, cranberry, strawberry, red currants, or a combination of these fruits.

“Fruit pies not listed may be produced by a home kitchen operation provided their recipe has been tested and documented by a commercial laboratory, at the expense of the home kitchen operation, as being not potentially hazardous, containing a pH equilibrium of less than 4.6 or has been specified and adopted as allowed in administrative rules by the Department of Public Health,” the staff report said.

Gross monthly sales of home operations are limited to $1,000. The home kitchen must also not take up more than 25 percent of the residence and cannot have more than one employee who does not reside in the home.

In August 2015, Plainfield also passed a “Cupcake Ordinance.”