The permit
What a MEHKO is
A Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) is a home kitchen that California lets a cook run as a small food business. The rules live in Chapter 11.6 of the California Retail Food Code, and each county decides whether to allow MEHKOs and then issues the permits. A MEHKO chef on Chefry cooks in their own home kitchen and sells directly to the people who eat the food.
What the permit requires
The California Department of Public Health publishes the permit requirements for a MEHKO. Chefry posts them word for word, not in its own words, so you can read exactly what the department asks of a home kitchen before it lists food here, or before you order.
Read the department's permit requirements word for word
The department's program page, with the current sales limit and its directory of county and city agencies: CDPH Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations.
Read the law itself: Health and Safety Code, Chapter 11.6 (MEHKO), section 113825 (definition and limits), section 114367.1 (certification) and section 114367.5 (delivery).
County guides: MEHKO in Los Angeles County and MEHKO in Long Beach. Official program pages: LA County Public Health and Long Beach Health Department.
Money
What Chefry charges
Listing on Chefry is free. When you order from a MEHKO on Chefry, every line you pay is one of these:
- The chef's own price for each dish, set by the chef.
- A 5% Chefry service fee on the food.
- Card processing, the card processor's 2.9% plus 30 cents on the total payment, shown as its own line before you pay.
- Sales tax on the taxable part of the order, at the rate for the chef's city.
- A tip, if you add one. Tips go to the chef in full.
- The chef's own delivery fee, if the chef delivers and you choose delivery.
Chefry charges no delivery fee of its own and uses no third-party delivery service. Every number, with worked examples, is on the fees page.
Insurance
What Chefry does and does not cover
Chefry does not carry liability insurance covering incidents arising from the sale or consumption of food listed on the platform. Chefry is a marketplace. Each chef is responsible for their own food and any coverage they choose to carry, and Chefry does not verify whether a chef carries it.
Complaints
Something wrong with your food?
If you got sick, found something in your food, or saw a hygiene problem, tell both Chefry and the health department that issued the chef's permit. They do different things: Chefry looks at the order and the chef's account, and the agency inspects the kitchen.
Tell Chefry
- Email support@chefry.io
- Call (844) 467-2712
- Use the support form and pick the category "Food safety or hygiene complaint". Name the chef or the order number so we can find it.
File with the local enforcement agency
A MEHKO chef's page shows the agency that issued their permit when they have added it. Contact that agency. If it is not shown, contact the environmental health department for the county or city where the kitchen is. In the areas Chefry operates in, that is one of these:
- Los Angeles County Environmental HealthUnincorporated LA County and most cities in the county
- (888) 700-9995
- Long Beach Health DepartmentThe City of Long Beach
- (562) 570-4132
- Pasadena Public Health DepartmentThe City of Pasadena
- (626) 744-6004
Numbers from the California Department of Public Health's Local Environmental Health Department Links (PDF), read on October 10, 2026. Anywhere else, that list has your county's line too.
How to file a complaint with the enforcement agency
The California Department of Public Health explains how a food complaint is filed and where each kind goes. A complaint about food served or sold by a permitted kitchen goes to the local environmental health agency that issued the permit. The department's Food and Drug Branch handles the rest and can be reached at (800) 495-3232.
Delivery
Who can deliver a MEHKO's food
State law says food from a MEHKO is delivered by the chef, an employee, or a member of the chef's household, and by nobody else. Third-party delivery services are not allowed. The one exception, in section 114367.5(b)(2), is a delivery to a person whose disability limits their ability to get the food without a third-party delivery service, and it comes with the record-keeping and the posted notice that section requires of the chef. Chefry keeps no courier arrangement of any kind: no delivery partner, no fleet and no delivery-app integration, for MEHKO orders or for that exception. You pick up, or the chef brings it.
For chefs
What a chef agrees to when listing as a MEHKO
Turning on the MEHKO badge is a statement to your customers that you hold a MEHKO permit. When you turn it on, you confirm that you do, and you agree to this:
- Chefry may report your name and permit number to the local enforcement agency after three or more unrelated food safety complaints in a calendar year, or whenever the agency asks.
- With that report, Chefry may share the list of customers who bought from you on the day in question, so the agency can reach them if it needs to.
- Your permit number and the agency that issued it, if you add them, are shown on your public page so a customer knows who to contact.
Chefry does not inspect kitchens or check permits. The badge is your word, and the agency's inspection is the only verification there is.
See also fees and terms of service.