LA County to Finalize Home Kitchen Ordinance, Consider Subsidies

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to give final approval Tuesday to an ordinance establishing a permitting process for people who operate food sale businesses out of their home kitchens, and it will also vote on a subsidy program for eligible applicants.

If approved, the ordinance would impact only operations in unincorporated areas of the County, like Altadena and unincorporated portions of Eaat Pasadena. It would not affect those in Pasadena, Long Beach, and Vernon, which are overseen by those cities’ individual health departments.

“The LA County ordinance would not apply to Pasadena,” Manuel Carmona of the Pasadena Public Health Dept. told Pasadena Now. “The City of Pasadena does not have a similar ordinance and the Pasadena Public Health Department is not proposing the City do so.”

In 2019, the California Health and Safety Code was amended to authorize “Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations,” or MEHKO, which allow people to operate a “mini-restaurant” and sell food they prepare in their homes.

The Board of Supervisors on May 14 gave tentative approval to an ordinance regulating the businesses. It would require operators of such businesses to pay an application fee of $597, along with an annual health permit fee of $347, covering the costs of annual inspections and enforcement actions. The ordinance would also set a cap on gross annual sales of $100,000, with meals limited to 30 per day or 90 per week.

The board on Tuesday will consider a $600,000 subsidy program that would offer up to 1,000 eligible applicants a one-time 100% subsidy on the initial application fee of $597. The eligibility will be limited to new applicant MEHKOs with annual net revenues less than $50,000.

The county Department of Public Health has identified $1.2 million in one-time American Rescue Plan enabled funding to support the recommended subsidy and a Department of Economic Opportunity outreach campaign.

Under the ordinance, a MEHKO could also be approved to serve as a commissary for up to two food carts, or Compact Mobile Food Operations. In such cases, the kitchens would be limited to 80 meals per day and no more than 200 meals per week. The gross sales for a MEHKO operating as a commissary would be $150,000.

Health officials said the ordinance was developed in consultation with jurisdictions including Imperial, Riverside, San Diego, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, along with the COOK Alliance, an advocacy organization working to legitimize and support home cooking businesses.

The ordinance is expected to take effect in November, with enforcement beginning in January next year.