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 Houston Health Department, Bureau of Consumer Health Services (inside city limits); Harris County Public Health, Environmental Public Health Division (unincorporated Harris County) issues the health permit.
Cities with their own health department: Houston, Pasadena, Baytown, Deer Park. Food businesses inside these cities apply to the city health department (with its own fees and rules), not Harris County. Confirm which authority covers your exact address.
What the local foodservice landscape looks like — useful whether you’re opening here or sizing up the competition.
▲ 1.6% change in establishments since 2022 (9,878 → 10,038).
The average foodservice wage here is $658 above 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.
City of Houston prior schedule cited a Food Dealer base permit of ~$1,059.50 plus a per-inspection fee ($112.57 or $225.14) and a ~$33.10 admin fee, annual renewal; left null; Unincorporated Harris County (HCPH) charges a non-refundable plan review fee plus a final permit; amounts are in HCPH's '2025 Food Fee Schedule' PDF, not published inline
Turnaround: Pre-opening inspection must be scheduled at least 14 business days in advance (Houston); HCPH runs a virtual (MS Teams) plan review conference before the pre-opening inspection
Houston Health Dept. uses a demerit-based inspection (0–100 scale); inspection reports searchable online by name, category and ZIP.
As of 2026-07-01 mobile food unit health permitting moved to the state (Texas DSHS); Local City of Houston / HCPH mobile permits are invalid on/after that date and are not grandfathered; DSHS application opened via Online Licensing Services in early June 2026. Local fire code, zoning and parking rules still apply on top of the state permit
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 Harris 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).
A code-compliant kitchen in Harris County needs more than the health permit — these approvals are handled by separate offices. Confirm current requirements with each.
| Building / plans | City of Houston Permitting Center (Planning & Development) · 832-394-8880 |
| Fire marshal | Houston Fire Department - Fire Marshal's Office / Life Safety Bureau |
| Zoning / planning | City of Houston Planning & Development Dept. (Houston has NO zoning; development/land-use regs only) |
| Sewer / grease | Houston Public Works - grease trap / wastewater · 832-393-5740 |
| Business license | No general TX/city business license; Sales & Use Tax Permit via Texas Comptroller (food dealer permit via Houston Health Dept.) |
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 Houston Health Department, Bureau of Consumer Health Services (inside city limits); Harris County Public Health, Environmental Public Health Division (unincorporated Harris County) (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 |
|---|---|---|
| temporary/seasonal/special-event | $52 | Temporary Food Dealer permit, valid up to 14 consecutive days for a single event (new risk-based fee structure effective 2025-09-01) |
| frozen dessert | $258 | Frozen Dessert manufacturer permit (separate category in Houston Health Dept structure) |
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 Harris 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 →