Microenterprise Home Kitchens (MEHKO)

Authorizing Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKOs) in San Diego County opens the door for small business owners to enter the food economy without the high risk of starting a formal catering business or restaurant.

A MEHKO permitting program in San Diego County would enable our region’s home cooks—many of whom are women, immigrants, and people of color who have long supplemented their communities’ access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food—to operate dignified, legal, and profitable micro-enterprises, which contributes to a more just and inclusive food system.

What are Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKOs)?

A Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (abbreviated "MEHKO") is a proposed permit category for a food facility that is operated by a resident in a private home.

Background

In San Diego County, there is currently no regulatory framework in place for selling food made in home kitchens, outside of Cottage Food Law, which permits sales of only non-perishable items such as baked goods, potato chips, and preserves.

That’s why AB-626 (the “Homemade Food Operations Act”) and its cleanup bill AB-377 are gaining support from the home cook world. So far, Riverside, Imperial, Lake, Santa Barbara, Alameda, and Solano Counties, as well as the City of Berkeley, have “opted in” to AB-626/377 and are issuing permits.

If implemented in San Diego County, AB-626/377 will help protect and legitimize the microenterprises of home cooks, by establishing “MEHKOs”— Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations—a proposed permit category for a food facility that is operated by a resident in a private home.

AB-626/377 opens the door for home cooks to enter the food economy without the high risk of starting a formal catering business or restaurant. Home cooks have long supplemented their communities’ access to nutritious, culturally appropriate foods.

Enabling individuals to conduct dignified, legal, and profitable business as food micro-entrepreneurs, and to not be criminalized for these activities, contributes to a more just and inclusive food system.

COVID-19

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MEHKOs initiative allows individuals and families the chance to provide food to their communities through microentrepreneurship. Since unemployment has been running high due to the pandemic, people are struggling to find stable income, and government support is often not enough to get by. MEHKOs are a way for people to be proactive in gaining financial independence, while also supporting the economy in a socially distant world. Giving people the chance to serve food from their home would benefit struggling communities and secure health and safety standards during the pandemic.