Me and my wife our looking to purchase our first house. We are looking for a single with a garage dedicated to be set up as a roastery with a 5kilo machine as s weekend side gig.

Does anyone have resources on home food processing facilities or recommendations/practical advice?

I am confident in my skill set, I just am unsure of health laws and what to look for on the real estate market other than AC, electric, gas and plumbing accessible to the garage

probably alot of stuff to find out, also, it is very likely that the HOA would shut down any such operation pretty quickly.

Yeah, zoning and ventilation/afterburners...

Attached garage for PA roasting is very unlikely to be approved.

Zoning approval, and PA Dept of Ag are your resources to be clarified before you make a move like this.

Actually Dept of Ag is a real benefit as it circumvents some of the false and unnecessary impediments that a local food safety board may try to impose. If you arent SELLING liquid coffee then you eliminate some of the commercial kitchen requirements and this is financially to your benefit.

As far as PA goes, NO pets (dogs and cats particularly) for home food business if using attached garage or only kitchen.

Fire Code issues for attached garage too.

Cleanup Sink, PA doesnt require a 3 compartment sink for just a roastery, but does require a nsf approved clean up sink capable of holding your largest device that handles coffee (may want to not use 24 quart or 30 quart tubs as that makes the sink requirement huge and expensive). 20 quart containers fit in reasonably prices single compartment sinks.

Commercial code for exhaust & power & gas and all that that entails.

In the process of doing this myself in PA, and have sold and moved to the "outskirts" to a property zoned "rural village" with a commercial building on my property, so zoning is OK (confirmed in writing), and it is independent of the main house, with parking etc.

The magic words you need to memorize is "Retail sale of coffee beans with on site roasting". The state or Local cant set a minimum number of hours for the retail operations, but making it retail with onsite helps address some of the hugely restrictive zoning issues that can crop up.

A straight up roaster is "manufacturing" and changes the whole dynamic as far as zoning and PA regulations go.

Steve, you have been extremely helpful. Thanks so much. I found a property in my budget with a freestanding garage with electric and possibly close enough to the house for plumbing/gas. I have a small ferocious yorkie poo, so separate would probably be my only option. I won't be selling any liquid coffee. 30 quart buckets hold 15-18lb batches, and I'll probably only roast 8lbs at a time. 25-50lbs weekly, so I don't have to worry about that. I'll see how this property works out and hopefully be pestering the Dept of Ag soon. Any more advice is appreciated!

In most places, if you can stay out of the city and find a place in the county, it makes life a whole lot simpler. Usually counties are not anywhere near as mandating as city ordinances and the smaller the population the better.