Household and Lifestyle Considerations

How a home kitchen business affects your household, your schedule and the space you live in.

Your kitchen is also your home.

A MEHKO is unusual: your workplace and your home are the same place. Before you start, think about the people who live with you.

Kitchen time

When will you shop, prep, cook, package, and clean?
Can your family still use the kitchen when they need it?
Rule: no personal cooking while you are cooking for customers. Dinner for the family waits.
Where will business food and supplies go? A second fridge in the garage is allowed if the door closes properly.

Kids and pets

The rule is clear: children and animals stay out of the kitchen and dining area while you cook and serve. Service animals may be in the dining area. Pets can live in the house; they just cannot be in the kitchen during business hours.

If you have small children at home, plan who watches them during cooking time.

Customers at your door

Is everyone in the house OK with strangers coming to the door?
Where will customers wait? Porch, driveway, front room?
Where will they park? Customer cars are the most common neighbor complaint.
Would delivery or pickup-only be easier than eat-in? Statewide, only 11% of cooks offer eat-in.

The work

Cooking for customers is not cooking dinner. On a cooking day you will shop, carry supplies, stand for hours, cook, package, hand off, clean, answer messages, and log your sales. Then do it again next time.

Pick cooking days and a menu that fit your life. Most permitted cooks work one to three days a week. You do not have to open every day.

Talk with your household first

Sit down together and agree on:

Which days the business runs
Where food and supplies are stored
How customer pickup works
Who helps, if anyone
What would make it too much

If it gets too stressful, change the schedule or shrink the menu. Doing more is not the answer.