Arkansas — statewide
Arkansas Department of Health, Food Protection Program
In short
Arkansas Department of Health, Food Protection Program issues 4 permits we publish for Arkansas — statewide, last verified 2026-09-04. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certified Food Protection Manageronly if it applies to you | Arkansas Department of Health, Food Protection Program | No fee | 5 years | 2026-09-04 |
| Cosmetology Establishment License | Arkansas Department of Health, Food Protection Program | $100 one-time to open; renewal is $50 a year | annual | 2026-09-04 |
| Food Service Establishment Permit | Arkansas Department of Health, Food Protection Program | $35 a year; multiple permit types at one address are capped at $105 total | annual, not transferable | 2026-09-04 |
| Plumbing Licenseonly if it applies to you | Arkansas Department of Health, Food Protection Program | $200 a year for a master plumber; a journeyman is $75 a year | annual — master, journeyman and apprentice licenses expire 31 December; several restricted licenses expire 30 June instead | 2026-09-04 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Certified Food Protection Manager
No state fee — the certificate comes from an accredited private testing programme at that programme's price, valid five years once earned. Only one supervisory employee per establishment needs to hold it, and the requirement only became mandatory from 7 September 2019, with a year's grace given to businesses already operating at that date to come into compliance. There is no separate statewide food handler card mandate at all; only the manager-level certification is a state requirement.
Cosmetology Establishment License
A hundred dollars to open a salon and $50 a year to keep it licensed, issued by the health department's own cosmetology section rather than the labour department — a barber shop is licensed entirely separately, by a different board, and priced differently; see the barbershop registration record. Relocating a salon is a further $50; a name change or an ownership change is $25 each, $50 if doing both together, and a duplicate license is $10.
Food Service Establishment Permit
A modest $35 a year, and it does not multiply endlessly even where a single location needs more than one permit type — the statute caps the combined total at $105 regardless of how many categories a site holds. A temporary establishment is priced by the day instead, at $5, and a renewal filed more than sixty days late carries a late fee equal to half of what the renewal itself would have cost. Public school cafeterias, nonprofit fundraising food sales, and retail food stores under $150,000 in gross sales are exempt from the fee, though not from inspection.
Plumbing License
Plumbing is licensed by the health department's own plumbing programme rather than the labour and licensing department that handles electrical and HVAC — an agency placement easy to get wrong by analogy to those two trades. A master plumber pays $200 a year, a journeyman $75, and several restricted categories run on a different calendar entirely: a restricted solar mechanic pays the journeyman rate while a restricted supervising solar mechanic, restricted residential maintenance plumber, or restricted water and sewer service line installer each pay the master rate. Late renewal adds a penalty of $5 for every month overdue.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Arkansas — statewide
- Phone
- (501) 661-2171
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Arkansas Code of Rules 007.04.19, rule 8 — plumbing license fee scheduleArkansas Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Arkansas Code section 20-57-204 — food service establishment permit feesState of Arkansas · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Arkansas Department of Health — cosmetology establishment fee scheduleArkansas Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Arkansas Department of Health — food protection FAQ, the certified food protection manager requirement effective 7 September 2019Arkansas Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
Other Arkansas statewide offices
- Arkansas Secretary of State, Business and Commercial Services Division
- Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board
- Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration
- Arkansas Board of Electrical Examiners
- Arkansas Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education
- Arkansas HVACR Licensing Board
- Arkansas State Board of Barber Examiners
- Arkansas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners
Arkansas jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.