Restaurants, commercial kitchens, and food trucks.
Travis County food-facility health permits run about $309–$927 annually, depending on size or sales volume. Plan review runs about $221–$312. Confirm the exact amount with Austin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division 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 Austin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division issues the health permit.
Cities with their own health department: Austin. Food businesses inside these cities apply to the city health department (with its own fees and rules), not Travis 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.
▲ 3.1% change in establishments since 2022 (3,336 → 3,440).
The average foodservice wage here is $6,274 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 Austin adopted FY25-26 schedule; tiered by gross annual sales, matching the DSHS gross-sales tier structure; Applies within the City of Austin; other Travis County areas may fall under DSHS or a city
Turnaround: Not published on the page
Austin Public Health scores food establishments 0–100 under Texas TFER; scores published in the City of Austin open-data portal.
Austin Public Health held mobile jurisdiction through 2026-06-30; from 2026-07-01 vendors must hold the DSHS statewide Mobile Food Vending permit; APH's prior mobile fees were $309/unit/yr (restricted) or $239/unit/yr (unrestricted); Local fire/zoning still applies
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 $530–$151,188 for Travis 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 Travis County needs more than the health permit — these approvals are handled by separate offices. Confirm current requirements with each.
| Building / plans | City of Austin Development Services Department (principal city) · 512-978-4000 |
| Fire marshal | Austin Fire Department - Fire Marshal's Office / Commercial Plan Review |
| Zoning / planning | City of Austin Development Services / Planning Department - Zoning · 512-978-4000 |
| Sewer / grease | Austin Water - Special Services Division (grease trap / pretreatment) |
| Business license | Austin Public Health EHSD - Food Enterprise Operational Permit (TX has no general local business license; the food permit is the operating authorization) · 512-978-0300 |
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 Austin Public Health, Environmental Health Services Division (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 |
|---|---|---|
| commissary/central kitchen | $150 | Central Preparation Facility Registration |
| food processing/wholesale | $309 ($0-49,999.99) / $618 ($50,000-149,999.99) / $927 ($150,000+) | 'Food Processing Plant or Warehouse' operating permit; tiered by gross annual sales volume (same tiers as Food Service / Retail Food) |
| market/grocery | $309 ($0-49,999.99) / $618 ($50,000-149,999.99) / $927 ($150,000+) | 'Retail Food' operating permit; tiered by gross annual sales volume |
| temporary/seasonal/special-event | $62 per booth | Temporary Food Events, 1-14 days per booth (effective 2025-10-01) |
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 Travis 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 →