How to Start a Home Restaurant in LA County: MEHKO Permit Guide

Los Angeles has hundreds of great cooks who will never sign a commercial lease. For them, the most important food-business rule in the county is a permit most diners have still never heard of: the Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation, or MEHKO. It lets a resident run a small, licensed restaurant out of their own home kitchen. The program is two years old in LA County, it is about to get its first dedicated restaurant week, and a fee break for new applicants runs out at the end of the year. Here is how it works and what to know before you apply.

A restaurant week for home kitchens

From Nov. 9 to 15, more than 70 licensed home kitchens from Lancaster to Lomita are taking part in the first LA MEHKO Week, LAist reported. Each participant will be open at least two days that week with a special item or discount, and diners can find them on a map at mehkoweek.com. The event kicks off Nov. 7 at the Earvin "Magic" Johnson Recreation Area in South LA.

The week was organized by the COOK Alliance, which promotes home cooking businesses, together with Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell's office, the county Department of Public Health and the Department of Economic Opportunity. The reason is marketing. MEHKO rules bar operators from putting signs outside their homes, and in a statewide COOK Alliance survey cited by LAist, 79% of operators said finding customers was their biggest challenge, ahead of permit costs and taxes.

The lesson for would-be operators: you will need a plan to be found, whether that is social media, reservations, neighborhood word of mouth or walking menus into local offices.

What a MEHKO permit allows

A MEHKO is a food facility run by a resident out of their own private home kitchen, permitted by the county health department. Some operators host dine-in meals, others do pickup or delivery only, and many open just a few days a week or a few times a month.

The permit is tied to you, your address and your approved menu. According to the county's MEHKO FAQ, permits are not transferable to another person or location. If you move, or change your menu or equipment, you must contact Environmental Health within 20 days and may need a new standard operating procedures document, a new application or another home evaluation. While open, you must display the permit or a legible copy where customers are served or pick up food, and customers can look up permit status on the county's inspection results site.

Where the county program applies

The LA County program covers most of the county, but not every city. Long Beach and Vernon run their own health departments and oversee MEHKOs themselves; Long Beach launched its program this fall, per LAist. Pasadena, which also has its own health department, was still weighing a program. If you live in one of those three cities, check with that city before you do anything else.

The paperwork

The county's MEHKO page and startup checklist lay out the application packet:

• A completed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) form describing how you will store, prepare and serve food.
• Your menu.
• A Certified Food Protection Manager certificate for the operator, earned by passing an accredited food safety exam.
• Food handler cards for any employees or household members who help prepare, store or serve food.
• Well-water test results, only if your home uses well water.
• The public health permit application and payment for the initial review.

The county says it reviews applications within 20 business days of receipt, and you may submit missing documents within three months of applying. But your home cannot be scheduled for an evaluation or receive a permit until everything is in. Applications can be submitted by secured email (contact the county's home-based food program at 626-430-9855 or homebasedfoods@ph.lacounty.gov) or in person at 5050 Commerce Drive in Baldwin Park.

What it costs, and the deadline to watch

Per the county's application form, the fees are:

• $597 for the one-time initial application review and first home kitchen evaluation.
• $347 for the public health permit itself, invoiced only after your kitchen is approved and due within 30 days. Do not pay it before you receive the invoice.
• $167 per hour for a site evaluation if you change your menu or equipment after approval.

The money-saver is a one-time county subsidy that waives the $597 review fee for up to 1,000 permittees, first come, first served. It is available through Dec. 31, 2026, or until funds run out. To qualify, your operation must be outside Pasadena, Long Beach and Vernon, your annual net revenue (earnings after expenses) must be under $50,000, and you cannot have held a county MEHKO permit or received the subsidy before. Requesting the subsidy does not guarantee a permit.

If you have been thinking about a home restaurant, that end-of-year window is the practical reason to get your food manager exam done and your packet in now.

One more thing

The health permit is not the only box to check: think through business tax registration, insurance and your lease terms before launch. Then remember the lesson of MEHKO Week. The county built a legal path for home cooks two years ago. The operators who make it work are the ones who treat getting found as part of the recipe.