Selling it

What your state adds

Updated October 2026

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Three layers Food business licensing Cottage food rarely helps here Alcohol changes everything References

More state involvement than most food categories, because a beverage is frequently made in a licensed facility rather than a home kitchen.

Three layers

Food business licensing and inspection, which is state or local.

Any state juice or beverage specific requirement.

And alcohol licensing, if the product crosses 0.5 percent.

Food business licensing

Most states require a food processing establishment license, an inspection, and in many cases a plan review before you start.

A refrigerated or unpasteurized product attracts more attention than a shelf-stable one, reasonably.

This is the layer that decides where you can physically operate, and it is worth resolving before signing a lease rather than after.

Cottage food rarely helps here

The point that surprises people coming from baking or jam.

Cottage food laws exist for low-risk shelf-stable foods, and most exclude beverages, and nearly all exclude anything requiring refrigeration.

So the home-kitchen route that works for a jam maker is generally not available to a juice or kombucha maker, and a commercial or shared kitchen is the usual answer.

Check your own state rather than assuming either way, because a small number treat some beverages differently.

Alcohol changes everything

A product at or above 0.5 percent ABV is federally an alcohol beverage, and state alcohol licensing sits on top of the federal requirement.

That is a separate application, a separate premises qualification, separate record keeping, and in many states a three-tier distribution structure that changes who you can sell to.

It also closes retail channels: an alcohol beverage cannot be sold where a soft drink can.

Which is the strongest practical reason to decide deliberately which side of the line the product is on.

References

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. General TTB Requirements for Kombucha. Production on premises qualified under the Internal Revenue Code, compliance with labeling, formula and tax requirements, and the health warning statement required by the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act of 1988. ttb.gov

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Requirements for Kombucha Classified as Beer. Fermented beverages at or above 0.5 percent ABV are classified as beer for tax purposes; a brewer must qualify under 27 CFR part 25 and file a formula before production. ttb.gov

US Food and Drug Administration. Food Facility Registration and the preventive controls requirements for human food. fda.gov

Written from the federal regulation and agency guidance named on each page, not from a laboratory. Whether a particular product meets a pathogen reduction requirement, and what its alcohol content actually is, are measurements about your product, and this is not those measurements.