Florida Food Vendor Permit: Agencies, Fees, and Inspections

To sell food to the public in Florida, you almost always need a Florida food vendor permit from either the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) or the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), depending on what you sell and how you prepare it. Operating without the required license is a second-degree misdemeanor.¹ Getting licensed means picking the right agency, lining up a commissary if you’re mobile, passing plan review, paying your fees, and clearing an opening inspection before you serve a customer.

Check the Cottage Food Exemption First

Some home-based food sellers don’t need a state food permit at all. Florida lets home bakers, candy makers, and similar low-risk producers sell directly to consumers without a permit from FDACS, as long as annual gross sales stay at or below $250,000.² Qualifying products are shelf-stable items that don’t need refrigeration to stay safe: breads, cookies, cakes, jams, honey, dried herbs, granola, candy, and homemade pasta, among others.

Cottage food products must be prepackaged and labeled with the operation’s name and address, ingredients in descending order by weight, net weight or volume, allergen information, and the required disclaimer that the product was “Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida’s food safety regulations.” You can sell online, at farmers markets, by mail order, or in person. Wholesale is off-limits. Local governments cannot ban cottage food operations or add their own rules on top of state law.²

If you plan to cook hot food, sell potentially hazardous items, or run a mobile unit, cottage food rules don’t cover you. You’ll need a full license.

Figure Out Which Agency Licenses You

Florida splits food regulation across three agencies. Picking the wrong one wastes weeks.

DBPR’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants licenses operations that cook or prepare food for immediate consumption, including restaurants, food trucks (mobile food dispensing vehicles), caterers, and temporary food service events. The division adopts sanitation rules, approves facility plans, inspects establishments, and handles enforcement.³

FDACS covers the retail and commercial food supply chain under Chapter 500: grocery stores, convenience stores, bakeries, seafood markets, food processing plants, warehouses, and mobile units that sell only prepackaged or non-potentially-hazardous food.⁴

The Florida Department of Health keeps a role under Florida Administrative Code Chapter 64E-11 for certain temporary events and for vending machines at facilities defined as food service establishments under Section 381.0072.⁵ If you’re setting up at a festival or fair, start with the event organizer, who typically coordinates permitting with the right agency.

A quick test: a food truck cooking burgers to order goes through DBPR. A mobile cart selling sealed bags of kettle corn goes through FDACS. When your operation sits on the line, call the agency you think applies and describe what you do before filing anything.

Line Up a Commissary if You’re Mobile

Mobile food dispensing vehicles licensed by DBPR usually have to work out of a commissary: a licensed commercial kitchen that serves as the unit’s home base for restocking, waste disposal, and cleaning. The administrative code requires mobile vehicles to report to their commissary at least once every day they operate.⁶

The commissary must supply potable water and adequate facilities for disposing of liquid and solid waste. If it includes a servicing area for cleaning mobile units, that area has to be physically separated from other food operations and surfaced with a smooth, nonabsorbent material like concrete. Before you begin operating, notify the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of each commissary you’ll use by filing Form DBPR HR-7022.⁶

There’s one way out. Self-sufficient mobile food dispensing vehicles are exempt from the commissary requirement.⁶ A self-sufficient unit carries its own potable water, wastewater capacity, and cleaning equipment adequate to operate without outside support. The upfront cost is higher. You skip the monthly commissary bill and the daily return trip.

Submit a Plan Review for Mobile Units

New mobile food dispensing vehicles must clear a DBPR plan review before they can be licensed. Plan review is also required when a unit is remodeled or reopened after being closed for 18 months or more.⁷ This is where the division confirms the layout meets minimum sanitation standards before you finish the build.

Your submission must include:

Scaled proportional drawings showing all kitchen equipment, plumbing, and storage, plus a side view of the vehicle, the hand wash sink, a three-compartment dishwashing sink if applicable, potable and wastewater tank sizes in gallons, and the location of service openings
A proposed menu, submitted separately
Equipment specifications for anything that isn’t standard food service equipment
Form DBPR HR-7022 for each commissary, unless the unit is self-sufficient
Your Florida Sales Tax Number (or proof of exemption), Federal Employer Identification Number, and Social Security Number or ITIN

A detail that catches people off guard: the wastewater holding tank must be at least 15 percent larger than the potable water tank.⁷ Plan approval means the layout appears to meet minimum requirements. It does not guarantee the license will issue. After approval, DBPR contacts you to schedule the opening inspection.

Fees and How to Apply

DBPR Food Service Operations

For public food service establishments regulated by DBPR, the initial application includes a one-time fee of up to $50 to cover the cost of initiating regulation, plus an annual license fee based on seating capacity and services offered. The annual fee cannot exceed $400 per establishment. Apply more than six months before the next annual renewal period and you pay the full license fee; apply within six months of renewal and you pay half.⁸ Let your license lapse past the expiration date and a delinquent fee of up to $50 is tacked on to the renewal.

Applications go through DBPR’s online portal or by mail. Every applicant has to create and maintain an online account with the division and provide an email address as the primary contact for all communications.¹

FDACS Food Establishments

FDACS permit fees depend on timing. An initial permit application received between January and June costs $650 plus an epidemiology fee. Applications received between July and December cost $325 plus the epidemiology fee. Annual renewal is $650 plus the epidemiology fee, with a $100 late fee if you miss the deadline.⁹

Pass the Opening Inspection

After DBPR approves your plans and processes your application, the division schedules a mandatory opening inspection. The inspector verifies that the physical unit matches your approved plans, that required equipment is installed and working, and that sanitation procedures are in place. The license issues only after the unit passes.

If it fails, you’ll receive a list of deficiencies to correct before re-inspection. Common failures include undersized wastewater tanks, missing hand wash sinks, inadequate hot water supply, and gaps in overhead protection at service openings. Fixing these after the build is far more expensive than catching them during plan review.

Once issued, your license must be conspicuously displayed in the unit. If you offer catering, your license number has to appear on all catering advertising.¹

Food Safety Certification

Florida law requires food service employees to obtain food safety certification within 60 days of being hired, and that certification is valid for three years. The establishment itself typically needs at least one certified food protection manager on staff who has passed an accredited examination and oversees safe handling during storage, preparation, and service. Solo operator? That person is you.

Training and testing of food service personnel is preempted to the state, so local governments cannot layer on their own training requirements.³ Several ANSI-accredited programs run the food handler certificate and the food protection manager exam online, and most can be finished in a day.

Register for Sales Tax and an EIN Before You Apply

Food sold for immediate consumption by restaurants, food trucks, caterers, and similar operations is subject to Florida’s 6% state sales tax plus any applicable local discretionary surtax, whether customers eat at your window or take it to go.¹⁰ Register for a Florida Sales Tax Number before you begin operating; DBPR’s license application requires it.⁷

You’ll also want a Federal Employer Identification Number from the IRS. The DBPR application calls for one. Applying is free and happens instantly online. Sole proprietors with no employees can technically use their Social Security Number, but most vendors get an EIN anyway to keep personal and business filings apart.

Local Permits, Zoning, and Fire Inspections

Your state license covers health and sanitation. It does not give you the right to park and sell food wherever you want.

Most counties and municipalities require a Local Business Tax Receipt before you can operate within their jurisdiction, and they’ll usually ask to see your state license first. Local zoning ordinances control where the unit can park, what hours you can operate, and how close you can set up to brick-and-mortar restaurants.

Florida law preempts local governments from requiring a separate license, registration, or permit beyond the state license under Section 509.241, and from charging any additional licensing fee beyond the state fee under Section 509.251, as a condition for operating a mobile food dispensing vehicle. Local governments also cannot ban mobile food vendors from operating anywhere within their entire jurisdiction. They do retain the power to regulate how and where the vehicle operates, including parking restrictions, vending locations, and noise ordinances. The preemption does not apply to port authorities, aviation authorities, airports, or seaports, which set their own rules.¹¹

Mobile units using propane, deep fryers, or commercial cooking equipment often need a fire safety inspection and permit from the local fire department. The state preemption on licensing does not extend to fire code enforcement, and local fire marshals have independent authority to inspect food trucks for compliance.³

1
FindLaw. Florida Statutes Title XXXIII – Section 509.241
2
Justia Law. Florida Statutes 500.80 – Cottage Food Operations
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 509.032 – Duties
4
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Food Establishments
5
Florida Department of Health. Florida Administrative Code 64E-11 – Food Hygiene
6
Cornell Law Institute. Florida Administrative Code 61C-4.0161 – Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicles
7
DBPR. Application for Mobile Public Food Service Establishment License and Plan Review
8
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 509.251 – License Fees
9
Cornell Law Institute. Florida Administrative Code 5K-11.002 – Permits and Fees
10
Florida Department of Revenue. Sales and Use Tax on Restaurants and Catering
11
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 509.102 – Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicles; Preemption