MEHKO tracker — California
Status: Opted in — permits are (or are becoming) available. Ordinance adopted May 14, 2024; permitting live since Nov. 1, 2024. $597 application/review fee (annual inspection/permit fee $347 also reported); 30 meals/day, 90 meals/week. Covers unincorporated areas plus 85 cities — Long Beach, Pasadena and Vernon have their own health departments and are not covered by the county program.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Program status | opted-in — ordinance 2024-05-14 |
| Permit / review fee | $597 |
| Meal caps | 30 meals/day, 90/week (statutory MEHKO limits) |
| Sales cap | $110,442 |
Hot meals cooked to order, a small number of diners eating at your home, and a real restaurant menu — under a county permit and a home inspection. What it does not allow: third-party delivery-app sales (the statute keeps delivery in your own hands) and catering-scale volume.
Don't read the table — run your verdict. Pick California + your county to see the MEHKO line inside your verdict.
← The full MEHKO county tracker · California home-food page
Included in the $49 Opening Pack: the filled templates, trackers, calendars and worksheets for this door — built from the same dated datasets as the free checker above.
Sources: California Department of Public Health MEHKO materials + Los Angeles County environmental health program. Dataset checked October 23, 2026. Where a fee or rule is set by a county or city, this page says so instead of guessing a number.