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Hennepin County

Hennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental Health

In short

Hennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental Health issues 8 permits we publish for Hennepin County, last verified 2026-09-28. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Food Establishment License (annual)Hennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental Health$100–$1,040 a year, 2026 schedule, by risk/complexity tier, plus a flat fee for each additional facility at the same site: Low Limited (packaged snacks only, portable bar, half-day childcare with snacks/milk only) $100 + $50; Low (convenience store, coffee fountain-only, sales-only bakery) $215 + $108; Medium Limited (small grocery, cafeteria/catering with no on-site prep) $405 + $202; Medium Small (large grocery, bar, catering food vehicle, small kitchen ≤10 meals, pizza) $612 + $305; High Small (full menu, under 175 seats and/or under 500 meals — family restaurant, fast food, deli, caterer) $807 + $404; High Large (full menu, over 175 seats or over 500 meals) $1,040 + $518annual; license period February 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027 for most categories (mobile units and seasonal stands instead run April 1 to March 31)2026-09-28
Special / Short-Term Event Food License (10 days or fewer)only if it applies to youHennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental HealthPer single event, by food category and preparation location (2026 schedule): high-risk food sold on-site $102 for the first day plus $11 per additional day; high-risk food prepared off-site and not sold on-site $204 first day plus $32 additional; low-risk food sold on-site $51 first day plus $11 additional; low-risk food prepared off-site $102 first day plus $32 additional. A $51 late-processing fee applies if the application is filed fewer than 10 days before the event.per event; up to 10 days2026-09-28
Body Art Establishment Licenseonly if it applies to youHennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental HealthHennepin County Public Health sets the standing body art establishment license and plan-review fees by resolution of the County Board; the county's own license page points applicants to that fee-resolution document rather than stating a dollar figure directly, so no annual establishment fee is stated here — confirm the current amount with Hennepin County Environmental Health, 612-543-5200. The county's separate temporary/special-event body art booth permit IS priced with a figure: $100 per licensed technician plus $20 for each additional day of a multi-day event, up to 21 days.not stated on the county's body art license page; Hennepin County Public Health's other license programs (food, pool) run on an annual cycle2026-09-28
Mobile Food Unit License (food truck, cart, trailer)Hennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental Health$612 for the first mobile food unit at a location, $305 for each additional unit under the same ownership at that location (2026 schedule). A unit already licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health, or by Minneapolis, Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Minnetonka or Richfield, pays a $223 reciprocity rate to operate temporarily in a Hennepin-jurisdiction city instead of the full fee.annual; license period April 1, 2026 to March 31, 20272026-09-28
Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) Permitonly if it applies to youHennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental HealthHennepin County's own septic-systems page states that SSTS permit fees are set 'from time to time' by resolution of the County Board rather than published as a fixed schedule; confirm the current dollar figure with Hennepin County Public Health Environmental Health, 612-543-5200, before budgeting.per installation, alteration or compliance inspection; no fixed renewal term published2026-09-28
Public Swimming Pool / Spa License (annual)only if it applies to youHennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental HealthPrimary pool $521 a year; each additional pool or spa on the same property $327; a required re-inspection is $94; opening a pool without the required inspection is $133 (2026 schedule).annual; licenses expire the last day of March each year, with renewal applications due to the County Board before April 12026-09-28
Retail Tobacco Licenseonly if it applies to youHennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental HealthHennepin County's own retail tobacco license page does not state a dollar fee amount; confirm the current figure with Hennepin County Public Health, 612-543-5200, before applying.annual; license year March 1 to the last day of February the following year2026-09-28
Well Permit — Minnesota Department of Health Notification (Hennepin County)only if it applies to youHennepin County Public Health, Epidemiology and Environmental HealthNo feenot applicable at the county level — Minn. Stat. §103I.205 preempts county well permitting unless the Commissioner of Health has delegated it under §103I.1112026-09-28

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

Food Establishment License (annual)

Any food establishment — restaurant, cafe, bar, caterer, grocery or convenience store, or a group child care center serving snacks or meals — must hold this annual license before operating in any Hennepin County city EXCEPT Minneapolis, Bloomington, Edina, Richfield, Minnetonka and Brooklyn Park, which each run their own independent MDH-delegated program instead. Wayzata is covered by the county's program, not excluded from it: the City of Wayzata's own site confirms Hennepin County took over food, beverage, lodging and pool program service there effective February 1, 2025, and the county's own jurisdiction map marks that same 2025 start date. A typical full-service restaurant falls in High Small or High Large; a coffee shop serving only fountain drinks with no on-site food prep is Low, while one that bakes or prepares food is priced higher at plan review. Two related fee lines beyond the six main tiers: a temporary or seasonal food stand (a structure, not a vehicle) is $405 for the first stand and $202 for each additional stand on the 2026 schedule, and a HACCP-plan annual audit (cured or smoked meat, reduced-oxygen packaging) is $209. Non-exempt vending machines are $20 each ($5 for globe machines), and delivery/transport vehicles and carts are $51 first/$15 additional (non-potentially-hazardous) or $106 first/$32 additional (potentially hazardous or temperature-controlled). Minneapolis, Bloomington, Edina, Richfield, Minnetonka and Brooklyn Park restaurants are instead licensed and inspected by that city's own health department under its own ordinance — not by Hennepin County and not directly by the state either.

Special / Short-Term Event Food License (10 days or fewer)

A restaurant, coffee shop or food truck selling food at a one-off event of 10 days or fewer in a Hennepin-jurisdiction city — a fair, festival or pop-up — uses this short-term license instead of the annual food establishment or mobile unit license. The fee depends on whether the food is high-risk (needing cooking, cooling or hot-holding) or low-risk, and on whether it is prepared and sold at the same location or prepared elsewhere and transported in; filing close to the event date adds a $51 late fee on top of the base amount. This license, like the annual food licenses above, applies only in a city under Hennepin County's food program — not in Minneapolis, Bloomington, Edina, Richfield, Minnetonka or Brooklyn Park, each of which runs its own temporary-event food permit instead.

Body Art Establishment License

A salon or other business performing tattooing, body piercing or permanent cosmetic makeup needs this establishment license — EXCEPT in seven cities that run their own independent body-art inspection programs: Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, New Hope and Richfield. This list is NOT the same as the six-city food/pool exclusion list: New Hope is on the body-art exclusion list even though it IS covered by Hennepin County's food program, so a city's status under one program cannot be assumed to carry over to the other. Wayzata is on neither exclusion list — it is covered by the county for both food/pool and body art. A hair or nail salon without piercing or tattoo services is outside this license; only a salon that itself offers ear piercing beyond a single-use stud-and-clasp system, microblading/permanent makeup, or tattooing needs it. Every individual technician, regardless of which city or county licenses the establishment, separately needs the state Department of Health's own body art technician license under Minn. Stat. Ch. 146B — an individual credential, not a business-premises license, and out of scope for this establishment-level record.

Mobile Food Unit License (food truck, cart, trailer)

A food truck, cart or trailer operating in a Hennepin-jurisdiction city needs its own annual mobile food unit license, on a different license year (April to March) than the general food establishment license. The reciprocity rate applies to a unit that already holds a current license from the state or from one of the six cities that run their own independent food programs — Minneapolis, Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Minnetonka or Richfield — and wants to operate temporarily in a county-jurisdiction city without paying the full local fee twice. Wayzata is a county-jurisdiction city for this purpose (it joined the county's program February 1, 2025), so a unit based in Wayzata pays the standard county mobile-unit fee, not the reciprocity rate. Where a truck may physically park is a separate zoning/right-of-way question set by each city, not this license.

Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) Permit

Any of the ten industries this site tracks, if sited on a commercial or rural-fringe parcel that runs on a septic system rather than municipal sewer, needs SSTS permit approval and compliance inspection before the city will issue its own building permit. This runs on a THIRD city-by-city roster, different from both the food/pool six-city list and the body-art seven-city list: only five cities currently run their own independent SSTS program instead of the county's — Dayton, Independence, Medina, Orono and Woodland — confirmed directly against the county's own current septic-systems page. Every other Hennepin County city, including Minneapolis, Edina, Minnetonka, Brooklyn Park, Bloomington and Richfield — all six of which are EXCLUDED from the food/pool program — IS under the county's SSTS jurisdiction for any unsewered parcel within it. Unsewered commercial parcels that do fall under the county's own SSTS program include pockets of Greenfield, Minnetrista and Maple Plain; Independence is not a valid example of county SSTS jurisdiction, since it runs its own program.

Public Swimming Pool / Spa License (annual)

A fitness studio or gym with an indoor or outdoor pool, wading pool or spa/hot tub needs this annual license, following the same six-city jurisdiction map as food licensing: a pool in Minneapolis, Bloomington, Edina, Richfield, Minnetonka or Brooklyn Park is licensed by that city, not Hennepin County. Wayzata is covered by the county's pool program, having joined the same February 1, 2025 delegation that added its food and lodging program. A fitness studio without a pool, spa or hot tub is outside this record — this is the only county programme a plain gym or studio is likely to trip. Each pool on a property needs its own separate license and fee; a property with a main pool and a hot tub pays $521 plus $327, not $521 twice.

Retail Tobacco License

This license reaches only a narrow slice of the county: the unorganized territory of Fort Snelling and any city or town without its own compliant tobacco ordinance, which in practice is a short, named list — Greenfield, Mound, Rockford, Rogers, St. Bonifacius, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Minneapolis and nearly every other Hennepin County city run their own tobacco licensing and are excluded; the county's own page confirms directly that 'retail establishments licensed by a city or town are not required to obtain a second license for the same location under this ordinance,' so this is a substitute for a city license where one exists, not an addition to it. Relevant only to a retail-store (for example, a convenience store) actually sited in one of those specific small cities or at the airport; a retail-store anywhere else in the county should check its own city's tobacco ordinance instead. Compliance checks using persons under 21 apply regardless of which government issues the license.

Well Permit — Minnesota Department of Health Notification (Hennepin County)

No fee applies at the county level: under Minn. Stat. §103I.205, well notification to the Minnesota Department of Health governs a well's construction, and the statute states that 'counties or home rule charter or statutory cities may not require a permit or notification for wells unless the commissioner has delegated the permitting or notification authority under section 103I.111.' Hennepin County does not appear on the Minnesota Department of Health's list of delegated well programs, so a restaurant, veterinary clinic, auto-repair shop or any other business needing a water well on a commercial site in the county files the state notification rather than a county permit. That same Department of Health list does name two Hennepin County cities, Bloomington and Minneapolis, as running delegated well programs, which provide local permitting and inspection and may charge their own fees; a well inside either city goes through that city's program.

Contact

Jurisdiction
Hennepin County
Phone
612-543-5200

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.

  1. 2026 Body Art Special Event Health Permit Booth Application — $100 per licensed technician plus $20 per additional dayHennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  2. 2026 Food, Beverage & Lodging License Fees (PDF)Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  3. Body Art Code Ordinance (Ordinance 23), effective November 15, 2022Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  4. Body art license — states the seven cities with their own independent body-art programs (Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, New Hope, Richfield)Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  5. Environmental Health jurisdiction map (PDF) — marks per-suburb county-program start dates, including Wayzata 2025Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  6. Food and restaurants licensing — the City of Minneapolis's own independent food program (outside Hennepin County's jurisdiction)City of Minneapolis · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  7. Food Protection Ordinance (Ordinance 3), effective March 12, 2019Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  8. Food, pools and lodging licenses — states which cities are NOT regulated by the county (fetched live: Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Richfield)Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  9. Minn. Stat. §103I.205 — state well-notification preemption ('counties ... may not require a permit or notification for wells')Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  10. Public Swimming Pool Ordinance (Ordinance 4), effective November 15, 2022Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  11. Retail tobacco license — annual license, March 1 to the last day of February; a city-licensed retailer needs no second county licenseHennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  12. Retail Tobacco Sales Ordinance (Ordinance 21), effective January 1, 2020, enacted under Minn. Stat. §§461.12–461.18Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  13. Septic systems — states the current five-city SSTS exclusion list (Dayton, Independence, Medina, Orono, Woodland) and that fees are set 'from time to time' by County Board resolutionHennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  14. Subsurface Sewage Treatment Systems Standards Ordinance (Ordinance 19), authorized under Minn. Stat. Chs. 115, 145A and Minn. Rules Chs. 7080–7082Hennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29
  15. Swimming pool license — annual license expiring the last day of March each yearHennepin County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-29

Other offices serving Hennepin County

The full permit list for this jurisdiction

Industry permit lists that include this agency

Minnesota jurisdictions

Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.