Independent food-business resource

Plan a code-compliant kitchen. Choose the right equipment.

FoodServiceNerd gives food-business owners independent data, free calculators and local code requirements — so you can figure out what you need, spec it, and get it permitted, without a sales pitch.

Free & independent. Advice pages sell nothing · equipment prices come from real dealers, clearly disclosed.

15,860equipment models 3,147U.S. counties 1,656independent dealers 28free calculators 148+buying guides

100%independent, no pay-to-rank

Where do you want to start?

Plan my food business

A step-by-step journey from concept to opening — budget, permits, lease, build-out and inspection, with the right calculator at each step.

Start the journey →

Find equipment

Independent spec pages, cross-brand comparisons and real dealer street prices — figure out what fits, with no sales pitch.

Browse equipment →

Check local requirements

Permit fees, plan review and food-safety rules for your county — enter your ZIP to see what your health department wants.

Look up your area →

Browse equipment by category

Every department and its subcategories — jump straight to the catalog.

Free calculators & tools

Cost to open Hood CFM Food cost & menu price Labor cost %Break-even Section 179 write-off Equipment lease vs. buy Walk-in sizing Do I need a hood? Kitchen equipment configurator

Start here

Opening a business

How to open a restaurant

The full step-by-step — concept, budget, lease, permits, build-out and opening.

Choosing equipment

Reach-in vs. walk-in

When your volume justifies a walk-in — then compare real models and prices.

Compliance

What to do during a health inspection

Exactly how to handle the visit, pass, and recover if you fail.

Let’s get nerdy 🤓

We dig into the data so you don’t have to.

Original research from our own permit & equipment data — the stuff you can’t find anywhere else. Free to read, free to cite.

New study

What it actually costs to get a restaurant permit in the U.S.

We read the published fee schedules for a 383-county sample of our nationwide database — and the first surprise was how many don’t publish a price at all.

Read the study →

Independent — and honest about how it works.

Our guides, calculators and requirements data sell nothing and take no cut, so we can answer questions a seller can’t — including “do you even need this?” On the equipment side we aggregate real prices from multiple dealers with links and take no payment to list or rank anyone.