There isn't one commercial kitchen license. A kitchen that makes food to sell commonly needs several permits from several offices, and which ones depends on what it makes and who it sells to. Selling straight to customers, like a restaurant, bakery or caterer, often means a food establishment permit from the local health department. Making food sold to stores and distributors often means a food processor or manufacturer license from the state, commonly the agriculture department, plus registration with FDA. Around both sit a business license, fire and building inspections, and zoning. Below is each permit, who issues it, an example, and the order to get them in.
The short version
- Health department: a food establishment permit for kitchens that sell to customers directly.
- State agriculture or health department: a food processor or manufacturer license for wholesale.
- FDA: food facility registration for facilities that make food for the wider market, with exemptions for retail and restaurants.
- City and county: business license, zoning approval, building and fire inspections, and a sign permit.
- Special products bring special licenses: meat and poultry, dairy, acidified and canned foods, alcohol.
- Start with zoning and the health department's plan review, before signing a lease.
- TaroStack keeps the records licensed kitchens are inspected on. More below.
The permits, and who issues them
| Permit | Who issues it | When you need it |
|---|---|---|
| Food establishment or retail food permit | Local or state health department | Selling food directly to customers |
| Food processor or manufacturer license | State agriculture or health department | Making food sold to stores or distributors |
| FDA food facility registration | FDA | Facilities that make, pack or hold food, unless exempt |
| Business license | City or county | Almost any business |
| Zoning approval or certificate of occupancy | City or county | Before opening in a space |
| Building, fire and hood inspections | City or county | After the build-out |
| Food handler and manager certificates | Health department or approved courses | For the people working |
| Product-specific licenses | USDA or state for meat, state dairy programs, FDA for acidified and low-acid canned foods, TTB for alcohol | When the product needs one |
Facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for consumption in the US register with FDA (21 CFR 1.225); farms, retail food establishments and restaurants are among those that don't have to (21 CFR 1.226). Health permits are issued under state and local rules built on FDA's model Food Code (FDA Food Code). This is general information, not legal advice. The federal rules for small makers are set out in FSMA requirements for small food businesses.
An example
Rocktown Tamales, a made-up tamale maker in Harrisonburg, Virginia, I use in these examples, builds its own kitchen to make frozen tamales for grocers. Its list: zoning approval for the light industrial space; the health department's plan review before the build-out; building, fire and hood inspections after it; a food manufacturing license from the state agriculture department, because it sells to stores; FDA food facility registration; and a business license from the city. Because its pork tamales contain meat and go to grocers, they're made under meat inspection, which for Rocktown means a state inspection program or a USDA grant, a license of its own. How the kitchen itself was budgeted is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
The order to get them in
- Zoning: confirm the space can be a food business before signing anything.
- Plan review: submit drawings and an equipment list to the health department, or the state agency for a processor.
- Build and inspect: building, plumbing, fire and hood inspections as the work finishes.
- Licenses: the health permit or processor license after the final inspection; FDA registration before production for the wider market.
- Products: process reviews, label checks and any product-specific licenses before the first sale.
What grocers ask for on top of the licenses is in selling to grocery stores requirements.
What a license costs
Fees vary widely: a health permit or processor license can be a modest yearly fee in one state and several hundred dollars in another, plan review is often charged separately, and FDA registration has no fee. The bigger costs are the build-out the inspections require and the time between signing a lease and opening.
Where this stops working
A license is granted once a year; an inspection can come any day, and the inspector asks for records: cooling logs, receiving temperatures, sanitizer checks, which batch went to which store. A licensed kitchen that keeps them on clipboards spends the inspection looking for them.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the records licensed kitchens are inspected on.
Checks on batches and receipts. Batch records, receipts and counts carry fields of your own, such as cooling temperatures, receiving temperatures and sanitizer checks, with limits and sign-off, on the batch or delivery they belong to.
Lots, holds and recalls. Every batch records the lots it used and gets its own; a questionable batch can be held, kept out of what can be sold; and a recall report shows which customers got a lot. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
Traceability drills. Timed, logged traceability drills show an inspector or a buyer how fast you can find a lot.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling log for a batch | A weekly sheet | Fields on the batch, with limits |
| Temperature at delivery | A note on the invoice | A field on the receipt |
| A batch with a problem | Set aside, maybe | Held from sale |
| Which stores got a lot | Search the invoices | One recall report |
Batch records, lots, holds, recalls and drills are on every plan, from $49 a month. 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.