When Jasmine Esquivel heard a knock at her front door on June 24, she checked her camera and saw a Merced County code enforcement officer outside.
“I was in shock,” Esquivel said. “I was a little nervous and had a little pit in my stomach.”
She was in a work meeting and couldn’t answer the door. After the meeting, she found business cards from the code enforcement and county health departments left outside.
Esquivel later learned someone reported her home-based coffee business to county officials.
She earned her food handler’s card, contacted the Merced County health department, submitted plans for a coffee cart and began the process of obtaining an employer identification number and forming a limited liability company.
Even so, county rules prohibit residents from selling prepared drinks from home.
A petition to change Merced County’s rules
After Esquivel’s encounter with code enforcement, she discovered other Los Banos home-based food entrepreneurs faced similar challenges.
Together, they launched a petition urging Merced County officials to adopt a Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation ordinance that would allow residents to legally prepare and sell certain foods from their home kitchens.
The petition drew more than 1,000 signatures and called on county leaders to create a Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) ordinance, which would allow residents to prepare and sell certain foods from their home kitchens.
Similar programs have been adopted in 19 California jurisdictions, including nearby Monterey and San Benito counties. Merced County currently allows Cottage Food Operations, which let residents prepare and sell certain shelf-stable foods from home. However, the county has not adopted a MEHKO ordinance, which would allow home-based businesses to sell freshly prepared meals or drinks.
For Esquivel, the shutdown of her home-based business was especially difficult because it was never just about coffee.
Last year, after moving back to Los Baños with her young family, she started J’s Coffee Shop from her kitchen to help support them. With her father’s disability benefits gone, unemployment exhausted and construction work inconsistent, selling coffee became a way to bring in extra income.
Esquivel believes that if other counties can provide a legal pathway for home-based food businesses, Merced County should be able to as well.
“I can only imagine what it can do for so many families here in Merced County,” Esquivel said. “Moms that can’t go out in the workforce and can stay home, maybe make cookies or make tamales, sell coffees from home.”
County leaders weigh public health and business opportunities
Local leaders say they’re listening, but they stress that any change would need strong safeguards.
In a written response to residents who signed the petition, Merced County Supervisor Daron McDaniel expressed these concerns, saying he supports local entrepreneurs and opportunities to strengthen the local economy, but he believes any ordinance must adequately protect public health.
“If the Board of Supervisors considers a MEHKO ordinance, I will carefully review the recommendations of our Environmental Health Division, Public Health Department, County Counsel, and other stakeholders to ensure any proposal complies with state law and includes appropriate health and safety standards,” McDaniel wrote.
He added that he remains committed to listening to residents, business owners and public health professionals before making a decision, with the goal of supporting innovation while ensuring “the health and safety of Merced County families remain the highest priority.”
Los Banos Mayor Michael Amabile said he sees “a need and an opportunity” for home-based businesses, especially creative bakers and flower sellers, but he insists “everybody has to play by the rules” so regulations remain fair for brick-and-mortar restaurants and food trucks.
Amabile said he is “in theory” open to a MEHKO-style ordinance if the county can prove it can provide staff and systems to enforce it, including regular health inspections, food-safety training and clear rules about issues like pets in the home and traffic in residential neighborhoods.
“If you have a law or an ordinance, don’t have it unless you can enforce it,” Amabile told The Merced Focus in an interview.
Merced County stepped up enforcement of unpermitted food vendors in recent years, highlighting the growing presence of informal food businesses across the region. County officials say the increase in those businesses raised concerns about food safety, sanitation and ensuring vendors meet the same standards as permitted businesses.
Since October 2025, Merced County launched coordinated enforcement sweeps targeting unlicensed food vendors, with Environmental Health inspectors and local law enforcement issuing citations and confiscating equipment from vendors operating without permits. At the same time, the Merced City Council began reviewing its street vendor ordinance, with officials discussing ways to simplify the permitting process while maintaining public health and safety standards.
A 2025-26 Merced County Civil Grand Jury report found the growing number of unpermitted food vendors strained the county’s inspection resources, leading officials to hire additional inspectors and expand enforcement efforts.
A bigger question about opportunity in Los Banos
While Esquivel said she understands the county’s responsibility to protect public health, she questions why there isn’t a legal path for residents like her to operate from their own kitchens.
The push for a new permit is about more than getting J’s Coffee back up and running, she said. Los Banos is a small town with limited job opportunities, Esquivel explained, where many residents commute elsewhere for work and struggle to make ends meet.
Amabile agreed the local economy doesn’t offer enough stable work, saying, “We need more jobs in our area, and good paying jobs.” But, he stressed that “Everybody has to play by the rules.”
A home-kitchen permit, Esquivel argues, could allow parents, caregivers and others earn money from their own kitchens instead of relying only on unstable or far-away jobs.
Whether Merced County ultimately adopts a MEHKO ordinance remains uncertain.
Esquivel and other home-based food entrepreneurs plan to attend an upcoming Merced County Board of Supervisors meeting to urge county leaders to consider adopting a MEHKO ordinance.
“I hope and I pray that we’re able to get this permit here in Merced County,” Esquivel said. “I just really hope that they will consider it.”