When Do You Need a Commercial Kitchen in Nevada?

Three Triggers That Force the Transition

Nevada's cottage food law (NRS 446.866) lets you produce and sell food from your home kitchen, but only within specific boundaries. Cross any of these three lines and you legally must move to a commercial kitchen:

Trigger 1: Your Product Requires Refrigeration

If your recipe contains anything that is potentially hazardous — meaning it needs refrigeration to stay safe — you cannot make it at home under the cottage food exemption. This includes:

• Cream cheese frosting, meringue, custard fillings, or low-sugar frostings on cakes or pastries
• Cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, or cream pies
• Meat, poultry, or seafood in any form (meat pies, jerky, smoked fish)
• Fresh dairy-based products (items with unbaked milk, cream, or cheese)
• Cooked vegetables, dried meats, raw dough, or dried/cooked pasta
• Low-acid canned foods (home-canned vegetables, soups, sauces with pH above 4.6)

If any ingredient in your finished product is time/temperature controlled for safety (TCS), the entire product falls outside the cottage food framework. A shelf-stable cake with cream cheese frosting is disqualified by the frosting alone.

Trigger 2: Your Sales Exceed $35,000

If your cottage food operation's gross annual sales pass $35,000 in a calendar year, you immediately lose your exempt status. Continuing to sell from home without a commercial kitchen is operating as an unpermitted food establishment.

After AB 352 takes effect in July 2027, this threshold rises to $100,000. But until then, $35,000 is the hard ceiling.

Trigger 3: You Want to Sell Wholesale

Cottage food sales are restricted to direct-to-consumer transactions. The moment you sell to a business — a grocery store, a coffee shop, a restaurant, or a specialty food retailer — you are classified as a wholesale food manufacturer. That requires:

• A licensed commercial kitchen
• A standard food establishment permit from your local health authority
• A plan review process
• Regular health inspections

Consignment arrangements (placing your products in a store that takes a percentage of sales) also count as wholesale. The store is not your end consumer.

What "Commercial Kitchen" Actually Means

A commercial kitchen is a facility that meets the health department's standards for commercial food production. That includes:

• NSF-approved equipment — commercial ovens, refrigeration, prep tables, and sinks that meet National Sanitation Foundation standards
• Three-compartment sink — for the commercial wash-rinse-sanitize sequence
• Separate handwashing station — dedicated to handwashing, not shared with food prep or dishwashing
• Proper ventilation and fire suppression — commercial hood systems where required
• Approved floor, wall, and ceiling surfaces — smooth, non-porous, easy to clean

Your home kitchen cannot be converted into a permitted commercial kitchen. Nevada law requires cottage food production to happen in a residential home kitchen — and commercial establishments must meet facility standards that residential kitchens are not built for.

The Plan Review Process

Before you can operate from a commercial kitchen, your local health authority requires a plan review:

1. Submit detailed floor plans and equipment specifications to your health district (SNHD in Clark County, NNPH in Washoe County, etc.)
2. All equipment must be NSF-approved or equivalent
3. Include a complete operational plan and standard operating procedures
4. The health authority reviews and may require modifications
5. After approval, schedule a pre-opening inspection
6. Pass the inspection to receive your food establishment permit

If you manufacture high-risk foods, acidified products, or use specialized packaging (like reduced oxygen packaging), you also need a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan. Acidified food manufacturers need recipe validation from a certified Process Authority.

Commissary and Shared Kitchen Options

You do not have to build your own commercial kitchen. Shared commissary kitchens rent space by the hour, day, or month to food entrepreneurs who need permitted facilities without the capital investment of building one.

When evaluating a commissary kitchen, verify:

• It holds a current health permit from the relevant local authority
• The rental agreement covers your specific production needs (oven time, storage, packaging area)
• You can schedule enough hours for your production volume
• The kitchen's permit covers the type of food you produce

Some commissary kitchens also offer cold storage, dry storage, and packaging areas — which matters once you scale beyond what fits in your car after a production session.

The Certified Food Protection Manager Requirement

Transitioning to commercial production requires at least one person in your operation to hold a valid Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) credential. ServSafe Manager certification is the most widely recognized. This is a higher-level certification than a basic food handler card — it covers food safety management principles, HACCP concepts, and regulatory compliance at the establishment level.

Timing the Transition

If you are approaching the $35,000 revenue ceiling or planning to add TCS products to your line, start the transition process early. The plan review alone can take weeks, and finding available hours at a commissary kitchen may require advance booking. Running over the cottage food cap while waiting for commercial kitchen approval puts you in a legal gray zone.

For a complete guide to Nevada's cottage food requirements — including the product eligibility matrix, scaling triggers, and transition planning — the Nevada Cottage Food & Home Food Business Guide maps the path from home kitchen through commercial scale-up.

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