Rapid City
South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Health Protection
In short
South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Health Protection issues 1 permit we publish for Rapid City, last verified 2026-09-14. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food Service Establishment License (State-issued under municipal delegation) | South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Health Protection | Set by statute at SDCL 34-18-11 rather than by the City, and banded by seating: $90.00 for a food service establishment with no seating, $120.00 for one to fifty seats, $180.00 for fifty-one to one hundred seats and $225.00 for one hundred one or more seats. SDCL 34-18-10.4 adds a one-time initial license fee of $100.00 for a new food service establishment. A temporary food service establishment license is $38.00 under SDCL 34-18-17. Plan review for a new or extensively remodelled establishment is charged separately by the Department of Health. Rapid City itself charges nothing for the food license. | annual, on the South Dakota Department of Health's license year | 2026-09-14 |
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 Service Establishment License (State-issued under municipal delegation)
This is the structural difference between Rapid City and Sioux Falls, and it changes who a restaurant operator deals with entirely. Sioux Falls runs its own health department and charges $181.00 to $362.00 by floor area; under RCMC 8.32.020 Rapid City sets no food license of its own and instead requires compliance with 'state law and county health regulations,' so the operative license is the statutory one, banded by seating at $90.00 to $225.00 a year under SDCL 34-18-11. Two layers therefore sit above the City rather than one, and the second is easy to miss: §8.32.020 names county health regulations expressly, so Pennington County's rules apply alongside the State's. The practical consequences are worth knowing in advance — inspections are scheduled by the State's Office of Health Protection rather than by a local inspector, plan review for a new build goes to Pierre, and there is no municipal appeal from a state inspection finding. A Rapid City restaurant still needs its city building permit, certificate of occupancy, sign permit and, if it serves alcohol, a city alcoholic beverage license, so City Hall is not out of the picture; it simply does not license the food.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Rapid City
- Phone
- (605) 773-4945
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.
- Food and Lodging Safety licensure — the South Dakota Department of Health's own current page for the statewide food service establishment license under SDCL ch. 34-18, which applies alongside or in place of a municipal license depending on jurisdictionSouth Dakota Department of Health · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Rapid City Municipal Code, current through Ordinance 6733 and legislation passed through July 20, 2026, hosted by ICC Code Solutions — Title 5 (Business Regulations and Licenses, including §5.04 business licenses generally, §5.48.010 prohibiting sales from a vehicle on a public street, ch. 5.50 mobile ice cream vendors and ch. 5.56 sidewalk vendors, with ch. 5.44 repealed), Title 6 (Animals, including §6.08.050 kennel licence and the veterinary exemption), Title 8 (Health and Safety, including §8.32.020 food establishments), Title 15 (Buildings and Construction, including §15.04.070 certificate of occupancy and §15.04.140 contractor licenses) and Title 17 (Zoning)City of Rapid City, codified by ICC Code Solutions · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
- SDCL 34-18-11 — the statutory food service establishment licence fee schedule set by the South Dakota Legislature, which governs in Rapid City because the municipal code defers to the state licenceSouth Dakota Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-14
Other offices serving Rapid City
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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