If you’ve ever bought tamales from a friend of a friend, or paid for someone to meal prep a week’s worth of healthy dinners, chances are you were supporting a microenterprise home kitchen and didn’t even know it.
These informal food operations have been thriving through word of mouth for decades, and social media has only helped entrepreneurs spread the word about their homemade businesses.
Multiple counties and cities across California have begun legally recognizing these businesses by granting them licenses and permits, and Long Beach is studying the possibility of doing the same.
Local food advocacy organization Long Beach Fresh has been pushing since 2019 for Long Beach to join the movement and create a legal pathway for these in-home food shops, otherwise known as Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKO).
This falls in line with the work LB Fresh has been doing for years, as the nonprofit is largely focused on helping communities gain access to fresh food options through self-reliant means.
“We want to see a diverse and representative local food system where there’s a lot of innovation and more representation of diverse cultures and culinary styles,” said Tony Damico, co-director of Long Beach Fresh. “Even businesses that can cater to small audiences for people who have very specific dietary constraints. So the benefits are plentiful.”
What is a MEHKO?
Currently, Long Beach residents are allowed to sell certain items like bread, baked goods or candies out of their home, at farmers markets or even through a restaurant. These are known as Cottage Food Operations, where people can sell shelf-stable items that they make at home (with a permit).
California passed the Homemade Food Act to allow these operations in 2013, and Long Beach has seen several successful sellers come from this, such as Long Beach’s Hey Brother Baker.
A MEHKO permit broadens the types of foods someone can sell from their home to perishable items that include dairy products, such as tamales, soups, meats and veggies. California created the framework for these permits by passing Assembly Bill 626 in 2018, and in 2019 cities were allowed to opt into MEHKO permit programs.
Suddenly, many of these cities became acquainted with the COOK Alliance, an organization aimed at helping governments and health departments pave the way for their MEHKO programs. COOK Alliance has been helping microenterprise kitchen owners since before there was a legal framework or even a name for them, and the organization was integral in the passage of AB 626.
“As you can imagine there was a lot of skepticism, but our organization worked really hard to get public health on board,” said Lauren Wolfer, outreach and advocacy director with COOK Alliance.
Since 2019, over a dozen counties have opted in, including Riverside, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Solano, Imperial, Lake, Sierra and most recently, Los Angeles. Since Long Beach has its own health department, they are not included in LA County’s MEHKO program set to begin in November.
Long Beach doesn’t have to participate in the MEHKO program, unlike the street vendor bills that California passed in 2019, which required counties and cities to create laws and regulations for street vending.
“I think people have been asking for this in Long Beach since it was enacted, and we’ve had it for five years now and it’s been a really successful program,” Wolfer said. “It’s kind of like, ‘Okay, we get you didn’t want to go first, but others have gone first and it’s going really well.’”
AB 626 already comes with regulations surrounding MEHKOs, such as:
- Businesses can only have one full-time equivalent employee, not including family members or household members.
- Operators need a Certified Food Protection Manager certificate.
- Anyone involved in the business must have a Food Handler Card Certificate.
- Food needs to be prepared, cooked and served or delivered on the same day it is made.
- Businesses can sell no more than 30 meals per day or 90 meals per week, with a total revenue of $100,000 annually.
- Reselling food to other facilities is not allowed.
- Businesses may not use third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats, except as provided in the California Health & Safety Code.
- Businesses may not serve alcohol or food that contains alcohol without an appropriate license.
- Businesses are not authorized to run a catering business.
Why The Push For MEHKOs?
Long Beach Fresh has been advocating for a local MEHKO program since 2019, and recently created the Home Cook Coalition in August to educate the public and garner support.
Since the creation of the coalition, they’ve had multiple meetings and have drafted a letter to the City Council and Mayor Rex Richardson urging them to consider the benefits of a MEHKO program.
“We knew it was something that would work really well in Long Beach,” Damico said. “We knew it would take a little continued effort because it’s state policy that counties and cities can opt into.”
Benefits listed in the letter include creating fresher food options within neighborhoods, removing the expensive need for a commercial kitchen, increasing economic opportunity for residents, and providing regulations for an otherwise unregulated food economy.
AB 626 also benefits street vendors by allowing them to store their carts at home if they have a MEHKO permit. With a MEHKO permit, someone’s home is considered a commissary, so they don’t need to rent a separate spot for their vendor carts.
Wolfer said another benefit is that MEHKOs can provide a neighborhood with culturally specific foods where there may not be a large market or availability. This can be especially true for people who immigrate to the city and miss certain home foods.
“We see particularly in counties that have any type of a policy mandate when it comes to racial equity or social equity that addresses economic development … can also see the value in this,” Wolfer said.
She added that in her experience, cities that show interest in small business and economic development tend to be more open to MEHKO programs. Long Beach has cited small business development as a main focus of its Grow Long Beach economic plan for the next 30 years as it transitions away from oil revenue.
“There’s so many different kinds of ways you can approach this since there’s a lot of different benefits,” Wolfer said. “We have people that are small business focused, we have people that are environmentally focused who are looking at this like enhancing local food structure, we have some immigrants rights groups.”
Organizations that have formally supported the program so far include the Downtown Long Beach Alliance, Harbor Area Farmers Market, Feel Good Salsa Kitchen, The MAYE Center, Axiom Kitchen, Gusto Bread, Long Beach Forward, Partake Collective and COOK Alliance.
Where Does Long Beach Stand With MEHKOs?
Using a grant received in August, Long Beach has begun studying the possibility of opting into the program, and is looking into what the local impacts may be. According to Jennifer Rice Epstein, a spokesperson from the Health Department, the study is in its initial developmental phase.
“Following the model recently passed by Los Angeles County, Long Beach is planning to actively engage stakeholders to assess the feasibility and potential impact of such a program,” Epstein said in an email to the Signal Tribune.
The City was unable to provide a timeline of when the program might begin, and Epstein said it “depends on the outcome of the study.” In order for the MEHKO program to launch, Long Beach City Council would need to give its approval.
However, a few programs might incentivize the City to speed up the process — at least that’s what local organizations are pulling for. COOK Alliance currently has $1.5 million in funding to support residents in cities where MEHKOs are permitted through a free eight-week course, with a $3,000 grant for people who finish the course.
The California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health is another agency that has $20,000 grants available for cities that need help starting and implementing a MEHKO program. Long Beach received $88,598 in this funding for its current feasibility study, but other funding is available to offset permit fees, develop the program, conduct public outreach and to help with code enforcement.
“From my perspective, I think this is long past due and I think there’s so much political will for this when you see how long the community has been asking for it,” Wolfer said. “It’s just a question of the city council just taking this action and just doing what’s right for the community. I feel like we’re so close, we just need them to push this forward finally.”