A catering license is the state or local food service license for the kitchen you cook in, the same kind a restaurant holds, because food cooked in one place and served at another is food service. That means a licensed kitchen: your own, a restaurant's, or rented time in a commissary or shared kitchen. A home kitchen doesn't qualify in most places, since cottage food laws cover shelf-stable goods, not hot meals. Then come the people rules, a certified food manager and trained staff, and a separate alcohol license if you sell or serve drinks. In Florida, the example's state, caterers are licensed by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, with fees set by rule up to $400 a year, and the law adds a rule that's easy to miss: the license number goes on every catering ad. In the example below, a St. Augustine caterer sorts its licenses. Below are the layers, Florida's rules, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- A catering license is a food service license for the kitchen you cook in, renewed every year.
- Cook in a licensed kitchen: your own, a restaurant's, or a commissary or shared kitchen.
- Cottage food laws don't cover catering hot meals from home.
- A certified food manager, and trained food employees.
- Alcohol needs its own license.
- Florida: licensed by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, fees up to $400, the license number on every catering ad.
- Add the business name, local business tax, sales tax registration.
- TaroStack scales each event's menu into what to make and buy. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | State | An LLC filing, or a fictitious name |
| Local business license or tax receipt | County and city | Where the kitchen is |
| Sales tax | State revenue department | Registration, and which catered meals and charges are taxable |
| Food service license | State or local health department, or in Florida the Division of Hotels and Restaurants | For the kitchen, before operating; yearly renewal |
| Food manager certificate | An approved exam | A certified manager on staff |
| Employee training | State rules | Food handler training for the staff |
| Alcohol | State alcohol agency | A separate license to sell or serve alcohol |
Every state, county and city differs; this is general information, not legal advice.
Florida's rules
| Rule | Florida Statutes |
|---|---|
| Catering is food service | Food prepared before being delivered to another location for consumption (509.013) |
| A license before operating | From the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, renewed every year; operating without one is a misdemeanor (509.241) |
| The license number on ads | Caterers display their license number on all catering advertising (509.241) |
| Fees | By rule, up to $400 a year, plus up to $50 on first application, and up to $50 for a late renewal (509.251) |
| Managers | Pass an approved test within 30 days of being hired (509.039) |
| Food employees | Trained within 60 days of being hired, valid 3 years (509.049) |
How staff training works in Florida is in Florida food handler card, and why a home kitchen doesn't cover catering in Florida cottage food law.
Where to cook
A caterer without its own kitchen rents time in one: a commissary or shared kitchen, or a restaurant's kitchen after hours. The kitchen holds its own license; ask the licensing agency whether your operation there needs one too. What that costs is in commissary kitchen cost, and what a rental agreement covers in shared kitchen agreement template.
An example: a St. Augustine caterer
Datil Table Catering, the made-up caterer in St. Augustine, Florida, I use in these examples, cooks shrimp and grits, datil pepper chicken and Minorcan clam chowder in a rented commissary kitchen for weddings and office lunches:
| Layer | Status |
|---|---|
| Business name, an LLC | Done, March 2025 |
| Local business tax receipt | Renewed September 15, 2026; good through September 30, 2027 |
| Sales tax | To check: which meals, delivery and service charges are taxable |
| Food service license, F.S. 509.241 | Renewed March 2, 2026; renews March 1, 2027 |
| License number on catering ads | Done: on the website, the menus and each ad |
| Food manager certificate | Done: the owner, March 2025 |
| Employee food safety training | Done within 60 days for each hire; the first ones renew April 2028 |
| Alcohol | Not needed: couples hire a licensed bar service |
| Venue paperwork | The license and insurance certificate sent to each venue |
| General and product liability insurance | Done March 1, 2026; renews March 1, 2027 |
The license number rule caught the owner's first wedding-show flyer, which went out without it; every ad carries it now. How the business earns is in catering business plan.
Get the checklist
Download the catering license checklist. One sheet: each layer, who issues it, what it is, whether you need it, the cost, the date done and the renewal date; the status and the total cost fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A wedding for 150 on Saturday, two office lunches on Friday, and one walk-in at the commissary: the licenses don't change week to week, but what to cook and buy for each event does. A checklist doesn't scale a menu.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack scales each event's menu into what to make and what to buy.
The menu, scaled. Each dish is a recipe, with sub-recipes for sauces, and an event is a sales order for its date with the dishes and portions on it; planning works out what to make and what to buy by when, across every event, and planning is on Standard at $99.
What went out. Food made for an event is recorded as a batch, taking ingredients off stock from the lots used, so a question after the event leads to its ingredients and their suppliers.
The stock. Disposables and chafing fuel are items with reorder points, so the reorder list shows them before you run out.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Food quantities | Worked out by hand per event | Recipes scaled from the sales order |
| What to buy, by when | The chef's memory | Planning, across every event |
| Disposables running low | Found on the day | The reorder list |
Recipes, batches, lots, sales orders and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month; planning is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.