FSSAI registration for home chefs

A home kitchen falls under Registration — the first of FSSAI's three tiers — which is ₹100 per year plus 18% GST, so ₹118 a year in total. You choose the term when you apply, up to five years, and pay for all of it upfront:

• 1 year — ₹100 + ₹18 GST = ₹118
• 2 years — ₹200 + ₹36 GST = ₹236
• 3 years — ₹300 + ₹54 GST = ₹354
• 4 years — ₹400 + ₹72 GST = ₹472
• 5 years — ₹500 + ₹90 GST = ₹590

FSSAI's fee page publishes the ₹100 without the tax. GST on FSSAI licensing and registration was exempt until 18 July 2022 and is not any more, so 18% is added — the portal shows you the exact amount before you pay.

That is the whole government fee, and it goes to FSSAI, not to us. Registration applies while your annual turnover is up to ₹1.5 crore — which is every home kitchen we have ever onboarded. Above that ceiling you would need a State Licence instead, whose fee varies by state.

You may see a ₹7,500-a-year figure on FSSAI's fee page. That is the Central Licence column, for national operations of a very different size. It is not what a home kitchen pays, and you should not apply for it.

Longer terms are worth taking. The fee per year is the same either way, and a five-year registration is four fewer renewals to remember — and a lapsed registration means we have to hide your menu until it is current again.

Three documents. That is the entire list, quoted from FSSAI:

• A passport-style photo of yourself.
• A government-issued photo ID — Aadhaar, PAN, Voter ID or similar.
• Proof of address of the business activity, but only if you will cook somewhere other than the address printed on that photo ID.

If you cook at the address on your Aadhaar, the third one does not apply and you need just the photo and the ID. Have both as clear phone photos or scans before you begin, because the form asks you to upload them partway through and times out if you go hunting.

You apply on FoSCoS, the Food Safety Compliance System — the government portal, and the only place a registration can legitimately be obtained. No agent is required.

• 1. Go to the FoSCoS "Apply for New License/Registration" page, linked below.
• 2. Under "Where is the premise of operation?", choose General. The other tiles are for kitchens inside a railway station, airport or seaport, and for the paid fast-track route — none of which apply to a home kitchen.
• 3. Choose the state your kitchen is in.
• 4. Under "Select Kind of Business", open the Food Services group, then Food Vending Establishment.
• 5. Tick Home Based Canteens / Dabba Wallas — FSSAI describes it as "an individual or establishment involved in distribution of packed meals (usually packed lunch) from food service establishments such as home based caterer or restaurants to customers". That is a home kitchen selling tiffin.
• 6. Select "Annual Turnover upto Rs. 1.5Cr [Registration]" and press Proceed. This is the step that puts you on the ₹100 tier rather than a licence costing many times more.
• 7. Sign up or sign in, fill in Form A, upload the two or three documents above, choose your term, and pay online.

You get an application reference number immediately. Keep it — it is how you track progress, and how we can chase on your behalf if it stalls.

If you want to check which tier you fall under before starting anything, the eligibility checker asks the same questions and tells you the answer without submitting an application.

If the form is not how you want to spend your evening, we will complete it for you. We charge ₹50 + 18% GST — ₹59 — once per application, whatever term you choose. It is one form either way, so it does not go up for a five-year registration.

You can do this two ways, and the fee is the same in both:

• In the Fe3dr for Chefs app — one payment, and we pay FSSAI for you. For one year that is ₹177: the ₹118 government fee plus our ₹59. You upload your documents in the app and track the application there.
• By email — you pay FSSAI yourself at the portal and pay us the ₹59 separately.

Every rupee, for a one-year registration filed by us:

• ₹100 — FSSAI's registration fee, paid to the government.
• ₹18 — 18% GST on that government fee.
• ₹50 — our fee for preparing and filing the application.
• ₹9 — 18% GST on our fee.
• ₹177 — total. Add ₹118 for each additional year; our ₹59 never repeats.

Nothing is added at the end and there is no subscription. If you would rather keep the ₹59, the step-by-step above is the whole job — we would honestly rather you did it yourself than felt sold to.

If you are emailing rather than using the app, send us these:

• A passport-style photo of yourself.
• A photo or scan of your Aadhaar, PAN or Voter ID.
• Proof of the kitchen address, if you cook somewhere other than the address on that ID — a recent electricity bill, rent agreement or property document.
• Your full name as it should appear on the registration, your mobile number, your email, and the full kitchen address with pincode.
• How many years you want to register for, from one to five.

Send them to [email protected]. We will confirm what we have, tell you what the government fee comes to, and send you the application reference once it is filed. The registration is issued in your name, to you — it is your licence, not ours, and it stays yours if you ever stop cooking with us.

What we do not do: we cannot make an application succeed that should not, and we will not submit a turnover figure or a kitchen address that is not true. If your kitchen needs a State Licence rather than a Registration, we will tell you and we will not charge you for finding out.

Yes. FSSAI registration is required of any food business in India, whatever its size, and Fe3dr verifies it before you can list a menu. It is also what lets a customer trust a kitchen they have never visited — worth considerably more to you than the ₹100.

The application itself takes about twenty minutes. Issuance sits with the state food-safety department, not with us, and typically takes a few working days. We cannot speed that up, and neither can anyone charging you to try.

Yes. Build your profile, menu, photos and payout details while the registration is in progress. Your menu goes live to customers once we have verified the registration number.

FSSAI issues one registration per premises, and any number of kinds of business can be endorsed on it. If you already hold a valid registration for the same address — from a catering business, a shop, anything — you do not need a second one to cook with us. Send us the number you have.

If you cook from more than one address, each address needs its own.

Above ₹1.5 crore a year you move up to a State Licence. That is a good problem to have, and we will help you with the change when you get there.

We remind you before it lapses. If it does lapse we have to hide your menu until it is current again — selling on an expired registration is an offence for you and for us. Renewal is the same fee and the same form, which is the argument for taking five years upfront.

No. It goes to FSSAI. The only thing you ever pay us is the ₹50 + GST filing fee, and only if you ask us to file for you. If you pay us through the app we forward the government fee to FSSAI on your behalf — it passes through us, it is not ours.

FSSAI runs its own helpdesk: [email protected], or 1800-11-2100. Tell us as well — if we filed it for you, chasing it is part of what you paid for.