Cottage Kitchen Finder helps connect customers with local home-based food sellers and small producers by making those sellers easier to find online.

No. It is better described as a directory and discovery service rather than a full marketplace. It helps connect people, but transactions happen directly between buyer and seller.

It is for both customers looking for local homemade or farm-based products and sellers who need better visibility for what they produce.

Yes. Cottage food and local selling rules can vary widely. State law may set the main framework, but county, parish, municipal, zoning, or health-related rules may also matter.

The mission is to make it easier for local home-based food sellers and small producers to be seen, supported, and found by the people in their communities.

At this time, please see the current pricing or listing terms shown on Cottage Kitchen Finder. If free listings are being offered, that will be stated clearly during signup or submission.

**Cottage Kitchen Finder — Banner Image Guidelines**

This banner is used across merchant and market pages and must display correctly on all screen sizes without important content being cut off. The image should use a 3:1 aspect ratio, with a recommended size of 1800 × 600 pixels (larger sizes like 2000 × 650 or 2400 × 800 are acceptable). Because the system may crop images dynamically, all critical content—text, logos, and focal visuals—must be centered within a safe zone (roughly the middle 60% width and 50% height). Generous padding is required on all sides so edges can be safely trimmed without affecting the design.

**Key Points:**

* Use **3:1 aspect ratio** (e.g., 1800 × 600)
* Keep all important content in the **center safe zone**
* Maintain **100–150px margin/padding** on all sides
* Use a **left text / right image layout**
* Avoid placing text or logos near edges
* Do not rely on borders—they may be cropped
* Export as **high-quality JPG or PNG (RGB)**
* Test display on desktop, tablet, and mobile

**Rule of thumb:** if it looks perfectly edge-to-edge in your design tool, it will likely be cropped incorrectly in the system—always design with extra margin.

For best results, please upload regular listing photos as **JPG images**.

JPG is the best choice for most photos, including:

* market photos
* farm photos
* food photos
* product photos
* booth photos
* banner images
* gallery images

JPG files usually load faster than large PNG files, which helps your listing page open more quickly for visitors, especially on phones.

Use **PNG** only when the image needs a transparent background or is a graphic, logo, icon, screenshot, or image with sharp text.

**Simple rule:**
Photos = JPG
Logos, icons, transparent graphics = PNG

Please avoid uploading very large image files when possible. Smaller, well-sized images help your listing look good and load faster.

Recommended image sizes:
Banner or listing images: about 900 pixels wide or smaller
Gallery/product images: about 600–900 pixels wide
Logo images: only as large as needed for clear display

CKF may also optimize images behind the scenes when possible, but starting with the right image format helps keep the site fast and easier for shoppers to use.

**Best image format:** Use **JPG** for photos. Use **PNG** only for logos, icons, transparent graphics, screenshots, or text-heavy graphics. Large PNG photos can slow down listing pages, especially on mobile. For most market, vendor, food, farm, product, banner, and gallery photos, JPG is the better choice.

Customers contact you using the contact details, website link, social media links, or other listing information you choose to provide. Cottage Kitchen Finder helps people find you, but customers deal directly with you. We also have what we call BLIND EMAIL for sellers who do not want their email listed but would like to be notified if someone shows interest. The blind email does not expose your email address (the seller's) to the public and allows our system to email you.

Yes. Sellers should be able to update their listing information as their business changes, including products, contact details, photos, seasonal availability, and other listing content.

Listing time can vary depending on the review and approval process. If the site uses a review step, your listing may go live after it has been checked for completeness and basic fit. It could be almost instant, or it could take as long as 72 hours.

That is perfectly fine. Some cottage food sellers only offer one item, one crop, or one specialty product. You do not need a large product catalog to be listed.

Yes. Every seller is responsible for knowing and following the cottage food laws, labeling rules, sales rules, and any county, parish, or local requirements that apply where they operate.

Yes. If your products change by season, harvest, holiday, or availability, you can list seasonal or limited products and update your listing as needed.

No. Cottage Kitchen Finder is a listing and discovery platform. Sellers are responsible for their products, food safety practices, legal compliance, pricing, fulfillment, and all transactions with customers.

Cottage Kitchen Finder is a service designed to help home-based food sellers and small local producers become more visible so customers can find them more easily.

Sellers who operate cottage food businesses, farm stands, home-based food businesses, or small local food ventures may be eligible to list, provided they follow their state and local laws.

No. A business name is not always required, but an owner name is important. Owner identification helps build trust and gives customers confidence that there is a real person behind the listing.

Yes. Even if you do not use a formal business name, you should provide an owner name. This helps with trust, accountability, and communication.

You may list products that are allowed under your state cottage food laws or other applicable rules. This often includes baked goods, jams, jellies, candies, dry mixes, produce, eggs, and other approved items. We do not allow stores to utilize Cottage Kitchen Finder, as we cater to home-based food, baked goods, and markets, as well as farmers.