Is California’s ‘Cottage Food’ Law a Fresh Take or a Fresh Hell?
AB 626 is marketed as a way to lift up home cooks. Critics say it’s ripe for exploitation
One year after moving to Riverside County, California, Chona Mejia was hunting for a new occupation. She had just returned to the U.S. from a four-year sojourn in her native Philippines. Her three kids had left home. Her husband had retired from the U.S. Navy. Then she saw a news story about AB 626, a new law that would let her cook food in her own kitchen to sell it to strangers. “I immediately went to Riverside County and inquired about how this thing was going to happen,” she said. “I was ready to go!”
She was lucky: Even though AB 626 took effect in January 2019, Riverside County is the first and only county in California to issue licenses for “microenterprise home kitchen operations.” Supporters of the bill have made the case that AB 626 will legitimize the cooks who have long supplied immigrant communities with dumplings, lumpia, and tamales, sometimes called the “informal economy.” Critics, meanwhile, argued that tech companies would co-opt AB 626 to profit off these hard-working cooks.
As other California counties decide whether to follow Riverside County’s example, Mejia’s home restaurant, The Golden Spoon, and her 26 fellow…
