Free tools
Free tools for food entrepreneurs
Practical tools I built for the questions founders ask me most, from whether you can sell from home to what a food scientist actually costs. All free, no sign-up.
Starting out
Cottage Food Law Map
Can you sell it from home? Sales caps, online sales and refrigerated foods for all 50 states and DC.
Open the map →Food Product Idea Check
See your likely regulatory path, your top hurdles and the road to a prototype.
Check your idea →Pricing and Sales Cap Calculator
Find your cost per item, a price that covers your time and fees, and how much you can sell under your state's cap.
Run the numbers →Growing past your kitchen
Outgrowing Cottage Food
What changes when you move to a commercial kitchen: Licensing, registration, labels and scale-up.
Read the guide → English · EspañolCo-Packer Readiness Checklist
Check whether your formula, specs, paperwork and numbers are ready for a co-manufacturer.
Start the checklist → English · EspañolWhat Does a Food Scientist Cost?
Pick the help you need and get a ballpark budget and timeline.
Estimate your budget →Learn the science
Water Activity and Shelf-Life
Slide through the water activity scale and see what can grow, plus the FDA pH and water activity tables.
Explore →Taste Check
Enter a recipe and see how salty, savory, sweet, sour and rich it should taste, predicted from its chemistry.
Check a recipe →Shelf Life: The Game
Grow wheat, bake sourdough, keep your kitchen clean and build a bakery. A cozy food science game.
Play free →When you're ready for more than a tool
Get a plan for launching your food product
The Product Launch Roadmap is one 90-minute call and a written plan for your product: Your path to market, a realistic budget, the regulatory flags that apply to you and the landmines to avoid. $950, credited toward formulation if you move forward.