Congratulations! You’re ready to open a restaurant. You’ve got the menu, your restaurant concept, the location, investors, and your marketing materials. You’re ready to open your doors, right? Not so fast.
Before you can welcome those first diners, you have a bit more legwork. In this article, we look at permits and licenses and what you need to open the door to your restaurant.
Step 1: The Business License
The first type of license you need is the business license. Every single restaurant needs this before they can open and operate their restaurant.
This is what tells the federal government that you’re a new business. It legitimizes you, and it makes your restaurant official. Above all, it gives you permission from the government to open and operate your restaurant.
The business license is issued to your restaurant from your local city or state government, and you can’t open your restaurant without this. You’ll find it accompanied by a fee that includes both your registration fee and your filing fee. Count on paying up to several thousand dollars for this license.
In addition, you’ll find that the cost and regulations around your licensing vary state by state. You can get your license by doing an internet search. You can also check the Small Business Administration’s website for more information. If you’d rather forego the internet, go to your city hall and get your license in person. Don’t forget to renew this license on an annual basis.
Do note that if your restaurant sells alcohol, you will also have to obtain a federal business license in addition to your state business license.
Step 2: The Foodservice License
The health department in your city is where you’re going to go for this license. You will need to fill out a lot of paperwork to get the ball moving on your foodservice license.
Many restaurant owners feel some anxiety about this license because it involves someone coming and checking on your restaurant to make sure you are following all food safety regulations. Do remember that they will come back to your restaurant on occasion to double check you are still abiding by all the rules.
To apply for this license, you can also apply online with your city. The fees for this permit are usually based on the size and classification of your restaurant and its location. Count on paying anywhere from $100-$1000 for your foodservice license.
Step #3: The Liquor License
If you’re going to sell liquor at your restaurant, you will have to have a liquor license. Like the foodservice license, this one comes with many strings attached. (tweet this)
To sell liquor, you have to maintain this license on an ongoing basis. To find out what you have to do to get this license, and how to keep it, you’ll need to check with your state.
The liquor license is not an easy license to procure. It’s also very easy to lose this license in an instant. To get and keep this permit, you have to make sure you’re following your state’s ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) laws. They regulate the sale of alcohol in every state.
You can lose this license for many reasons including selling liquor to minors, over serving people and having them get too drunk, disorderly conduct, allowing underage servers to serve liquor, selling at unauthorized times, and many others.
It only takes one mistake to lose this license, so do everything you can to stay above the law.
Finally, the cost of the liquor license varies from state to state, but it usually comes with a hefty price into the tens of thousands and more.
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