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. We're onboarding our first cooks in LA County now — join the list to order the moment they go live.
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 your order straight from your cook's kitchen at your pickup window — freshest possible, no third-party drivers, no heat lamps.
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.
PlateSend is pickup-only. Under MEHKO regulations, food can't go through third-party delivery services, so you pick up your order directly from your cook during their pickup window. It keeps the food at its freshest and the connection between cook and customer personal.
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.
We're hand-picking and onboarding our first LA County cooks 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.