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Committee accepts DPH amendments to compact mobile food operations ordinance, vendors press for MECO legalization and support
Summary
The committee took amendments from the Department of Public Health to waive city permit and license fees for compact mobile food operations and continued the ordinance for a second hearing; Mission District vendors urged simultaneous implementation of Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MECO) legalization and funding for carts, commissaries and spaces before enforcement.
The Budget and Finance Committee accepted technical and substantive amendments to an ordinance that would align San Francisco code with state law on compact mobile food operations (CMFOs), then continued the item to a second hearing to finalize changes.
DPH senior inspector Phillips Ozai and acting branch director Jennifer Kallower outlined the ordinance’s three CMFO risk categories (low, moderate, high) and proposed committee amendments to waive municipal permit and license fees for CMFOs. The amendments as read into the record remove certain fee provisions and expressly waive city department permit and license fees for CMFO operations while leaving the business registration fee in place.
Supervisor Jackie Fielder pressed the departments on enforcement priorities, the role of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the pilot Mission Street vendor program. OEWD staff said the ordinance is part of an interdepartmental effort to coordinate permits and support services for small vendors; managers described a one‑stop assistance model at the Office of Small Business.
More than two dozen Mission District vendors and community groups testified during public comment. Organizer Josh Jacobo and multiple vendors asked the city to legalize Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MECO) and to provide funding and certainty (commissary access, cart subsidies, and guaranteed spaces) before fee‑ and equipment‑based enforcement begins; speakers warned fee and equipment costs could displace low‑income and immigrant vendors. Several vendor leaders requested parallel legalization and funding so the ordinance becomes a pathway rather than a barrier.
The committee accepted DPH’s amendments and continued the ordinance to the February 11 meeting to allow departments to finalize required interagency details and for the committee to consider an MECO timeline and vendor supports.
