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Kehinde \u201cEmpress\u201d Koyejo\u00a0is the owner of\u00a0Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. in Emeryville, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Av\u00e9-Ameenah Long\/Keep It Diasporic Photography<\/p>\n
Kehinde Koyejo, known to most as Empress, has always loved cookies<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 especially her mother\u2019s home-baked ones. So when she found out she could no longer enjoy the treats she grew up eating without adverse health reactions, she took matters into her own hands. Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. is the culmination of that effort.\u00a0Koyejo has been selling her plant-based, gluten-free and grain-free treats at pop-ups and markets across the Bay Area for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n So when Koyejo signed a lease to open a live-work business in Emeryville<\/a> last year, it was a longtime dream come true. At the Emery, a new mixed-use apartment complex built on the site of a former Sherwin-Williams paint factory at 4510 Hubbard St., she could have it all: an apartment for her to live in with her 10-year-old daughter, plus a storefront for her cookie business.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt really was attractive to me because I wasn\u2019t at a point where I could actually take on an exorbitant amount of money a month to take care of my business, and then pay a separate rent for my living,\u201d she said. \u201cThe live-work was a sustainable model.\u201d<\/p>\n Emeryville is a hub for live-work spaces, with a history<\/a> of artists moving into old warehouse spaces to both live in and paint, sculpt, write and do other creative work. The Emery\u2019s other live-work spaces include a barber shop<\/a> and an eyewear<\/a> business. According to Koyejo, management at the building told her they were excited for someone to open selling cookies and coffee in the building (SFGATE reached out to the Emery for comment but did not hear back in time for publication). The city approved her business license, stating her intention to sell cookies, pre-packaged food, hot and cold drinks.<\/p>\n But then, shortly after she moved in, the unit flooded<\/a>. She moved into a different unit, this time on the ground floor, with a patio. On Aug. 4, 2025<\/a>, she opened Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. for business, selling her prepackaged cookies, bottled coffee from\u00a0Aftermath Coffee<\/a>, and clothing, welcoming the community to gather<\/a> in the wellness-focused space. At first, it was a success \u2014 her cookies, which had gained a loyal following over the years at pop-ups, quickly gained many new fans.<\/p>\n Kehinde \u201cEmpress\u201d Koyejo\u2019s live-work cookie business is located at 4310 Hubbard St. in Emeryville, Calif.<\/p>\n Image via Google Streetview<\/p>\n Then, the complaints began. On Oct. 14, Brooks Jessup, who runs a design business with his wife in a live-work unit next door to Koyejo\u2019s, called the police. In the police report, he alleged threats and harassment from the crowd at Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. He told the police officer that he felt the crowd was purposefully antagonizing him in response to his recent complaint to the building\u2019s management about noise from the business.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Soon after, Koyejo also received a visit from Alameda County\u2019s Environmental Health Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile on-site, they observed that Empress was selling cookies, wraps, and coffee,\u201d without the proper health permit, health department spokesperson Jerico De Guzman told SFGATE in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n The Environmental Health Department instructed her to apply for either a cottage food operation (CFO) or microenterprise home kitchen operation (MEHKO) permit, which both allow home-based cooks to sell small volumes of food while adhering to sanitation standards and avoiding high-risk ingredients.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Neither permit felt like a fit for her live-work business, Koyejo said. A MEHKO<\/a> limits sales to just 30 meals per day, and gross annual sales cannot exceed $50,000. It also prohibits signs. A CFO has similarly strict limitations<\/a> on sales, what can be sold and how it is packaged.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot run a successful business if I have those types of restrictions with sales and marketing,\u201d she said. \u201cThose are the biggest parts of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n Koyejo said that she didn\u2019t initially think she needed an Alameda County health permit because she made her cookies off-site at a commissary kitchen in San Francisco up until the end of 2025. However, in this case she would have needed two permits: one in Alameda County to sell cookies out of her Emeryville live-work unit, and another in San Francisco to manufacture the cookies there. According to government officials, she had neither.\u00a0<\/p>\n Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. is a gluten-free, plant-based cookie business in Emeryville, Calif.<\/p>\n Av\u00e9-Ameenah Long\/Keep It Diasporic Photography<\/p>\n The SF Department of Public Health told SFGATE that it did not have any record of a health permit for Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. A representative of SF commissary kitchen the Eclectic Cookery who declined to share their name confirmed that\u00a0Koyejo had operated there in association with another business. However, \u201ca\u00a0SFDPH permitted caterer must be in possession of its own business license and food permit and may not operate under another business\u2019s permit,\u201d SFDPH wrote in an emailed statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On Oct. 21<\/a>, Jessup, who also volunteers on the Emeryville Housing Committee, went before the\u00a0Emeryville City Council to urge it to reexamine the city\u2019s live-work program and what uses were permitted. He told the council, \u201cUsing these units for restaurants is inherently incompatible with using them for art. Restaurants tend to be boisterous and noisy and often spill out of the unit into the surrounding space. But artists need tranquility in which to ideate, design, and make their art. So, while I fully agree that we should try to activate our streetscapes, I don\u2019t believe this should come at the expense of our valued artist community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A week later, Jessup and three other neighbors filed a formal complaint with the city of Emeryville alleging numerous violations from Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co., namely that she was operating an illegal restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe concerns were shared across households and focused on disruptive outdoor activity, use of shared space, and noise levels that interfered with our ability to live and work in our homes, both on a daily basis and during large-scale popup events that often forced us to flee,\u201d Jessup told SFGATE via email.<\/p>\n Kehinde \u201cEmpress\u201d Koyejo sells cookies to a customer at\u00a0Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. in Emeryville, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n Av\u00e9-Ameenah Long\/Keep It Diasporic Photography<\/p>\n While Jessup wrote that complaining to the city was a last resort after making \u201cmany good faith efforts to resolve the situation,\u201d\u00a0Koyejo said that neither he nor the other complaining neighbors ever attempted to speak with her directly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The feud between the neighbors only continued to escalate. Koyejo filed for a civil harassment restraining order against Jessup, which Alameda County Superior Court denied at a hearing on March 25.\u00a0<\/p>\n Emeryville City Manager LaTanya Bellow said that under the city\u2019s regulations for live-work units, the grab-and-go cookie business that Koyejo originally applied for would have been allowed \u2014 assuming she was also adhering to Alameda County\u2019s health permit requirements. But \u201ceating and drinking establishments\u201d are explicitly not allowed in live-work units.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI guess it has expanded, according to her neighbors, within the unit to more of a social kind of event,\u201d Bellow said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Koyejo said that she has never prepared food in her space, and that accusations of her operating as a full-scale restaurant are untrue. \u201cI\u2019m here operating doing exactly what I said I was doing,\u201d she said. \u201cBut somehow, some way they keep on referring to me as a restaurant, which is not accurate. I am a cookie shop.\u201d<\/p>\n She mentioned hosting<\/a> a few food and drink pop-ups<\/a> in the space, but said, \u201cI am allowed to have pop-ups. However, a pop-up don\u2019t have anything to do with my business, my core business of what I\u2019m selling.\u201d<\/p>\n The exterior of\u00a0Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. in Emeryville, Calif., before owner Kehinde \u201cEmpress\u201d Koyejo was instructed to remove signage and outdoor seating.\u00a0<\/p>\n Image via Yelp user Sabrina S. <\/p>\n To complicate things further, hosting pop-ups would require yet another permit. Retail storefronts hosting food and drink pop-ups are required to have a host facility permit, which Bellow said\u00a0Choc\u2019late\u00a0Mama Cookie Co. does not have.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Following the neighbor\u2019s complaint, Koyejo was also told by the Emery to remove her outdoor seating, she said, despite building management initially allowing her to use the patio space for her cookie shop, according to an email she provided to SFGATE. The city also instructed her to remove her signage, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n With complaints persisting, and Koyejo still having not obtained a permit, the Alameda County Environmental Health Department issued her a notice of violation on Nov. 26 instructing her to stop selling food immediately. In a\u00a0Dec. 15 letter, the city of Emeryville gave her 10 days to come into full compliance by acquiring a valid health permit, removing outdoor furniture and business activity from outside the premises, and removing unapproved signage.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the start of the holiday season\u00a0\u2014 the busiest time of year\u00a0\u2014 Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. was forced to shut its doors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n According to Emeryville City Council Member Kalimah Priforce, what\u2019s happening with Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. is larger than one business owner.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bigger issue in Emeryville and the history of Emeryville, which is that Emeryville has sided with big businesses and corporations, and not with the small businesses that I believe are the heart and soul of Emeryville,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n FILE: Traffic passes through downtown\u00a0Emeryville, Calif.<\/p>\n MattGush\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n The city of Emeryville is changing, he said\u00a0\u2014 live-work units that were traditionally focused on visual artists are now expanding to include other forms of art, like food, and the city\u2019s code doesn\u2019t reflect that. Koyejo recently published a letter in the Emeryville Tattler<\/a> urging the city to update its regulatory frameworks to allow business models like hers to operate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe city is resistant to change the code because they feel that if they change the code for one person, then bats will start flying throughout the city, there\u2019ll be lava that\u2019ll be flowing,\u201d Priforce said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since enforcement actions by the city and county are largely complaint-based, Priforce also argues there\u2019s a racial bias against business owners like Koyejo, an Afro-Indigenous woman. He said that when speaking with the complaining neighbors, \u201cEvery time I narrowed it down to what the actual issue is, it\u2019s noise and it\u2019s the visibility of people coming in and out \u2026 I believe there is some sort of racial tinge to this that offends their senses.\u201d<\/p>\n In an email to SFGATE, Jessup said this was not the case.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tenants who raised concerns include individuals from diverse backgrounds, including minority and immigrant residents,\u201d Jessup wrote. \u201cThe concerns themselves were based on shared quality-of-life impacts\u00a0\u2014 not on the identity of the business owner.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Months later, Koyejo is making the best of her situation. She\u2019s expanded her business to a \u201ccommunity hub\u201d called Coco Mama Boutique<\/a>, where she hosts events. She also recently obtained her MEHKO permit, allowing her to resume cookie sales of \u201c30 meals per day or 60 individual meals per week<\/a>,\u201d according to the Health Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n But she still believes that the city and the county need to reexamine the regulations around live-work units, because there isn\u2019t a box that she fits into. Live-work units represent the future of small businesses, she said, and she finds it unfair that the onus was on her to navigate unclear rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in debt up to my ears,\u201d she said. \u201cI have had to run my business and my life off of my credit cards because the business plan that told me I would make my money, and the business that was making me money before the complaints, could no longer operate.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n She would leave the Emery if she could, but financially, she can\u2019t \u2014 she is now facing housing insecurity for herself and her daughter. She is currently raising money via GoFundMe<\/a> to support her housing and business, as well as for legal consultation. Recently, she shared that she is looking for investors<\/a> to help her acquire the long-vacant Hooper\u2019s Chocolates building<\/a> in Oakland.<\/p>\n Many community members do want to see Koyejo and her cookie business thrive, even speaking out in her support at City Council meetings. Charles Orlando, another resident of the Emery, praised Choc\u2019late Mama Cookie Co. in the Nov. 4 meeting<\/a> for providing a space for connection and for fostering \u201ca welcoming, personalized atmosphere.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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