Restaurants and food trucks.
Tarrant County food-facility health permits run about $258–$700 annually, depending on size or sales volume. Confirm the exact amount with Tarrant County Public Health - Environmental Health 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 Tarrant County Public Health - Environmental Health issues the health permit.
Cities with their own health department: Fort Worth, Arlington, Euless, North Richland Hills. Food businesses inside these cities apply to the city health department (with its own fees and rules), not Tarrant 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.
▲ 4.5% change in establishments since 2022 (4,310 → 4,506).
The average foodservice wage here is $227 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.
Amendment fee $258 (requested additional permit same location $125); Required reinspection $200. Food establishment/mobile late fee $100. Verified from Tarrant County Environmental Health Fee Schedule (DSHS Local Ordinance Registry); County permits unincorporated areas plus contracting cities; some cities set own fees
Turnaround: Plans must be submitted and approved before construction/remodel of a new or converted food establishment
Tarrant County Public Health / Fort Worth use a TFER demerit system (0 demerits is perfect; over 30 demerits fails); scores posted online.
NOTE: Effective 2026-07-01 Texas moved mobile food unit permitting to the STATE (Texas DSHS); DSHS now issues statewide MFU permits (reported tier-based annual fees ~$258-$773); Local MFU fees above may be legacy/pre-transition; verify current authority with DSHS and Tarrant County before relying on them
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 $75–$150,258 for Tarrant 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.
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.
A code-compliant kitchen in Tarrant County needs more than the health permit — these approvals are handled by separate offices. Confirm current requirements with each.
| Building / plans | Tarrant County Fire Marshal - building/construction permits (unincorporated only; TX cities permit their own) · 817-838-4660 |
| Fire marshal | Tarrant County Fire Marshal (unincorporated) / municipal fire marshal within cities · 817-838-4660 |
| Business license | Tarrant County Clerk - Assumed Name (DBA); TX has no general business license |
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 Tarrant County Public Health - Environmental Health (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 |
|---|---|---|
| market/grocery | $100 | Farmers Market permit |
| temporary/seasonal/special-event | $35 (1-5 days) / $60 (6-14 days) | Temporary Food Establishment; 1-5 days $35, 6-14 days $60 |
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 Tarrant 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 →