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Online Milkshakes/Desserts Business - What licensing/certifications are required?

I am looking to potentially start a very small scale online business selling milkshakes, desserts etc. on an online website, delivering to my local area.

What licensing is needed for this?

Do you need to be registered as a sole trader business or as self-employed straight away? Do you need specific food/drink distribution licensing or anything similar just to sell blended milkshakes?

Any help or advice is appreciated

Thanks!
Original post by adamthomas7
I am looking to potentially start a very small scale online business selling milkshakes, desserts etc. on an online website, delivering to my local area.

What licensing is needed for this?

Do you need to be registered as a sole trader business or as self-employed straight away? Do you need specific food/drink distribution licensing or anything similar just to sell blended milkshakes?

Any help or advice is appreciated

Thanks!

It sounds like you're starting a business, so yes, register as a business... If you're going as a sole trader, then you yourself will be responsible for any debts that the business may incur, so it's worth considering whether you go ahead as a sole trader or set up as a limited company, which you can register for £12 I believe, where you're only liable up to what you've put into the business.

Are you making the milkshakes/deserts etc yourself, or are you just re-selling, because I believe that would have an impact on whether you need any food certifications - for example, if you make them yourself, I believe you'd need to register with the FSA (you might want to look at the FSA site here). If it were me, I'd also seriously consider business insurance... you can get quotes for this on a comparison site... depending on what kind of projected sales you're looking at, this might be a relatively good chunk of startup costs...

I've run my own business for a bit, so feel free to hit me up if you have any questions!

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