Los Angeles County finalizes home kitchen ordinance, considers subsidies – Pasadena now

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to give final approval to an ordinance establishing a permitting process for home kitchen food businesses and will also vote on a grant program for eligible applicants.

If approved, the ordinance would only affect operations in unincorporated areas of the county, such as Altadena and the unincorporated portions of East Pasadena. pasadena, long beach and the City of Vernon are overseen by those cities' individual health departments.

“The Los Angeles County ordinance does not apply to Pasadena,” said Manuel Carmona with the Pasadena Department of Public Health. pasadena now. “The City of Pasadena does not have a similar ordinance, and the Pasadena Department of Public Health has not proposed a similar ordinance to the City.”

In 2019, the California Health and Safety Code was amended to allow “Micro Enterprise Home Kitchen Operations” (MEHKOs), allowing people to operate “mini-restaurants” and sell food prepared at home.

The Board of Supervisors on May 14 tentatively approved an ordinance regulating the business. Owners of such businesses must pay a $597 application fee and a $347 annual health permit fee, which covers the cost of annual inspections and enforcement actions. The ordinance also sets an annual gross sales cap of $100,000 and limits meal service to 30 meals per day or 90 meals per week.

The board on Tuesday is scheduled to consider a $600,000 grant program that would provide a one-time 100% subsidy for the initial $597 application fee to up to 1,000 eligible applicants. Eligibility would be limited to new MEHKO applicants with annual net revenues of less than $50,000.

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

Under the ordinance, MEHKO may also be approved to serve as a commissary for up to two food carts, or compact mobile food operations. In such cases, food in the kitchen will be limited to 80 meals per day and 200 meals per week. MEHKO, operated as a commissary, has total sales of $150,000.

Health officials said the ordinance is a joint effort between jurisdictions including Imperial, Riverside, San Diego, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and the COOK Alliance, an advocacy group that works to legalize and support home cooking businesses. It is said that it was formulated through consultation.

The ordinance will go into effect in November and is scheduled to go into effect from January next year.