Your neighborhood is already looking for you.
Stop missing the customers who are asking about you in Facebook groups.
Running a small business is tough. If you're doing it all on your own—juggling cooking, packaging, deliveries, and the occasional existential crisis about your 3 a.m. special order cake—then you know how overwhelming it can get. Enter Butter & Sage Marketplace: your new best friend in the world of food sales.
Open a professional shop, meet your AI business partner, and run your cottage food business like the real business it is — starting today, for free.
Setup takes under 10 minutes. No credit card required. No tech degree needed.
Why I Created Butter & Sage
Amy Larsen
CEO & Founder Butter & Sage Market
Hi, I'm Amy. I've spent more than two decades helping enterprise businesses build profitable growth strategies — Fortune 500 companies, complex markets, real stakes. I know what it takes to build something that lasts.
But my real life? It happens in the kitchen.
I'm an avid baker. I'm the person who spends a Sunday afternoon perfecting a sourdough crust, who brings a Michelin-worthy dinner to the table on a Tuesday just because the market had good leeks. I shop at farmers markets the way other people shop for shoes — with genuine excitement, a canvas bag, and no budget. I seek out small farms, local producers, and the vendors who care as much about what's in their food as I do.
Ten years ago, a health scare changed the way I looked at food entirely. "Cook more at home," my doctor said. So I did — and it changed everything. I started reading labels, sourcing ingredients differently, and realizing just how broken the connection between great local food makers and the people who desperately want to find them actually is.
I built Butter & Sage Market to fix that.
Not because I needed another project. Because I kept seeing brilliant cottage food makers — bakers, jam makers, growers, culinary educators — struggling to sell the way big brands sell, with none of the tools or budget to do it. And I knew exactly how to help.
Twenty-five years of building profitable businesses for corporations. A lifetime of being your customer.
That combination doesn't exist anywhere else. And neither does this platform.
— Amy Larsen, Founder
Shop Features
Everything you need to run your business. Right out of the gate.
Here's what you get the day you open your shop.
Every shop has automatic email and text list building. You customers can browse your products and manage their cart all without leaving your store page.
Vendors on the Maker & Bloom packages have a QR Code generator to use on signage and business cards to help increase store traffic - and capture those passers by at the farmers market!
Your Shop, Beautiful and Live in 10 Minutes
This isn't a link-in-bio or a Facebook post. It's a real, professional, branded storefront — with your products, your photos, your story — live and searchable in under 10 minutes.
No web design degree. No monthly website fees. No figuring out how to make a payment button work, or configure email accounts.
Your shop looks like you hired a designer. Because we did the designing for you.
Meet Bea - Your AI Business Partner
The only AI business assistant in the cottage food industry. No one else has this.
Bea is built into your BAS dashboard. She knows cottage food. She knows pricing. She knows how to write a product description that actually sells.
Ask Bea to write your product descriptions. Ask her what your T&Cs should say. Ask her how to price a custom 6-tier wedding cake when someone needs it in 10 days.
Bea isn't a generic chatbot you could find anywhere. She knows your business — because her whole job is helping vendors like you.
Available on Maker and Bloom plans. (Starter vendors get basic Bea access to get started.)
Pricing Calculator
You know that feeling when someone asks what your custom cakes cost and you just... make up a number and hope it sounds right?
We've all been there. It stops here.
Our Pricing Calculator walks you through ingredients, prep time, overhead, and profit margin — and tells you the number you should actually be charging. Know your numbers. Price with confidence. If your ingredient price changes, we'll alert you if any of your products need a price adjustment. Stop leaving money in the oven.
Included in Maker and Bloom plans.
Events & Classes — Fill Your Calendar
Host a cookie decorating class. A canning workshop. A sourdough deep-dive. A pop-up at your local market.
Build your event page, sell tickets, and send automated reminders — right from your BAS dashboard. We've setup the entire system. Create a QR code to promote your event. No third-party event tools. No Eventbrite fees eating into your ticket price. Just you, your class, and the people who want to learn from you.
Your classes can be in-person, online, or a hybrid. Your event shows up on the marketplace map, and you get your own custom event page. Reminders and add to calendars are already baked in.
The Farmers Market Directory
Already selling at your local farmers market? Link your BAS shop to your market listing, and the regulars who found your jam on Saturday will be able to find you — and order from you — on Tuesday.
Butter & Sage Market has 5,000+ farmers markets in our directory. Find yours, link your shop, and show up where local food buyers are already looking.
The Farmers Market directory is our highest search engine traffic generator. Your store gets found by those searching for the markets you attend.
A marketplace that grows with you.
Here's where we'll be straight with you: BAS is a growing marketplace. We're not Etsy — yet.
But we're building something Etsy never was: a platform built specifically for cottage food makers, with the tools to run a real business and a community of local buyers who are actively choosing homemade, local, and real.
Every vendor who joins makes the marketplace better for every other vendor. Your shop gets more visible as more buyers discover BAS. You're not just listing a product — you're building equity in a community that gets stronger every month.
And unlike platforms that charge a monthly fee before they've earned it: we start free. If you're on the Starter plan, we only make money when you do.
Vendor Dashboard
Our features are designed to support small & cottage food businesses with all of the options needed to help you succeed. Add your products, set delivery & pickup availability, calendar view management, manage inventory, go on vacation, download reports, view stats, send invoices, create events, and so much more!
Calculators & Tools
- Pricing Calculators
- Cake Portion Calculator
- Cake Sizing Calculator
- Cake Cutting Guides
- Recipe scaling calculator
- Pricing alerts
Custom Orders & Invoices
Built in feature for products or services that need to be custom ordered. Whether it's party or wedding cakes, custom cookies, catering or meal prep - we've got custom ordering built in. And when you receive a request for quote you can send your customer a quote invoice directly fron the dashboard so they can accept and pay all at once.
Pickup & Delivery Availability
Protect yourself from over ordering with pickup & delivery settings. Set if you offer pickup, delivery, or both. Schedule available days and times that you allow for customers to select when placing an order, and limit the number of orders that can be scheduled for each time frame. Once the customer places an order and selects a timeframe it automatically shows up in your delivery calendar.
Shipping
Not all small food or cottage vendors can offer shipping, but if it works for your business we also include the option to manage shipping. Easy to use interface lets you configure shipping in a way that works for you either by offering free shipping, flat rate shipping, or table rate.
Multiple Product Types
Paid subscribers can configure, simple, variable, and downloadable products. Variable products can be customized to include flavor options, sizing options, or whatever detail you need to help your customers order the right product.
Coupons & more…
Offer special deals and savings to your favorite customers by generating coupon codes. Encourage repeat buys by promoting coupon codes to your farmers market visitors. & more...
Marketing Tools to Make LIfe Easier
Easy Website Setup: It's Like 1,2,3... But Tastier
Setting up a website shouldn't be a major life event. At Butter & Sage Marketplace, we’ve designed our platform to be so simple, you'll be up and running faster than you can bake a batch of cookies. No tech skills required—just a few clicks, and voilà! You’ve got a beautiful, fully functional online shop where customers can browse, buy, and fall in love with your food. (Don't worry, we'll also help with some pro tips for making your page look extra delicious.)
Register on the Platform
Registration is quick and easy. Pick your package, follow the checkout process and you're off and running.
Follow Easy Setup Wizard
Follow our easy setup wizard that guides you through setting up your shop. Once you get to your vendor dashboard you'll find all your options and how-to guides if needed.
List Products and STart Selling
Add your products to your shop. We even provide an easy export and import wizard for quick setup. Set your prices, offer coupons, and start making profits!
Who Should Open a Shop at Butter & Sage?
If you bake it, grow it, teach it, gather it, or make it with love - you belong at Butter & Sage Market.
Home Bakers
Cooking & Baking Classes
Cottage Foods
Backyard Chickens (Eggs)
Jam & Jelly Makers
Vegetable Growers
Small Farms
Pickles & Preserves
Whether your kitchen smells like cinnamon rolls or sourdough starter — or both — you're exactly who we built this for.
Built for Small & Cottage Food Businesses
Why Butter & Sage Market
We take the hassle of building a website, setting up payment gateways, technical maintenance, advertising, collecting payment, and dealing with the paperwork off your shoulders so you can focus on what you do best—making amazing food, growing fresh veggies, or creating small-batch magic. Let us handle the boring stuff so you can keep doing what you love (and maybe even squeeze in a nap).
We're Local First - Always
Butter & Sage Market focuses on location-based search. As our site grows customers in your area will find your shop & products through geo-location and farmers market directory searches, as we grow, you grow.
Marketplace Listings
Being part of a diverse food marketplace helps your business grow faster. It's like a virtual shopping mall - the more vendors that join the more potential customers for you. Someone who wanted fresh batch cookies last week will come back for that hot sauce you toiled over today.
Designed for Local Food Businesses
Our platform provides more features and options specifically designed to support small & cottage food business. Farmers market listings, pricing calculators, pickup & delivery scheduling, virtual products, custom orders & more - No technical or design skills required.
Pop-ups, Classes, and Events
Expand your revenue stream by offering classes with everything you need to host an event whether it's free or paid to attend. Promote your pop-up shops and let customers know upcoming markets where they can find you.
Will I Actually Make Sales Here?
We're glad you asked. Here's the real answer:
BAS isn't a traffic guarantee. It's a business platform.
You won't sign up and wake up to a full inbox of orders just because you listed your products. No marketplace works that way — not Etsy, not Amazon, not anyone.
What you WILL have is:
- A professional shop that makes you look like the real business you are
- An AI assistant who helps you run it
- A pricing calculator that protects your margins
- An events platform that fills your classes
- A farmers market directory that puts you in front of local buyers
- A marketplace that gets bigger every month
The vendors who win on BAS are the ones who show up, list their products beautifully, and let us handle the hard parts — while they stay in the kitchen doing the thing they're actually great at.
Sound like you? Welcome home.
Start free. Upgrade when you're ready.
No commitment required to open your shop. Upgrade to Maker or Bloom when your business is ready to grow.
Starter
free forever
8% commission on sales
- Branded shop page
- Up to 10 product listings
- Marketplace discovery listing
- Pickup & delivery calendar
- Inventory & order protection
- Email & SMS subscriber opt-in — download your list anytime
- Bea AI — basic access
- Farmers market directory listing
- Social links & vacation mode
Maker
billed monthly
or $100/yr Save $80/yr
0% commission- Everything in Starter
- Unlimited product listings
- Bea AI — full access
- Pricing Calculator — with ingredient cost alerts to protect your margins
- Custom Orders & Invoicing
- Classes & Events — in-person or virtual, charge admission, you keep what you earn
- Variable & downloadable products
- Batch Scaling May 2026
- Label Generator May 2026
- QR Code Generator May 2026
Bloom
billed monthly
or $200/yr Save $100/yr
0% commission- Everything in Maker
- Email marketing campaigns to your subscriber list
- Farmers Market Planner
- Brand Generator
- Revenue & Income Limit Tracker
- Advanced analytics & reporting
- Featured search placement
- Dedicated onboarding call
No contracts · No setup fees · Cancel anytime
Questions? See the FAQ ↓
Maker Pays for Itself, Here's the Math
On the Starter plan, BAS earns 8% commission on your sales. A vendor making $188/month in BAS sales is already paying $15 in commission — exactly what Maker costs. Upgrade to Maker and that commission goes to zero. Maker pays for itself at roughly 3–5 orders, and you get unlimited products, full Bea access, the Pricing Calculator, Label Generator, and more. At $188/month in sales, the math says: upgrade.
How Does Butter & Sage Market Stack Up?
No marketing spin — just a straight look at what each platform actually gives you.
|
⭐ Best for Food Vendors
Butter & Sage Market Free → $15 → $25/mo | HotPlate No monthly + ~5%/order | Homegrown $10/month | Bakesy $9.99–$17.99/mo | CottageCMS Free–paid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free to start |
✓
Starter tier — free forever |
!
No monthly, but ~5% + $0.55 per order |
✕
$10/month required |
!
30-day trial only |
✓
Free forever plan |
| Buyers can discover you |
✓
Two-sided marketplace |
✕
Solo storefront — no cross-discovery |
✓
Marketplace |
✕
No marketplace |
✕
Website builder only |
| All food types welcome | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
✕
Baked goods only | ✓ |
| Professional shop page | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Order management & payments | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI business assistant |
✓
Bea — Maker & Bloom | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Pricing & cost calculator |
✓
Maker & Bloom | ✕ | ✕ |
!
Top tier only ($17.99/mo) | ✕ |
| Events & class listings | ✓ |
!
Pop-ups & markets only | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Farmers market directory |
✓
13,000+ markets | ✕ |
!
Limited — pickup focus | ✕ | ✕ |
| Mobile app | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
✓
iOS & Android | ✕ |
* HotPlate charges no monthly fee but applies ~5% + $0.55 per order + Stripe processing on every sale. Butter & Sage Market Maker ($15/mo) and Bloom ($25/mo) carry 0% platform commission — you only pay Stripe's standard processing fee. Competitor data current as of April 2026.
Your neighbors are looking for someone like you.
Let's make sure they find you.
Under 10 minutes. No credit card required. Fresh. Local. Sustainable.
Spend More Time Doing What You Love
Here’s the best part: with Butter & Sage Marketplace doing all the heavy lifting, you can focus on what really matters: your food. We’re here to support you so that you can create, cook, and serve without being bogged down by the behind-the-scenes grind.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s make this partnership official! Sign up today and watch your food business grow with Butter & Sage Marketplace. Because you should be in the kitchen, not buried in admin work.