Fort Worth
Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division
In short
Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division issues 13 permits we publish for Fort Worth, last verified 2026-08-24. 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 Permit Change of Ownershiponly if it applies to you | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $200 per change of ownership | one-time | 2026-08-24 |
| Food Handler Certificate | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $10–$16 per person, by course route | two years | 2026-08-24 |
| Food Manager Certification | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $85 for the online class | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Fixed Food Establishment Annual Permit | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $258–$773 per year, banded by gross annual food sales | annual | 2026-08-24 |
| Pre-Permit Request for Servicesonly if it applies to you | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $150 per request | one-time | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Event Food and Beverage Booth | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $52 per booth | per event | 2026-08-24 |
| Hotel and Motel Permit | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $580–$773 per year, full or limited service | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Child Care Facility Permit | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $385 per year, plus $5 per employee | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Annual Farmers Market Food Vendor Permit | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $100 per vendor, per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Food Establishment Plan Review | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $165–$500 by square footage | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Swimming Pool, Spa and Aquatic Sprayground Permit | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $580 per pool or spa, per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Consumer Health Reinspectiononly if it applies to you | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | $200 per site inspection | per inspection | 2026-08-24 |
| Annual Farmers Market Permit | Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division | No fee — per market, per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
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 Permit Change of Ownership
$200 when a food business changes hands. A permit does not simply transfer with the premises, so budget this into any acquisition alongside the annual permit itself. Reissuing a permit for other reasons is $100, and a required re-inspection is $200.
Food Handler Certificate
$16 for a class at the Consumer Health Division's main office or taught at your own facility by Consumer Health staff, $12 through a contract trainer with approved curriculum, and $10 for the city's own online class — so the online route is nearly 40% cheaper and the difference compounds across a whole kitchen. Valid two years. Note the payment rule for on-site classes: no payments are accepted at the facility, and the full amount is due at the Consumer Health main office.
Food Manager Certification
$85 for the City of Fort Worth online food manager class and $40 for the test — $125 in total if you take both through the city. A duplicate permit or certificate is $5.
Fixed Food Establishment Annual Permit
$258 up to $49,999.99 in gross annual food sales; $515 from $50,000 to $149,999.99; $773 at $150,000 or more. Read the footnote: Fort Worth charges the $773 top fee by DEFAULT and only applies $258 or $515 when the business supplies proof of lesser gross annual sales. A new operator who does not volunteer that evidence pays three times more than they need to. Change of ownership $200, re-inspection $200, permit reissuance $100, pre-permit request for services $150. Three further charges sit on this permit in the same schedule: a required re-inspection is $200, reissuing a permit is $100, and a pre-permit request for services is $150. The September 2025 schedule also eliminated several older charges outright — the per-additional-day temporary fee, the invitation-only special event fee, the seasonal health permit and the temporary permit late fee.
Pre-Permit Request for Services
$150 to have Consumer Health look at a site or a plan before a permit application is made. Worth paying rather than discovering a problem at inspection, and the nearest Fort Worth equivalent to the Austin pre-opening inspection at $178. Charged per request, so a second visit after changes costs again.
Temporary Event Food and Beverage Booth
$52 per food and beverage booth. The per-additional-day charge, the special event fee and the temporary permit late fee were all eliminated in the September 2025 schedule.
Hotel and Motel Permit
$773 for a full-service hotel or motel and $580 for a limited-service one — a flat annual permit rather than the per-room charge Arlington levies, which makes Fort Worth dramatically cheaper for a large property and slightly dearer for a small one. Reinspection after closure of a hotel or motel is $200.
Child Care Facility Permit
$385 a year plus $5 per employee — so a nursery with twelve staff pays $445. Daycare training is a further $16 per person, valid two years. Reinspection after closure of a child care facility is $200. Compare Arlington, which charges $275 without food service and $425 with it, and prices playground inspections separately.
Annual Farmers Market Food Vendor Permit
$100 a year for each food vendor at a farmers market, against a free permit for the market itself. For a trader doing a market most weekends this is the cheapest route into Fort Worth by a wide margin — the temporary event booth permit is $52 for up to 14 days, so the annual vendor permit pays for itself in a fortnight of trading.
Food Establishment Plan Review
$165 to $500 depending on floor area, set out in the division's separate Schedule of Plan Review Fees. Considerably cheaper than Arlington's flat $500 for the same step. Budget it alongside the annual food establishment permit rather than instead of it.
Swimming Pool, Spa and Aquatic Sprayground Permit
$580 per pool or spa per year, plus $5 per employee — so a hotel with a pool and a separate spa pays $1,160 before the employee count is added. This is the most expensive standing aquatic permit in this dataset, against $350 year-round in Arlington and $240 in Abilene. The pool operator's course, valid three years, is $100 and requires pre-registration.
Consumer Health Reinspection
$200 per site visit after the closure of a food facility, mobile food unit, child care facility, aquatic facility, hotel or motel. Note what triggers it — this is the fee for reopening after a closure, not for an ordinary follow-up. A separate $100 re-issuance fee applies to any permit paid after its expiration date, which is the charge most operators actually meet.
Annual Farmers Market Permit
Free. Fort Worth charges nothing to permit the market itself — the only zero-cost permit in this dataset, and a deliberate policy choice worth knowing about if you are deciding where to run one. Waco charges $200 for the equivalent organiser license plus $100 for the inspection. The vendors trading inside it are permitted separately at $100 each a year.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Fort Worth
- Phone
- 817-392-7255
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.
- Consumer Health Division Schedule of Fees, effective 1 September 2025 (revised 26 June 2025)City of Fort Worth Environmental Services Department, Consumer Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
- Schedule of Fees — Fort Worth Consumer Health Division, effective 1 September 2025City of Fort Worth (via Texas DSHS Local Ordinance Registry) · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
Other offices serving Fort Worth
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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