In a split-vote decision, and following multiple public comments from both sides, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an ordinance allowing county residents to cook and sell meals from their home kitchens.
The new ordinance allows micro-enterprise home kitchen operations as a new category of retail food facilities that the Environmental Health Services would issue permits for in all areas of the county.
“This may be like the minor leagues of a future restaurant industry, and an opportunity to test ideas and develop skills,” Second District Supervisor Gregg Hart said.
The micro-enterprise home kitchens would expand home-based business opportunities, particularly for those who may lack access to capital or face other barriers to enter into the formal economy, according to Lars Seifert, director of Environmental Health Services.
To qualify for the permits, the commercial home kitchens may not have more than one full-time employee from outside the household and food must be prepared, served and cooked on the same day, Seifert said. The kitchens would be permitted to prepare no more than 30 meals per day and no more than 60 meals per week.
The operators cannot sell more than $50,000 of food each year and must keep records of their sales, Seifert said. Catering and resale are not allowed for the home meals, and third-party delivery services would not be allowed to deliver home-kitchen meals, he added.
The home kitchens are subject to an annual health permit from Environmental Health Services. An initial plan review and inspection of the kitchen are required to ensure that the kitchen can operate safely and in compliance with the law, Seifert said.
The annual health permit costs $391 in order to recover the full anticipated cost of Environmental Health Services oversight and time needed to implement the program. The plan review process requires a $255 application fee plus hourly plan review services at the rate of $161 per hour.
Seifert said Environmental Health Services has the capacity to enforce and regulate the micro-enterprise home kitchens.
The idea of allowing micro-enterprise home kitchen operations received pushback, primarily from North County residents. The board previously delayed a decision on the ordinance in March after hearing multiple concerns from the Santa Maria community.
Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino called in to urge the board not to approve the ordinance, warning of the impact it could have on sewer blockages if operators don’t dispose of grease and fats properly.
Patino also said she fears that code enforcement responsibilities will fall on the cities instead of the county, adding that the Public Health Department has not responded to complaints in Santa Maria “numerous times.”
Xenia Bradford, Solvang’s city manager, shared Patino’s concern, saying that “enforcement would be almost impossible and regulation is unnecessary.” Solvang City Councilman Mark Infanti said the operations will cost the city money, but the city will get no revenue in return.
“Everything involved with this micro-enterprise home kitchen operation is going to cost my city money in order to support it, and we are going to get no reimbursement for it at all,” Infanti said.
North County Supervisors Steve Lavagnino and Bob Nelson, who both voted against the operations, agreed that enforcement seems virtually impossible.
“If we’re not going to provide the money for enforcement, I just think that this is a hope and a prayer,” Lavagnino said. “If we are the ones in charge of food safety and we know this activity is going on, this is a place we need to step up.”
Terri Strickland of the Reopening Central Coast Business Coalition said that micro-enterprise home kitchens in residential neighborhoods raise many other issues, including trash, parking, noise, wastewater, septic sizing and insurance issues.
A handful of other people called in to support the operations, though most were out-of-town activists. One person described the home kitchens as a lifeline, particularly for communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Some told stories about how the income from micro-enterprise home kitchens has allowed community members to make their rent or get their first haircut in six months.
Others said the operations provide an opportunity for those who wouldn’t normally have the capital to start restaurants and follow their dreams, and talked about how these operations have succeeded in Riverside and Imperial counties without food-borne illnesses or complaints.
Ultimately, the board approved the ordinance with a 3-2 vote, and the micro-enterprise home kitchen program will begin 30 days after the approval.
“I think the opportunity was the idea behind (this), it was designed to create new avenues of income, particularly for people who need them the most,” Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann said. “We talk a lot about equity, and here’s an opportunity for us to really walk the talk.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
