SAN FRANCISCO — If you can cook, San Francisco is about to let you run a restaurant out of your own kitchen. Legally.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to let San Franciscans sell home-cooked food. It took less than two minutes. Nobody argued.
Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who represents District 9, introduced the legislation in September. “This legislation will help break down barriers for aspiring food entrepreneurs,” Supervisor Fielder said. Mayor Daniel Lurie backed it as a path for homegrown businesses to get started in the city.
How it works
A permitted cook can make food at home and sell it there, or from a pushcart, wagon or pedal cart. The limits:
From a home kitchen: up to 90 meals a week and $100,000 a year in sales.
From a pushcart or wagon: up to 200 meals a week and $200,000 a year in sales.
The permit costs $828. Applicants have to pass a Department of Public Health inspection and a food safety manager exam, and explain how they store food and keep the kitchen clean. The permit is renewed every year with a new inspection.
The city has not set a start date yet.
Who it’s for
The plate lady. The man with the smoker in the driveway. The auntie whose peach cobbler sells out at church. A city report found that in nearby counties with the same program, most of the people using it are people of color, women and immigrants, and complaints have been few.
Street vendors asked for this. In March the city told them to cook out of certified commissary kitchens, and vendors said they could not afford it. This is the cheaper door.
We will report the start date and how to apply as soon as the city announces them.
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