Supervisors Take First Step In Allowing Home Kitchen Businesses

Speaker 1: 00:00 Micro enterprise home kitchen operations or Mykonos is a concept that will allow people to legally sell food from their home kitchens here in San Diego county, the plan was passed by the state in 2018, and permits are granted on a county by county basis. San Diego county supervisors, Nora Vargas, and Joel Anderson proposed permitting home kitchens in the county. And yesterday the plan received a three to oh, vote by the San Diego county board of supervisors to start the process joining me as supervisor Nora Vargas and an owner of a local home kitchen. Diana top piece. Welcome to you Speaker 2: 00:35 Both. Thank you. Happy to be here. Hello. Speaker 3: 00:38 Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me Speaker 1: 00:41 Indeed. So supervisor Vargas, I'll start with you. Why did you and supervisor Anderson decide to bring this proposal to the board? Speaker 2: 00:49 Well, I was thrilled to be able to introduce this four letter a with supervisor Anderson because of what these micro enterprise home kitchens do for our community. Really, it allows entrepreneurs to lunch, you know, lunch, their home enterprise, uh, by reducing overhead and some of the barriers that if people's people from starting a business. And so, you know, I think it's really important right now, uh, that, you know, we, we have opportunities for our pandemics. Um, these folks really represent an informal food economy that have been present in our communities for years, but they really bloomed, uh, during the pandemic. And so now we want them to come out and make sure that they're illegal and that they're able to have these home-based businesses that really create a more inclusive and equitable food economy. Speaker 1: 01:35 What are some of the benefits of this proposal being approved now? Speaker 2: 01:39 So first and foremost, we're directing the chief administrative officer to come back to the board within 120 days to create an ordinance to authorize these kitchens, uh, to be, uh, available, right. It also, uh, is going to provide an opportunity to do outreach and, and receive input from community stakeholders. Um, and it also is going to create an opportunity for educational programs on how to operate one of these micro enterprises. And so, you know, one of the biggest issues right now is that there's a cost significant barrier for someone who started off in the food industry, right? It has to, you have to pay about $400,000 is about the average startup for a cost of a brick and mortar restaurant. And if you want to get a food truck, arranges is around $30,000 and annual rent for our commercial kitchen is about $45,000. And so what this does, it allows, um, our community members to do this from the comfort of their home. Speaker 2: 02:33 And to be able to ensure that they're providing, um, safe and healthy and delicious food, uh, for our communities. What's really important to emphasize too, is that we need to lift up these non-traditional food intrepreneurs, uh, because usually there are women immigrants, people of color, uh, people who have historically faced barriers. And the fact that they're breaking these barriers to become into burners in their own, right, uh, I think is this is what the, what we want for our communities as we think about economic prosperity and opportunity. So I'm excited about this initiative and I'm excited that, uh, both supervisor understood and I were able to introduce it and I'm looking forward to the benefits that it will bring to our committee. Speaker 1: 03:14 And Diana, what are your thoughts on this proposal and how will this impact you personally, Speaker 3: 03:19 His proposal couldn't come at a better time. It absolutely needed in our communities in San Diego. A lot of people thrive during the pandemic, through selling food in their home. Personally, I didn't even know, um, my food was definitely a needed community. Um, and through the pandemic, not only did the, is it proving that a lot of people are doing it out there? It's we need this ordinance in order for us to come out and legally be able to, to do this without being afraid of anybody knocking on our door without being afraid, anybody coming and taking our equipment from the health department, it gives us comfortability that we're doing the right thing, serving safe food and following city guidelines. Speaker 1: 04:05 Do you anticipate it increasing the amount of business you get? Yes, Speaker 3: 04:09 Absolutely. We've worked in a commercial kitchen before and in the commercial kitchen, we were selling a lot of food. Uh, we know definitely that working from home, isn't going to work for us for a long time, but right now immediately, it lets us open our doors again and feed our customers Speaker 1: 04:27 And supervisor Vargas. What are the steps to start a Mikko? Well, Speaker 2: 04:30 Right now what we're doing is we're making sure, uh, that folks are able to have, uh, the, the licenses from the county. And so, although this information will be available once the ordinance is actually, uh, brought back to our county staff, we're really looking into all of the details at this time, but you know, what's really important to note is that there's about 60 or so meals that you can do a week, right? Um, about 10 a day. So, um, it'll really provide folks with an opportunity, uh, to be able to provide, you know, any type of food or, or dessert or party snacks for their friends and their neighbors without, uh, you know, being faced with any challenges Speaker 1: 05:13 And Diana, you know, people have been long selling food out of their home kitchens. Why will you, and why do you think others should go through the process of getting this permit? Speaker 3: 05:23 Most importantly, food safety, the city has it as a guideline for a reason. And I believe that everybody should follow these guidelines and get these permits. Not only to be able to function as a legal business, but also to learn the fundamentals of food safety. Had we not gone ourselves through all the certain safety certifications, we would have never learned the depth of that. It takes to keep food safe, uh, by city ordinance and by state law, Speaker 1: 05:51 The supervisor Vargas, or how many counties in California have authorized these Migos. My Speaker 2: 05:56 Understanding is that there Speaker 1: 05:57 Are at least two that have already authorized it in Riverside and San Bernardino and have been very successful. And so, uh, of course it's a state law and, and it's up to us as counties to make sure that we're implementing it. And like I stated, we're working closely with our local, uh, councils city councils to make sure that, that, uh, we're partners as we are developing the ordinance. And I'm happy to say that some of the, particularly the cities in south county have already expressed interest in being partners in this process. And quick question too, once someone has one of these licensed home kitchens, is there a process for how they will be monitored going forward? Speaker 2: 06:36 Well, that's the beauty of this ordinance that we're creating and the, uh, the CAO is coming back to us in 120 days to the board to really share with us what this is going to look like. And I am going to be looking at things like food safety, uh, permit, education, outreach, and education for me is really important because sometimes when people don't even know that it exists, I want to make sure that it's in language, right, so that we can have it in the different languages so that people can have access to it. And then I want to make sure that it's not too costly for folks to be able to have these permits and make it accessible to everyone. So, you know, we're, we're looking forward to hearing back from our CAO and we're happy to come back and share all those details. Once we officially have the ordinance in place, Speaker 1: 07:17 I've been speaking with San Diego county supervisor, Nora Vargas, and an owner of a local home kitchen Dianna top piece. Thank you both for joining Speaker 2: 07:25 Us. Thank you for having us. Thank you very much. Speaker 3: 07:28 My pleasure. Thank you for everything. Speaker 4: 07:38 [inaudible].