A ghost kitchen, a delivery-only or virtual restaurant, needs the same food service license as any restaurant, because food cooked in one place for eating somewhere else is food service. The license is for the kitchen: one licensed kitchen can run several brands on the delivery apps, while each brand name you trade under needs to be registered as a business name. If you rent space in a shared or commissary kitchen, that kitchen holds its license, and depending on the city you may need your own license or a user license there too. Add a certified food manager, trained staff, the business layers, and what the delivery platforms ask for: often a license number and the kitchen's address for each brand. Florida, the example's state, licenses delivery-only kitchens through the Division of Hotels and Restaurants as public food service establishments, the definition covering food "prepared prior to being delivered to another location for consumption", with fees by rule up to $400 a year; it even names temporary commercial kitchens for takeout and delivery-only meals in portable structures. In the example below, a Miami kitchen runs three brands. Below are the layers, Florida's rules, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- A ghost kitchen needs a food service license, the same as a restaurant.
- The license is for the kitchen; one kitchen can run several delivery brands.
- Each brand name you trade under is registered as a business name.
- In a shared kitchen, check whether you need your own license or a user license there.
- A certified food manager and trained staff.
- The delivery apps ask for the license number and address for each brand.
- Florida: a public food service establishment license, fees by rule up to $400 a year.
- TaroStack keeps the shared ingredients and each brand's recipes. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name and brand names | State | An LLC, and a registered name for each brand |
| Food service license | State or local health department | For the kitchen, before operating; yearly |
| In a shared kitchen | City or state | Your own license or a user license there |
| Food manager and staff training | State rules | Certificates and training deadlines |
| Sales tax | State revenue department | Tax on meals |
| Delivery platforms | Each app | License number, address, insurance |
How shared kitchens license renters is in shared kitchen license, and catering, a cousin of delivery-only, in catering license. Every state differs; this is general information, not legal advice.
Florida's rules
| Rule | Florida Statutes |
|---|---|
| A ghost kitchen is food service | Food prepared before being delivered to another location for consumption (509.013) |
| A license | From the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, before operating, renewed every year, not transferable (509.241) |
| Fees | By rule, up to $400 a year, plus up to $50 on first application (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) |
| Temporary commercial kitchens | Portable kitchens for takeout or delivery-only meals, a public food service establishment with location limits (509.102) |
Florida's staff training is in Florida food handler card.
An example: a Miami ghost kitchen
Brickell Night Kitchen, a made-up ghost kitchen in Miami, Florida, I use in these examples, runs three delivery brands, wings, rice bowls and desserts, from one licensed kitchen:
| Layer | Status |
|---|---|
| Business name, an LLC | Done, September 2025 |
| Brand names | Three fictitious names registered, one for each brand |
| Local business tax receipt | Renewed September 20, 2026 |
| Food service license | One for the kitchen; renewed October 1, 2026 |
| Food manager certificate | The kitchen manager, September 2025 |
| Employee food safety training | Within 60 days for each hire; the first renew October 2028 |
| Delivery apps | The license number and kitchen address on each brand's listing |
| Sales tax | Registered, September 2025 |
| General and product liability insurance | Renews September 1, 2027 |
Three brands, one kitchen, one license: the license follows the place, and the brands are names on the apps. Pricing a plate for delivery is in plate cost formula.
Get the checklist
Download the ghost kitchen 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
Three brands share chicken, rice and fryer oil, and each has its own menu prices: a checklist doesn't say which brand is eating the chicken, or what a bowl costs this week.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the shared ingredients, and each brand's recipes and margins.
Shared stock. The chicken, rice and oil are items with lots, received from each supplier at what you paid.
Each brand's dishes as recipes. Wings, bowls and brownies are recipes drawing on the same stock, so each dish's cost moves with this week's chicken price.
Margins by product. Sales are kept by product, so each brand's dishes show what they leave.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What a bowl costs this week | Worked out once | The recipe, at what you paid |
| Chicken left for three brands | Look in the walk-in | Stock by item and lot |
| Which brand earns most | A feeling | Margins by product |
Counts, lots, recipes, batches and margin reports 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.