Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation Program<\/a> (MEHKO), a state program that went into effect in 2019. According to Mission Local, Fielder requested a report from the Budget and Legislative Analyst on the potential costs and impacts of establishing the program in San Francisco, which is expected by mid-October.<\/p>\nLeila Ovando, director of food justice equity at Nuestra Causa, told Mission Local the legislation could help reduce the financial and regulatory hurdles faced by migrants, working-class entrepreneurs, and families trying to start small food businesses.<\/p>\n
Catherine Brinkley, a professor of human ecology at UC Davis, said street vendors can also contribute to broader economic development by bringing customers and activity to city streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudies have shown that street food vendors are economic amplifiers,\u201d Brinkley said, speaking to Mission Local. \u201cThey bring dollars in and they activate streets, making them safer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other Bay Area counties, including Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma, and Santa Cruz have reportedly already adopted MEHKO. Santa Cruz launched a pilot program in 2024, which required coordination among its health, building, and fire departments to conduct home kitchen inspections.<\/p>\n
Olga Zuniga, deputy director of environmental health for Santa Cruz County, told Mission Local\u00a0the program has been successful, and the department has recommended making it permanent.<\/p>\n
Contra Costa County\u2019s two-year MEHKO pilot program was also reportedly a success.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter two years, we had minimal issues come up,\u201d said Vanessa Cordier, an environmental health specialist with the county health department, speaking to Mission Local. \u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s a success because it gave people an opportunity to open up a business.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill will be assigned to a committee in 30 days, which will decide whether to send it to the full Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n
Related: SF Giants Cracking Down on Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog Carts Outside Oracle Park<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New legislation authored by SF Supervisor Jackie Fielder would make it easier for licensed businesses to sell food…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-473814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}