Every kitchen is a real, county-cleared home food business
Not an anonymous seller. A home chef Santa Clara County has cleared to make and sell food. Here’s exactly what the “County-verified” badge means.
A real county permit, not a promise
Every kitchen holds a current permit from Santa Clara County: a MEHKO permit for hot, home-cooked meals, or a Cottage Food registration for baked and shelf-stable goods. No valid permit means no selling on ForkFork.
Food-safety trained — and inspected, for hot meals
A MEHKO chef’s actual home kitchen passes a county health inspection before the permit issues (by the same department that inspects restaurants), and the chef holds food-safety certification, just like a restaurant kitchen manager. Cottage-food bakers complete state-approved food-safety training and may only sell foods California classifies as low-risk to make at home: breads, pastries, jams and other shelf-stable goods, never anything that needs refrigeration.
Checked against the county’s own records
We match every kitchen’s permit against Santa Clara County’s published lists of approved operators (both MEHKO and cottage food), and re-check those lists periodically. The county is the source of truth, not us.
Reviewed by a person before going live
Someone on our team confirms the match and approves the kitchen before it can take a single order. No automatic approvals.
What that means for you: you’re ordering from a county-cleared kitchen with a real name and address on file and reviews from real orders, cleared by the county and backed by us. And portions are small-batch by design: state law caps how much a home kitchen can sell, so this stays real home cooking. Not a stranger in a Facebook group.