Hawthorne expressly accommodates cottage food operations in Chapter 17.72, letting a CFO exceed the normal twenty-percent floor-area limit, employ one non-household worker, and make direct sales 9 a.m.-9 p.m. The operation must stay in the kitchen and storage rooms and also register with Los Angeles County Environmental Health under state law.
The City of Hawthorne has updated Chapter 17.72 to align with California's Cottage Food law (Health and Safety Code Section 113758 / AB-1616), and it treats a permitted cottage food operation (CFO) more generously than an ordinary home occupation. While a standard home occupation is capped at twenty percent of the dwelling's ground-floor area, the code provides that a permitted cottage food operation shall be allowed to use more than twenty percent of the ground-floor area, provided it complies with the chapter and the Health and Safety Code. Cottage food operations may also employ not more than one full-time-equivalent non-household member, and in no event may more than one part-time employee work at any one time - an exception to the residents-only employment rule. Direct sales from the cottage food premises are allowed only between the hours of nine a.m. and nine p.m. daily. The operation must be restricted to the kitchen of the dwelling and attached rooms used exclusively for storage, and a CFO may not conduct sales in an attached garage, detached accessory structure, or outside the dwelling. Beyond the city permit, a CFO must obtain and maintain registration and/or an operating permit from Los Angeles County Environmental Health, consistent with the state cottage food framework that distinguishes Class A (direct sales) and Class B (indirect/retail) operations and sets statewide gross-sales limits. Hawthorne therefore layers its land-use conditions on top of, and defers to, the state Cottage Food Act for food-safety registration.
Running a CFO outside the kitchen and dedicated storage rooms, selling from a garage or outdoors, exceeding the one-employee allowance, selling outside 9 a.m.-9 p.m., or operating without the required city home occupation permit and Los Angeles County Environmental Health registration violates Chapter 17.72 and state law. Noncompliance is grounds for permit revocation.
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Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in Los Angeles County.
See how other cities in Los Angeles County handle cottage food operations.
See how Hawthorne's cottage food operations rules stack up against other locations.
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