What permits do you need to open a restaurant in Houston County Al?

Alcoholic Beverage Sales — Wet County, Spirituous/Vinous Retail Confined to Dothan

Houston County itself charges no fee for alcohol sales — the license comes entirely from the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, recorded at the state layer, and (for one specific case below) from the City of Dothan. Houston County is classified Wet county-wide on the ABC Board's own table: state ABC package stores can locate anywhere in the county, and beer and malt-beverage retail sale and on-premise consumption are licensed under the general state framework the same as in any other wet county. Layered on top of that county-wide wet status, Ala. Code §45-35-21 confines something narrower: the retail sale of spirituous or vinous liquors specifically — hard liquor and wine, not beer — outside an ABC store is restricted by this still-current local act to retail liquor establishments within the City of Dothan's corporate limits, each requiring both a state license and a separate City of Dothan license. A restaurant or retail store outside Dothan, in unincorporated Houston County or in another county municipality such as Ashford or Cottonwood, can sell beer at retail on the same wet-county basis as anywhere else, but cannot sell spirituous or vinous liquor at retail outside an ABC store without meeting this Dothan-only restriction; a business inside Dothan needing that specific license needs the City of Dothan's own alcohol license in addition to the state ABC license.

Certified Food Protection Manager

No state fee, because Alabama neither examines nor registers anyone — the certificate comes from an accredited private programme at that programme's price. Two limits define who actually needs it. It applies only to priority category 3 and 4 establishments, broadly those handling raw animal foods, cooking to reduce pathogens, or cooling and reheating, plus anyone operating under a variance or a food safety plan; categories 1 and 2 and temporary establishments are exempt. And within those categories it is a hard requirement rather than one option among several, because Alabama expressly declines to adopt the two federal food code paragraphs that would otherwise let a person in charge demonstrate knowledge by other means. Since 2020 a certified or attendance-verified person in charge must be present during all hours of operation. There is no statewide food handler card — the phrase appears nowhere in the rules — though Jefferson and Mobile counties each issue one locally.

Shared with other businesses in Houston County Al

• Food Service Establishment Health Permit — Houston County Board of Health / Houston County Health Department, Environmental Health Division, Ala. Code §45-35-170 (Act 88-286) authorizes the Houston County Board of Health to designate which health-department services carry a fee and to set the dollar amount of each one, following a public hearing; no person may be denied a service for inability to pay, and a sliding fee scale based on ability to pay is expressly authorized. The Board's own published Environmental Health and food-service-sanitation materials describe the 100-point inspection scoring system and the categories of establishment covered — restaurants, mobile food units, bakeries, bars and daycare kitchens — but do not print the resulting dollar fee for a food-service establishment permit., annual, consistent with the Environmental Health Division's ongoing permitting and inspection program. Also required for coffee shops, food trucks and childcare centres; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Food Establishment Permit — Alabama Department of Public Health, Division of Food, Milk and Lodging, $50–$650 a year, set by the county health department, not by the state, annual — expiring when the privilege licenses expire, or on a date the health officer sets. Also required for coffee shops and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.