Meet the Cooks
Real people. Real kitchens.
Every PlateSend cook is MEHKO-licensed and cooking from their own home in LA County.
PlateSend connects you with licensed local home cooks in your neighborhood. Authentic meals made with love — not a commercial kitchen in sight. First cooks going live in LA County this week.
Every PlateSend cook is MEHKO-licensed and cooking from their own home in LA County.
Skip the chains. Get food made by real people in real kitchens, with recipes that have been perfected over generations.
Explore menus from licensed home chefs in your neighborhood. Mexican, Filipino, Korean, Soul Food — real culture, real flavor.
Pick individual plates or family-style trays. Every dish is freshly prepared to order — no heat lamps, no assembly lines.
Grab it yourself for the freshest experience, or get it delivered straight to your door. You choose what works.
You've been cooking for everyone. Now get paid for it — legally, on your own terms.
Because you kind of are. Discover incredible home cooks you never knew were right around the corner.
From abuela's tamales to auntie's lumpia — the food you grew up on, now available to everyone.
PlateSend feeds every kind of meal — and every kind of eater.
PlateSend wouldn't exist without the advocacy work of the COOK Alliance. They're the ones who fought to pass AB 626 — the California law that made it legal for home cooks to sell food from their kitchens. They continue to support MEHKO operators through education, grants, and community building. We're proud to be part of the movement they started.
Learn about the COOK Alliance →100%. PlateSend is officially registered as an Internet Food Service Intermediary (IFSI) with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). We operate under California's MEHKO (Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation) program, which allows licensed home cooks to legally prepare and sell food from their home kitchens. Every cook on our platform holds a valid MEHKO permit issued by LA County.
Apply to cook at app.platesend.com/signup/cook and we'll walk you through the MEHKO permit process step by step. LA County has waived application fees, so it's free to get started. You'll need a food safety certification and a kitchen inspection — we'll help with all of it.
We're going live in LA County now — neighborhoods like Inglewood, Compton, East LA, South LA, and more. LA County's MEHKO program makes it the perfect place to start. Expansion to other areas is planned as regulations evolve.
Under MEHKO regulations, food is delivered directly by the cook or picked up by the customer — no third-party delivery services. This keeps your food fresher and maintains the personal connection between cook and customer. Many cooks also offer convenient pickup windows.
Cooks set their own prices. Expect home-cooked meal pricing — usually more affordable than restaurants, always better than delivery apps. We charge a small platform fee to keep the lights on, but our cooks keep the majority of every sale.
Our first cooks are onboarding now. Drop your email and we'll let you know the moment they're ready to take orders in your area.
No spam. Just a heads up when we launch.