County legalizing home kitchen eateries
Cooks must get permit from health department and will be subject to inspections, officials say
Alameda County residents will soon be able to legally prepare and sell home-cooked meals.
County supervisors Tuesday passed the first reading of an ordinance permitting such operations. The ordinance creates a process for cooks to get permits for what are known as microenterprise home kitchen operations, or MEHKOS, which were mostly illegal throughout California until a state law was passed in September 2018.
That legislation, Assembly Bill 626, allows counties to opt in and permit MEHKOs within their jurisdiction.
“Let’s not criminalize people anymore for cooking to survive,” said Lee Thomas, a former San Leandro City Council member who runs a home-based barbecue and grilling business and advocates for other home cooks through COOK Alliance, which has championed the legislation.
In an interview after the vote, Thomas said the economic fallout of COVID-19 has made the need for such an ordinance more urgent than ever. Many in the restaurant industry who are out of work have turned to cooking meals for others as a way to scrape by financially, he said.
“This is a COVID response. It’s going to take two years for the economy to rebuild, for people to recover,” Thomas said. “Many are looking at it like, I’m just trying to support my family.”
There also has been a demonstrated need and desire for small home food businesses, Thomas said. When the pandemic first hit, neighbors and clients turned to him for the smoked and grilled meats they couldn’t get at picked-over grocery stores or shuttered restaurants but that he sells through his barbecue and catering business, GrilleeQ.
Even as restrictions have lifted, he said some of his clients come to him because they don’t feel safe going to crowded downtowns and certain stores.
In addition to being a tool for some to make a living at a time when COVID-19 has ravaged economic conditions, some cooks say the permission to start a home food business can help them build careers in an industry where the startup costs for a restaurant can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The legalization of microenterprise home kitchens allows me to pursue my dream of opening a restaurant,” Berkeley resident Brian Farb said during the supervisors’ meeting.
Though there won’t be a cap on how many home kitchens can operate in the county, or what type of home they are allowed to operate in, the cooks will have to obtain a permit from the county health department, to the tune of a yearly $696 fee, and will be subject to inspections.
Each microbusiness will be limited to serving 30 meals per day or 60 meals per week, and each business cannot have more than $50,000 in verifiable gross annual sales.
The food must be prepared, cooked and served on the same day, and each business can have the equivalent of one full-time food employee, other than members of the household or family.
Alameda County follows Riverside and Santa Barbara counties and the city of Berkeley in passing similar ordinances to allow for the home food operations, and others are considering them.
Some who have worked with cooks in Riverside County told the supervisors during the meeting that it has been a smooth process.
Akshay Prabhu, founder of Foodnome, an online marketplace for home cooks to sell food, said there had been no food safety issues in Riverside County and few — if any — complaints about noise or traffic associated with the businesses.
“These cooks are trained food managers, taking utmost care in growing and presenting their business,” Prabhu said. “It’s really a great way to provide some regulation and guidelines for these vendors to make a meaningful income and do so safely.”
Supervisor Nate Miley expressed concern about how to ensure home cooks follow the rules of the permits, but health department officials said permits could be revoked for noncompliance and assured the board that the businesses will be subject to inspections and investigations of complaints, just as restaurants are.
The board voted unanimously Tuesday to pass the first reading of the ordinance, which will take effect if passed upon a second reading May 18.
“The restaurant industry has been hit incredibly hard during the pandemic, and providing a way for individuals to continue using their culinary skills to
support themselves by selling products made at home is needed now more than ever,” said Board of Supervisors President Keith Carson in a statement after the vote.
“Alameda County is proud to be one of the first counties to opt in to this law, which will remove barriers for budding entrepreneurs to start and grow a business in a way that is more affordable, and particularly for marginalized communities, provide greater opportunity to get their products into the marketplace,” he added.