Cottage industry

A Cottage Industry is a small-scale business enterprise, so named because they are usually run out of someone’s home. Today’s cottage industries operate as stand-alone business or an suppliers to larger business or industry.

Cottage industries often begin as hobbies and are an outlet for goods produced, sometimes as a way of financing the hobby or as a secondary income. Others grow out of experimentation or invention. Some cottage industries do so well that they become full scale businesses, and some of these have become legendary, as in Mrs. Field’s and Apple.

Common cottage industries

• sewing and knitting
• gardening: plant stalls, market gardens
• jewellery making
• bed and breadfast
• publishing
• services industries: house cleaning, beauticians, baby sitting handyman services