Can I Sell Food Online in Tennessee?

You can take orders online and sell homemade food through your own website, Etsy, Shopify, or social media — but the shipping and delivery rules depend entirely on whether your product needs refrigeration.

Tennessee's Food Freedom Act gives home-kitchen producers real e-commerce access. It's more permissive than most states, but it has two firm boundaries that trip people up.

Shelf-Stable Products: Full Online Sales

If your product is non-TCS (shelf-stable) — baked goods, jams, granola, candies, dried herbs, roasted coffee, hot sauces — you can:

• Accept orders through any online platform
• Ship directly to customers using USPS, FedEx, or UPS
• Sell through social media with online payment

The one geographic restriction: every shipment must originate and terminate within Tennessee. Both your kitchen and the delivery address must be in-state. There's no dollar limit on online sales volume.

Perishable Products: Online Orders, In-Person Handoff

If your product is TCS (perishable) — cheesecakes, cream pies, pasteurized butter, yogurt, eggs — you can still take orders online or by phone. But the physical transfer has to happen in person. You hand the product directly to the buyer at your home, a farmers market, or a roadside stand located on the property where the food was prepared.

No commercial carrier shipping. No third-party delivery services like DoorDash or Instacart. No dropping packages at a UPS store. The producer (or a direct agent like a family member or employee) must personally hand the food to the consumer.

The Interstate Line You Can't Cross

This is the boundary that catches the most online sellers: the moment a package crosses the Tennessee state line, it enters interstate commerce under federal FDA jurisdiction. The Food Freedom Act's exemption from licensing and inspection applies only within Tennessee.

Shipping out of state — even a single package to a neighboring Kentucky or Georgia address — requires a fully licensed, FDA-registered commercial kitchen. There's no volume exemption for occasional interstate shipments.

If someone in another state places an order through your website, you have two options: decline the order, or transition that part of your business to a commercial facility.

Platform-Specific Considerations

Most online platforms don't verify your food production status, so they won't block you from listing products. But your compliance obligations don't change based on which platform you use:

• Your product listing must include the producer name, physical home address, phone number, product name, ingredient list in descending order of predominance, and statutory disclaimer. TCS listings also need the production date; net quantity, allergen disclosure, and lot numbers are recommended additions
• You must collect Tennessee sales tax on every sale
• Shipping confirmations should document that both origin and destination are Tennessee addresses

Some platforms charge commission fees (5–10% per transaction) or monthly subscription fees ($5–$20/month). These are business costs, not regulatory requirements — choose whichever platform fits your volume and customer base.

Making Online Sales Work

Online sales are the primary growth channel for Tennessee home food businesses selling shelf-stable products. You're not limited to Saturday morning farmers markets — you can reach customers statewide, take orders around the clock, and ship via the same carriers any other business uses.

Our Tennessee Cottage Food & Home Food Business Guide covers the full e-commerce setup, including label compliance for web listings, shipping documentation, and the transition points where an online business outgrows the home-kitchen exemption.

See more Tennessee guides →