Pasadena Council to Weigh Two-Year Pilot for Home-Based Restaurants, With Startup Costs Put at $225,000

The Pasadena City Council will decide Tuesday whether to open a two-year pilot allowing residents to run small restaurants from their own kitchens, at an estimated startup cost of $225,000.

The item asks the council to direct the city attorney to prepare an ordinance within 60 days amending Title 8 of the Pasadena Municipal Code. Pasadena runs its own health department, so Los Angeles County’s program does not reach city residents and the city must act on its own. If the council agrees, the Public Health Department would return with a fee schedule and a request for General Fund support.

The proposal reaches the council through the Economic Development and Technology Committee, which asked staff on March 17 to bring forward the code amendments. It is listed as Item 11 on the agenda for a special meeting that replaces the regular Monday session, with closed session at 5 p.m. and the public meeting at 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 100 North Garfield Ave., Room S249.

California created the category, Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations, in 2019 by amending Section 114367 of the state Health and Safety Code. Cities and counties that run their own health jurisdictions may authorize the kitchens by ordinance or resolution, and most have not.

State law sets the terms the city would be adopting. A residence may hold one permit. Operators are limited to one full-time-equivalent food employee, not counting family or household members, and to 30 individual meals a day and 90 a week. Annual gross sales are capped at $107,121, adjusted each year for inflation by the Consumer Price Index. Food must be prepared, cooked and served the same day. Deliveries must be made by the operation’s own employees, except for customers who have a disability. Outside advertising signs are prohibited, and a permitted kitchen cannot double as a caterer or a temporary food vendor.

More than 1,200 permits have been issued statewide by 18 local health jurisdictions, five of which began as pilots. In Southern California, Riverside County authorized the kitchens in 2019, Santa Barbara County in 2021, San Diego County in 2022 and Los Angeles County in 2024. More than 220 permits have been issued in Los Angeles County, including 66 in the city of Los Angeles, four in Burbank, two in Arcadia, two in La Cañada Flintridge and Montrose, and one in South Pasadena.

Under a Pasadena program, the Public Health Department would be the enforcement agency. An operator would need a food safety certificate, a health permit application, written standard operating procedures describing food types, preparation methods, cleaning schedules and hours, and a passed initial inspection. Permitted kitchens would face one routine inspection a year and complaint investigations like any other food facility. Permit fees would be set to recover the full cost of that work; health jurisdictions in the region charge between $347 and $673 a year.

The $225,000 estimate covers personnel and operating costs across the two years, including enforcement against unpermitted operations. The department says no other funding source is available and would ask the council for General Fund support. It proposes to staff the program by reassigning existing employees — half of a Management Analyst II position and a fifth of a Program Coordinator II position in the first year, with smaller shares in the second. Training staff and preparing application and technical assistance materials could take up to four months after any code change.

One limit the city would not control is where the kitchens operate. State law prohibits jurisdictions from imposing zoning restrictions, requiring rezoning or levying separate fees, so a permitted kitchen could open in any residential dwelling in the city, including rentals, apartments and condominiums. The pilot would sunset two years after launch, and staff would return before that date recommending the program be made permanent, extended, terminated or replaced with another approach.

The department points to statewide data compiled by the Cook Alliance, an advocacy group, in arguing the risk is manageable. According to that report, 97% of permitted operations have drawn no complaint unrelated to food concerns, and two foodborne illness complaints tied to the kitchens were reported between 2019 and 2024. The same report found 79% of operators are people of color and 70% are women.

The agenda report was submitted by Public Health Director Manuel Carmona, prepared by Division Manager Rachel Janbek and approved by Interim City Manager Matthew Hawkesworth.