The tax on restaurant food in Illinois starts at the state’s 6.25% sales tax rate and climbs from there, with county, municipal, and transit add-ons pushing the total past 11% in parts of downtown Chicago. Prepared food is treated as general merchandise, so none of the recent grocery tax relief applies to a restaurant check.
The 6.25% State Rate
Illinois taxes most tangible goods at 6.25% under the Retailers’ Occupation Tax, and restaurant food is squarely in that bucket. The statute separates groceries from food “prepared for immediate consumption,” and anything in the second category pays the full rate.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 35 ILCS 120/2-10 – Rate of Tax
Takeout and delivery don’t lower the rate. What matters is whether the food was prepared for immediate eating, not whether you eat it at a table or carry it home. A pizza you pick up and a pizza you order to a booth are taxed identically.
Why the 2026 Grocery Tax Repeal Doesn’t Help You at a Restaurant
Starting January 1, 2026, Illinois eliminated its 1% state sales tax on groceries. That change is what people mean when they say Illinois “got rid of the food tax,” and it covers only unprepared items like raw produce, canned goods, and milk. Restaurant meals, soft drinks, candy, and alcohol stay at the full 6.25% general merchandise rate.2Illinois Department of Revenue. Illinois Grocery Tax Changes Effective January 1, 2026
The same law lets municipalities and counties adopt their own 1% local grocery tax by ordinance, so some shoppers still see a grocery tax on everyday staples depending on where they live. That local option, like the repeal itself, applies only to unprepared groceries.2Illinois Department of Revenue. Illinois Grocery Tax Changes Effective January 1, 2026
What Counts as Prepared Food
The Illinois Administrative Code casts a wide net. All hot food is prepared food regardless of where you buy it, so a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, soup from a deli counter, and coffee from a café all pay the high rate. So does any cold sandwich made to your individual order, anything from a self-serve salad or sushi bar, and any food sold for eating on the premises.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code 86 Section 130.310 – Food, Soft Drinks and Candy
Some items that look like restaurant food escape the high rate. Bakery items such as doughnuts, cookies, and bagels sold for off-premises eating qualify for the lower rate, along with whole pies, cakes, and breads. Pre-made cold sandwiches sitting in a deli case, cheese and fruit trays, and cold salads sold by weight get the same favorable treatment. The dividing line is whether someone behind the counter prepared the item for you on the spot, or whether it was already made and waiting.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code 86 Section 130.310 – Food, Soft Drinks and Candy
Local and County Add-Ons
The 6.25% state rate is a floor. Home rule municipalities can layer on their own retailers’ occupation tax in quarter-percent increments with no statutory ceiling.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 65 ILCS 5/8-11-1 – Home Rule Municipal Retailers Occupation Tax Home rule counties have the same authority on the same quarter-percent schedule.5Illinois Department of Revenue. Home Rule and Non-Home Rule Sales Taxes Two restaurants fifteen minutes apart can charge noticeably different totals.
In the six-county Chicago metro area, the Regional Transportation Authority adds another layer. Cook County restaurants collect an extra 1.25%; restaurants in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties collect 0.75%. The money funds the CTA, Metra, and Pace.6Illinois Department of Revenue. Mass Transit District Sales Tax
Why Chicago Restaurants Cost More in Tax
Chicago imposes two taxes you won’t see anywhere else in Illinois. The city’s own restaurant tax adds 0.5% to food and beverage sales at any eating establishment, citywide.7City of Chicago. Restaurant Tax (7525)
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority tax, often called the McCormick Place tax, adds another 1% to food and beverage sales inside defined zones around O’Hare, Midway, and a large central area covering downtown, the Loop, the Near North Side, and the Near South Side. The money funds convention center and tourism infrastructure.8Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 70 ILCS 210/13 – Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Retailers Occupation Tax
Stack all of it together downtown and the combined rate on a restaurant meal can top 11%. The exact figure depends on which overlapping districts cover the specific address, but Loop diners routinely pay some of the highest effective food tax rates in the country.
Delivery and Third-Party Apps
Ordering through DoorDash, Uber Eats, or any other app doesn’t change the rate. Prepared food for delivery pays the same 6.25% state rate plus local taxes as a dine-in meal.9Illinois Department of Revenue. Tax Rate Information for Retail Sales of Food and Medicine (PIO-115)
For deliveries, the local rate is based on the destination, not the restaurant. A restaurant in a low-tax suburb delivering into a high-tax municipality must collect the higher rate on that order.9Illinois Department of Revenue. Tax Rate Information for Retail Sales of Food and Medicine (PIO-115) That’s why two identical orders from the same restaurant can show different tax amounts on different days.
Tips and Mandatory Service Charges
A voluntary tip isn’t taxed. Leave 20% for your server and none of it hits the sales tax line.10Illinois Department of Revenue. ST 24-0019-GIL
Mandatory service charges work differently than most diners assume. A mandatory gratuity is exempt from sales tax as long as the restaurant turns the full amount over to the employees who prepared, served, or cleaned up the meal. The charge has to be separately stated on the bill and genuinely function as a tip substitute.11Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code 86 Section 130.2145 – Vendors of Meals
Tax applies only to the portion a restaurant keeps for its own costs, such as wages, benefits, or overhead. If a restaurant adds an 18% service charge for large parties and uses part of it to subsidize kitchen labor instead of passing it to servers, the retained portion becomes taxable as part of the selling price. If the restaurant’s books show the money was paid out as wages rather than gratuities, the entire charge becomes taxable.10Illinois Department of Revenue. ST 24-0019-GIL So if a mandatory charge appears on your bill with sales tax calculated on top of it, that’s a signal the restaurant is treating it as retained revenue rather than a true gratuity.