Restaurants and food trucks.
Confirm the authority for your exact address. Some cities run their own health division, and building, planning, fire, sewer/grease and business-license approvals are separate even when City of El Paso - Code Enforcement Department, Food Inspection Program (permits City & El Paso County under interlocal food safety order). Mobile food units are now licensed by the STATE (Texas DSHS) statewide, not locally. issues the health permit.
What the local foodservice landscape looks like — useful whether you’re opening here or sizing up the competition.
▲ 3.2% change in establishments since 2022 (1,757 → 1,814).
The average foodservice wage here is $3,576 below the Texas average ($23,083); Texas has about 60,229 food & drink establishments statewide.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 722, food services & drinking places) — establishments with paid employees. Some small-county payroll figures are withheld by Census for confidentiality.
Fee amount NOT published on official site or on the food permit application; El Paso is a self-inspecting local jurisdiction (City of El Paso Food Inspection Program) with its own fee schedule that is not posted online; the DSHS statewide retail-food fee schedule ($258/$515/$773 by sales volume) does NOT apply here; Contact Food Inspection Program 915-212-6610. Permits under Tex; Health & Safety Code Ch; 437-438 and El Paso Municipal Code Ch; fee not found on any official published page as of 2026-08-10
Turnaround: Plans must be submitted for new or extensively remodeled establishments before operation (stated on application)
Texas (TFER) demerit-based inspection: score = 100 minus demerits, fail above 30 demerits; City of El Paso health authority, reports public.
CHANGED: Effective 2026-07-01, Texas HB 2844 (2025) moved mobile food unit permitting from local health authorities to the STATE; Texas DSHS now issues Mobile Food Vendor licenses statewide (applies in El Paso); Fees verified on the official DSHS Mobile Food Vendors page; Both application and pre-licensing fees are due at submission
Fees/payment and forms are on the department site; application steps vary by concept — see the checklist below.
The government permit & plan-review fees below total roughly $309–$876 for El Paso County:
That’s the paperwork only. Add buildout, equipment, deposits and licenses with the cost-to-open calculator. Fees change — confirm current amounts with the department.
U.S. Census 2023 population; County Business Patterns 2022 (NAICS 722).
Under 2015 UPC and 2015 IPC (state-adopted minimum; municipality selects), food establishments here must control fats, oils & grease (FOG) with a grease interceptor or trap, and typically register with the local sewer/wastewater authority. Restaurants must install an approved grease interceptor under the state-adopted plumbing code, with discharge governed by the local sewer authority's FOG program.
Size the interceptor with our grease-trap sizing calculator, compare units in the grease-trap catalog, and confirm the local FOG permit with City of El Paso - Code Enforcement Department, Food Inspection Program (permits City & El Paso County under interlocal food safety order). Mobile food units are now licensed by the STATE (Texas DSHS) statewide, not locally. (contact above).
Hood fire suppression: commercial cooking under a Type I hood needs a wet-chemical suppression system to NFPA 96, permitted and inspected by the local fire marshal. Commercial kitchen hood suppression must meet NFPA 96 and the locally adopted International Fire Code, enforced by the local fire marshal (no single mandatory statewide edition). See do I need a hood? and the hood CFM calculator.
Backflow prevention: Backflow prevention assemblies (typically an RPZ) require annual testing by a certified tester through the local water utility's cross-connection control program. A certified backflow assembly (often an RPZ) on the water service, tested annually, is standard — confirm with your water utility.
| Category | Annual fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| food processing/wholesale | — | Prior record listed a square-footage-tiered City fee ($174 <3,000 sq ft / $344 3,001-6,000 / $515 6,001-9,000 / $685 9,001+) for Food Product Establishments; Contact 915-212-6610 for the current fee schedule |
| market/grocery | — | Prior record listed an Outdoor Market fee of $163. Not verifiable from any official published page on 2026-08-10; Grocery/retail food stores are handled on the County (Retail Food Store) side; no separately published City line-item fee found |
| temporary/seasonal/special-event | — | Prior record listed Temporary $79 / Recurrent $265 / Seasonal $158. Not verifiable from any official published El Paso fee schedule on 2026-08-10; (For reference, DSHS statewide temporary permits are $52 single-event / $200 multi-event, but those apply to DSHS-regulated jurisdictions, not El Paso.) |
| pushcart/limited operation | — | Prior record listed a City 'Mobile Food Establishment; Kiosk Service' fee of $105. Mobile/kiosk food units are now licensed by the State (DSHS) as of 2026-07-01; see food_truck_permit for verified DSHS Mobile Food Vendor fees |
Health-department plan review looks for specific, code-compliant fixtures. Compare spec-filtered options, then confirm counts and sizes with your local requirements. See the full list in what equipment a commercial kitchen requires.
Permit costs and rules change at the county line — compare El Paso County with its neighbors.
This is a typical sequence — confirm the exact sequence with your authority having jurisdiction.
Official plan-check requirements: plan-check guide →