Restaurants and food trucks.
Rice County food-facility health permits run about $190–$1,100 annually, depending on size or sales volume. Confirm the exact amount with Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA), Food Safety & Lodging Program; fee caps set in K.S.A. 65-688 before you budget.
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 Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA), Food Safety & Lodging Program; fee caps set in K.S.A. 65-688 issues the health permit. Kansas sets food-establishment permit fees at the state level; Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA), Food Safety & Lodging Program; fee caps set in K.S.A. 65-688 is the licensing authority. If your city or county runs its own health department, local fees and rules may also apply — confirm for your exact address.
What the local foodservice landscape looks like — useful whether you’re opening here or sizing up the competition.
▲ 15.0% change in establishments since 2022 (20 → 23).
The average foodservice wage here is $4,271 below the Kansas average ($20,097); Kansas has about 5,914 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.
Set at the state level by Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA), Food Safety & Lodging Program; fee caps set in K.S.A; 65-688; a single statewide fee schedule; Effective KDA application fee schedule rev; 2018-06-15; caps per K.S.A; 65-688. Where a city or county runs its own health department it may set local fees instead
State-set mobile-food fee; confirm commissary and local requirements
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 $190–$1,100 for Rice 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.
Check the health-inspection history and violation scores for any food establishment in Rice County and Kansas. The Kansas Department of Agriculture Food Safety & Lodging program runs a statewide inspection search covering restaurants and other licensed food establishments.
Kansas inspection lookup →Comparison uses the lowest published annual restaurant-permit figure in each county; confirm your exact tier with the department.
U.S. Census 2023 population; County Business Patterns 2022 (NAICS 722).
Plus building, fire, and business-license fees that vary locally — use the cost calculators and the checklist below to budget the full stack.
food establishments here must control fats, oils & grease (FOG) with a grease interceptor or trap, and typically register with the local sewer/wastewater authority. A grease interceptor or trap sized to the locally adopted plumbing code is required, with a municipal sewer-authority FOG discharge permit.
Size the interceptor with our grease-trap sizing calculator, compare units in the grease-trap catalog, and confirm the local FOG permit with Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA), Food Safety & Lodging Program; fee caps set in K.S.A. 65-688 (contact above).
Hood fire suppression (IFC): commercial cooking under a Type I hood needs a wet-chemical suppression system to NFPA 96, permitted and inspected by the local fire marshal. Type I hood fire suppression must meet NFPA 96 and the state fire code enforced by the Kansas State Fire Marshal and local fire officials. See do I need a hood? and the hood CFM calculator.
Backflow prevention: An approved backflow preventer with a certified annual test is required by the local water purveyor. A certified backflow assembly (often an RPZ) on the water service, tested annually, is standard — confirm with your water utility.
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 Rice County with its neighbors.
This is a typical sequence — confirm the exact sequence with your authority having jurisdiction.