Why it helps to understand the system first

Welcome to Part Seven. The core chapters of this book (Chapters 1 to 20) explain the practical work of opening and running a small restaurant, café or cloud kitchen: testing your idea, costing your menu, hiring staff, keeping food safe and managing your money. They are written for readers in many countries, so they do not name laws, offices or fees. Part Seven does. It explains what the rules are in the United States, which office deals with each one, what it usually costs, and how to check the position for your own address.

Many first-time owners in the USA find the rules confusing at the start, because there is no single rule book. A restaurant may need permits from the state, the county and the city, and a registration with a federal agency, while a restaurant in the next state deals with different offices for the same things. Owners who do not understand this often lose weeks: they apply to the wrong office, or sign a lease before checking that the building can legally be used as a restaurant.

You do not need to learn every law. You need a clear picture of the layers of government, a rough idea of which layer usually handles which subject, and a simple method for finding the offices that apply to you. This chapter gives you all three. With them you can ask the right people the right questions in the right order. That is a sure and secure path, and it saves both time and money.

The layers of government

The United States is a federal country. This means that power is shared between the national government in Washington DC (called the federal government) and the governments of the 50 states. Each state then divides its area into smaller units of local government. For a food business, four layers matter:

1. Federal. Laws and agencies that apply in every state, such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for federal taxes and the Department of Labor for the national minimum wage.
2. State. Each state makes its own laws on many subjects that matter to you: registering your business, sales tax, alcohol, food safety, and many employment rules.
3. County. Most states are divided into counties. A county is a unit of local government covering an area of the state, often including several towns and the countryside between them. In many places the county health department checks restaurants.
4. City or town. A municipality is a city, town or village with its own local government. Municipalities usually control what a building may be used for, building work, signs and, in many places, business licences or local business taxes.

These layers overlap. New York State, for example, reminds businesses that besides state permits, counties, cities, towns and villages may require their own. You may deal with all four layers in the same month.

The federal government plays a smaller part in day-to-day restaurant rules than many people expect. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) explains that, in the USA, it is usually state and local agencies, not federal ones, that oversee restaurants and food shops. The Small Business Administration (SBA), a federal agency that supports small businesses, says the same in a different way: federal licences are needed only for certain activities, such as alcohol, firearms, aviation and broadcasting, while restaurants are among the activities that are commonly regulated locally.

Which layer usually handles what

The table below shows the layer that usually deals with each subject for a small restaurant. It is a starting map, not a rule. The split differs from state to state, and in some places a state agency does work that a county or city does elsewhere. The examples in the right-hand column are only examples; they are not complete.

Subject	Layer that usually handles it	Examples of how it can differ	Chapter
Forming your business (LLC, corporation and so on)	State: the Secretary of State or a similar office	Some states also require a separate registration for a trading name.	U-2
Federal tax number and federal taxes	Federal: the IRS	The same everywhere, but states add their own taxes.	U-2, U-5
Food safety permit and inspections	County or city health department, or a state agency	In Florida a state division issues restaurant licences. In King County, Washington, the county public health department issues food business permits. In Los Angeles County, the cities of Long Beach, Pasadena and Vernon have their own health departments.	U-3
Alcohol	State alcohol agency, often with local approval; plus a federal registration	Every seller of alcohol must register with the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). State licences differ greatly, and some local areas in Texas are completely “dry” (no alcohol sales).	U-4
General business licence or local business tax registration	City or county	The City of Los Angeles requires a Business Tax Registration Certificate. The City of Chicago’s business licensing department issues a Retail Food Establishment License.	U-4, U-5
Zoning (what a building may be used for), building work, signs, certificate of occupancy	City or county	In New York City, the Department of Buildings issues the certificate of occupancy and sign permits.	U-4, U-7
Fire safety, kitchen hoods, fire suppression	Local fire department, under the fire code your state or city has adopted	In New York City, the Fire Department issues a yearly permit for commercial cooking systems.	U-4
Grease and drains	City or county sewer authority	New York City and Los Angeles County set their own grease interceptor rules.	U-4
Sales tax	State tax agency, with local rates added on top	Rates and the treatment of restaurant meals differ by state and by address.	U-5
Minimum wage, tips, overtime	Federal law sets a floor; states and some cities set higher rates	The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but the Department of Labor lists 30 states, plus Washington DC, with a higher state rate (position at 1 July 2026).	U-6
Workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance	State	Each state runs its own workers’ compensation programme. In Texas, most private employers may choose whether to carry it.	U-6
Proving that staff may work in the USA	Federal (Form I-9); some states add E-Verify rules	Arizona requires every employer, and South Carolina all private employers, to use E-Verify, an online checking system; Florida requires it for private employers with 25 or more employees.	U-6
Access for disabled customers; workplace safety	Federal (Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)), with state and local codes	The federal rules apply in every state; Chapter U-4 explains them.	U-4

The FDA Food Code: one model, many versions

Food safety rules show very clearly how the layers work. The FDA writes a document called the Food Code. It is a model code: a full set of recommended food safety rules for restaurants, shops and other food businesses. The FDA itself says the Food Code is not required. It becomes law in a place only when a state, local, tribal or territorial agency adopts it. Many have done so, and the FDA says those agencies regulate more than one million food businesses.

The FDA publishes a new edition every few years, and each state decides when to adopt it. So two states can both “follow the Food Code” while using different editions with different details.

The 2026 edition

The FDA released the 2026 Food Code on 17 September 2026. Among its changes are a requirement for food businesses to keep a written policy on staff illness, new requirements for a food safety management system, “food defense” (the FDA’s term for protecting food from deliberate tampering) added to the knowledge the person in charge of a kitchen must be able to show, and to the staff training that person must arrange, and new rules on disinfecting equipment. Chapter U-3 explains the points that matter most to a small kitchen.

Remember that a new edition changes nothing in your area until your state or local agency adopts it. When this chapter was checked, only two weeks after its release, the FDA’s published adoption figures did not yet cover the 2026 edition, so assume that your area still uses an older edition until your health department tells you otherwise. The FDA’s own figures (below) show that at the end of 2024 many states were still using editions from 2013 or earlier, so adoption of a new edition can take many years.

Which edition does your state use?

The FDA publishes reports on which states have adopted which edition. Its most recent status page is dated 9 December 2025, but the figures on it describe the position on 31 December 2024. So they are already more than a year and a half old. They show:

Edition adopted (at 31 December 2024)	Number of states	Share of the US population
2022 edition	7	16.06%
2022 or 2017 edition	24	51.92%
2022, 2017 or 2013 edition	36	64.64%

The counts are cumulative: the second row includes the seven states in the first row, and so on. The FDA’s full report names the seven states on the 2022 edition as Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah. The remaining states were using older editions.

The FDA keeps a directory called “State Retail and Food Service Codes and Regulations by State”. It links to the agency that regulates restaurants in each state and to that state’s food code. It is the best place to start your search.

Free help

You do not have to work all of this out alone. The USA has a wide network of free or low-cost help for people starting a small business. Use it early, before you sign anything.

The Small Business Administration (SBA)

The SBA’s website has a free business guide. Its “Launch your business” section sets out eight steps, which match the order of much of Part Seven:

1. Pick your business location.
2. Choose a business structure.
3. Choose your business name.
4. Register your business.
5. Get federal and state tax ID numbers.
6. Apply for licenses and permits.
7. Open a business bank account.
8. Get business insurance.

The SBA’s resource partners

The SBA works with partner organisations that give free or low-cost advice and training in your area. The main ones are:

• Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs);
• SCORE, which offers business mentoring;
• Women’s Business Centers;
• Veterans Business Outreach Centers, for people who have served in the armed forces.

The SBA website has a “Get local assistance” search: enter your ZIP code (postal code) to see the offices closest to you. Ask each one what it offers and whether there is any charge. A local adviser often knows exactly which county and city offices a new restaurant in your area will deal with, which can save you many phone calls.

State websites and one-stop portals

Every state has official pages for people starting a business. The IRS keeps a page called “State Government Websites” with links to all 50 states and Washington DC, for information on doing business, taxes and employing staff.

Some states go further and run a one-stop portal: a single website that tells you which permits you need, or lets you apply for several at once. Two examples:

• California: CalGold. You search by type of business and by city or county, and it lists the permits you may need and the contact details of the offices that issue them. It does not issue any permits itself.
• New York: New York Business Express. The state describes it as a one-stop shop for business services. It covers more than 400 business activities and has profiles of more than 1,200 state permits, licences and registrations, more than 100 of which you can apply for online.

In other states the starting point may be a single agency, such as Florida’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants, which issues licences for public food service establishments. Search the name of your state with “start a business” or “business portal”, and make sure the website address ends in .gov (or is clearly linked from an official .gov page).

Finding the rules where you are

Because the rules depend on your exact address, the most useful skill in Part Seven is knowing how to find your own. Here is a method that works in any state.

Step 1: Confirm which local governments cover your address

Find out which county your address is in, and whether it is inside the limits of a city, town or village. A postal address does not always show whether a property is inside a city’s legal limits, and the answer can change which office you deal with. The county or city website, or a phone call to the city clerk’s office (the office that keeps a city’s official records), will tell you.

Step 2: Find the main offices

For most restaurants you will need to contact the offices below. Their names vary; the description tells you what to look for.

• Health department (county, city or state): food permit, plan review of your kitchen design, inspections. Start from the FDA’s state directory (section U-1.3).
• Planning or zoning department (city or county): whether a restaurant is allowed at the address. The SBA says zoning is typically controlled locally and suggests contacting your department of city planning or a similar office.
• Building department (city or county): permits for building work, and the certificate of occupancy, a document that states how a building may legally be used.
• Fire department or fire marshal: kitchen hoods, fire suppression systems, how many people may be inside.
• City or county business licence or tax office: local business licence or business tax registration.
• Secretary of State or a similar state office: forming your business (Chapter U-2). The SBA says that, depending on the state, this is the Secretary of State’s office, a business bureau or a business agency.
• State tax agency: sales tax registration and state taxes (Chapter U-5).
• State alcohol agency, if you will serve alcohol (Chapter U-4).
• State labour department and workers’ compensation agency, once you plan to employ staff (Chapter U-6).

Step 3: Ask good questions

When you speak to each office, have your address and a short description of your business ready (for example, “a 40-seat restaurant serving beer and wine” or “a delivery-only kitchen with no customers on site”). Then ask:

• What permits, licences or registrations do I need from you for this business at this address?
• What do I have to send you, and is there a checklist online?
• Do you need to approve my plans before building work starts? (Health and building departments often do.)
• How long does approval usually take at the moment?
• What are the fees, and when are renewals due?
• Which inspections will happen before I open, and how do I book them?
• Which rules or code edition do you apply, and which other offices should I contact?

Ask for answers in writing, or send a short email confirming what you were told, and keep it with Worksheet U-1.1.

Step 4: Check the code for building work

Building and fire codes are also usually based on model codes, mainly those of the International Code Council (ICC), adopted at different editions and often with local changes. The ICC publishes a map of which codes each state has adopted. Ask the building department which edition applies to you.

How Part Seven is arranged

Part Seven has twelve chapters. Each one sits behind one or more of the core chapters. The core tells you how to do something well; Part Seven tells you what the law in the USA requires, how it differs between states and cities, and how to check your own position.

Chapter	What it covers	Read it with
U-1 How the rules work in the USA	The layers of government, the Food Code, free help, finding your local rules	Chapter 1
U-2 Your business structure	Sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, corporation, S corporation; registering; tax number; names and trademarks	Chapters 2 and 4
U-3 Food safety permits and inspections	Health permits, plan review, inspections and grades, food manager and food handler training, allergens, menu labelling	Chapters 3, 9 and 12
U-4 Other licences and permits	Alcohol, local business licences, zoning, building and fire, grease, outdoor dining, music, disabled access, workplace safety	Chapters 5, 8, 10 and 15
U-5 Sales tax and other taxes	Sales tax on meals, income tax, payroll taxes, tips and tax, local business taxes, records	Chapters 7, 16 and 17
U-6 Employing staff	Minimum wage and tips, overtime, hiring paperwork, insurance, sick leave, breaks, posters	Chapter 13
U-7 Premises and leases	Commercial leases, local tenant protections, zoning checks, access, landlords’ insurance	Chapter 5
U-8 Typical costs in the USA	Real wage, energy, insurance and permit cost levels to compare with your own quotes	Chapters 16 and 17
U-9 Funding	SBA-backed loans, microloans, community lenders, state programmes, equipment finance, cash advances	Chapter 16
U-10 Delivery apps and payments	Delivery app plans and fees, city fee caps, card payments and point-of-sale systems	Chapters 7 and 15
U-11 Terms and money	A glossary of the American terms used in Part Seven	Any chapter
U-12 The USA master checklist and timeline	Every step in order, with timings	Chapter 19

How each chapter is written

Every chapter in Part Seven gives three things: the federal rules that apply in every state; how states and cities differ, with a few clearly labelled examples (“In California … In Texas …”) that show the kind of rule to expect but are never a complete list; and how to find the rules where you are. So if your state is not among the examples, the chapter still tells you what to look for and where.

How to use Part Seven with the core chapters

1. Read the core first. Work through a core chapter as you plan. Where it says the rules depend on your country, it sends you to a chapter in Part Seven.
2. Then read the matching Part Seven chapter. Note each legal step you must take, and which office you must contact.
3. Put each step into your plan. Many steps take weeks. For example, King County in Washington State warned when we checked that the first review of a new restaurant’s plans may take up to 8 to 10 weeks, and in California a new alcohol licence cannot be issued for at least 30 days after you apply. Chapter U-12 brings all the steps together with timings.
4. Check before you act. Every Part Seven chapter ends with a list of official pages. Open them, check the date on the page, and make sure the figures have not changed.

Duties that apply to almost every business

Some duties do not depend on whether you sell food. They apply to almost every business in the USA. Here they are in brief, with the chapter that explains each one.

• Register your business and get a tax number. An LLC or corporation registers with the state, and many businesses, including every business that employs staff, need a free employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS (Chapter U-2).
• Pay tax on your profits, in a way that depends on your business structure, and collect sales tax where your state taxes meals. Sales tax you collect is not your money; you hold it for the state (Chapter U-5).
• Keep records. The IRS says records should generally be kept for at least three years, and employment tax records for at least four (Chapter U-5).
• Follow employer rules from the day you hire. These include Form I-9 (proof that each new employee may work in the USA), reporting new employees to your state within 20 days of hire (some states require it sooner), paying at least the minimum wage that applies to you, displaying the required posters, and the insurance your state requires for employers (Chapter U-6).
• Serve disabled customers fairly. Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, restaurants of any size are “public accommodations” and must remove barriers to access where that is “readily achievable”, meaning it can be done without much difficulty or expense (Chapter U-4).
• Report serious injuries at work. Every employer covered by OSHA must report a work-related death within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospital stay, an amputation or the loss of an eye within 24 hours (Chapters U-4 and U-6).
• Insure your business. Landlords, lenders and some permits may require cover beyond what the law requires for employers (Chapters U-7 and U-8).

One duty that many owners have read about no longer applies to US companies: the federal “beneficial ownership” report. Chapter U-2 explains what changed in 2025 and 2026.

How to keep up to date

Rules change often, at every layer. In the fifteen months before this chapter was checked, for example, a federal law signed in July 2025 changed several tax rules for tips and overtime, the federal government ended beneficial ownership reporting for American companies, and the FDA released a new Food Code. These habits will keep you on a sure and secure path:

• Use official pages. Federal, state and local government websites usually end in .gov. Blogs and forums are often out of date or written for another state.
• Check the date. If a figure matters to you, confirm it on the official page on the day you act.
• Ask your advisers. At least once a year, ask your accountant, and your SBDC or SCORE adviser: “Has anything changed that affects my business?”
• Review once a year. Chapter 20 suggests a yearly review of your business. Add a check of your registrations, permits, renewal dates and insurance, and update Worksheet U-1.1.