Can You Sell Food From Your Home in California? Cottage Food, a Home Kitchen Permit, or Neither

CDPH’s own page says the department “does not permit or register Cottage Food Operations”; registration or a permit comes from the local environmental health department¹. A Class A operation sells directly to the consumer, and a direct sale “may be fulfilled in person, via mail delivery, or using any other third-party delivery service”¹. It registers with a self-certification checklist and under the Retail Food Code “shall not be subject to initial or routine inspections”³. A Class B operation may also sell indirectly “through restaurants and food markets”, must hold a permit before opening, and receives it after an initial inspection; after that it is “not subject to more than one inspection per year”¹³. Both are renewed annually, both require a cottage food operator training within three months of registration or permitting, and a registration or permit from one county is “sufficient for a cottage food operation to operate throughout the state”¹⁴.

What counts as a cottage food. The approved list, last reviewed April 2026, has ten categories: baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings; candy and confections; extracts of at least 70 proof; dried, dehydrated and freeze-dried foods; frostings and icings without eggs, cream or cream cheese; honey and sorghum syrups; fruit butters, preserves and jams; nuts and nut butters; powdered beverage bases; and vinegars and mustards⁸. Pies appear as “fruit only, no pumpkin” and tamales as “fruit only”⁸. The item-by-item version is on the approved list page. A food outside the ten categories can be put to CDPH on a request form, CDPH 8764¹; until it is added, it is not a cottage food.

The caps. CDPH’s adjustment table puts the gross annual sales limits at $88,878 for Class A and $177,756 for Class B from January 1, 2026; the web page on the same site still prints $75,000 and $150,000, the 2022 base¹⁹. The Class A and Class B page works through the difference.

The fee. Each county sets its own. A Class A registration is $31 on Plumas County’s April 2026 UC Cooperative Extension sheet and $306 on Sacramento County’s page, which gives no schedule date; a Class B permit is $99 on the Plumas sheet and $528 on Sacramento’s page¹⁰¹¹. The county table, with renewals and the date on each schedule, is on the cottage food cost page. Riverside, Santa Clara, Fresno, Kern and Marin counties are not in that comparison; their fees were not read.

Two county pages describe Class B indirect sales as limited to their own county; Los Angeles County’s says “within Los Angeles County”¹², and Plumas County’s sheet describes product displayed in other businesses within Plumas County¹⁰. The state’s fact sheet says “throughout the state”⁴. The Class A and Class B page sets the two side by side.

A MEHKO is, in the code’s words as CDPH prints them, a food facility “operated by a resident in a private home where food is stored, handled, and prepared for, and may be served to consumers”⁵. It was created by Assembly Bill 626, signed September 18, 2018, and the law took effect January 1, 2019². It is the route for cooked meals, which the cottage food list excludes: San Diego County’s FAQ says a MEHKO “is able to prepare and serve potentially hazardous foods” and can offer on-site dining, pick-up or delivery, while a cottage food operation is limited to prepackaged, non-potentially hazardous foods on the approved list⁶.

It exists only where a county or city says so. The law gives a city or county “full discretion” to authorize MEHKOs, and “until a county or a city authorizes these types of operations, MEHKOs will not be able to be issued a health permit to operate”². CDPH links a PDF of environmental health agency websites but states no authorization status for any of them, and tells readers to contact their local environmental health agency²¹⁴. San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors has authorized a permanent program countywide⁶; Los Angeles County runs a program under its own ordinance and reported 100 permits issued by May 1, 2025⁷. The county-by-county list, with the date on each source, is on the MEHKO page.

What the permit requires, per CDPH. A permit application to the local environmental health agency; an inspection of the facilities; an approved food manager certification; sales directly between the MEHKO and the customer; food prepared, cooked and served the same day⁵. San Diego County adds that the MEHKO must be in the operator’s primary residence, that second homes, vacation homes and motor homes do not qualify, that a cottage food operation and a MEHKO cannot be run in the same residence, and that a MEHKO may have one full-time-equivalent employee who is not a household or family member⁶.

Sources disagree CDPH’s “General Permit Requirements for MEHKOs” page says “Only 30 meals per day, or a total of 60 meals per week is allowed” and sets gross annual sales limits of $50,000⁵. San Diego County’s FAQ, revised October 14, 2026, says preparation is limited to 30 meals per day or 90 per week and gross annual sales of $100,000 as adjusted annually for inflation⁶, and Los Angeles County’s May 1, 2025 release says 30 a day, 90 a week and $100,000 without mentioning the adjustment⁷. CDPH’s own adjustment table shows the reset to $100,000 on July 21, 2023 under Assembly Bill 1325 and $110,442 from January 1, 2026¹³. The two counties agree on the meal counts, and the department’s table agrees on the $100,000 base. The county that issues the permit states the limit that applies to it, so that is the figure to plan around.

The fee. Los Angeles County’s May 1, 2025 release gives a $597 application review fee and describes a one-time county subsidy waiving it for up to 1,000 operators⁷. The county’s pages disagree on the waiver’s end date; the MEHKO page sets out both. San Diego County’s FAQ says an initial health permit fee is paid with the application and an annual permit fee each year after, and points to its fee schedule without printing a figure⁶.

Some foods fit neither route, and the sources state this in few words.

• Catering. CDPH’s page says a MEHKO “does not include” a catering operation as defined in Health and Safety Code section 113739.1, or a cottage food operation as defined in section 113758; San Diego County’s FAQ repeats both exclusions⁵⁶. CDPH’s pages and San Diego County’s FAQ describe no home route for catering and say nothing more about it.
• Baked goods with cream, custard or meat fillings. The first approved category is baked goods “without cream, custard, or meat fillings”⁸. In a county that has authorized MEHKOs, a cooked meal that includes such food is a MEHKO question, not a cottage food one⁶.
• Pickled vegetables. The word “pickle” does not appear on the approved list; the preserves category covers fruit butters, preserves, jams and jellies, and states “additional fruits or vegetables will not be approved”⁸.
• Any food not on the list. Not a cottage food until CDPH adds it¹⁸.

For cottage food only, Government Code section 51035 says a city or county “shall not prohibit a cottage food operation” in a residence, but lets the local government require a permit to use the residence under reasonable standards on spacing, traffic, parking and noise, or treat the operation as a permitted residential use; on request it must give a list of the permits and fees required¹⁵. In San Diego County’s Class B packet, an applicant in an incorporated city needs a city business license whose address “must match your primary residence”, and an applicant in an unincorporated area needs a Planning and Development Services stamp approving the use of the home¹⁶. For a MEHKO, the same county’s FAQ says a person “must check their lease agreement” for restrictions on a home business and advises checking with an HOA before applying⁶.

Those steps are covered on home occupation permits in California, business licenses for a home business, running a business from a rented home and HOA rules and the home business.

CDTFA’s home-based business guide says sales of hot food are generally taxable and sales of cold food to go are not, but that tax does apply to hot or cold food sold to be eaten on the business premises, at tables, chairs or counters, or at an event where admission is charged¹⁷. For home bakeries, it says baked goods such as bread, cookies and cakes are generally not taxable when sold to go or for resale, and are taxable when sold for consumption at the home-based business location, with a cake tasting fee as its example¹⁷. A seller’s permit is free¹⁸; who needs one is on the seller’s permit page. CDTFA’s guide does not address how these food rules apply to a MEHKO’s meals.