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

Food Service Establishment Permit (restaurant)

A restaurant anywhere in Mobile County needs an annual food service establishment permit from the Mobile County Health Department, which is a distinctly-governed county health department under the Mobile County Board of Health rather than simply an Alabama Dept. of Public Health district branch — Mobile County does not appear in ADPH's district roster. The 2026 fee schedule prices the permit by square footage: $410.00 up to 1,000 sq ft, $615.00 over 1,000 sq ft, and $1,380.00 for a multiplex facility. Plan review before construction, remodel or change of ownership is billed separately at the same dollar figures. The sanitation standard MCHD enforces is state regulation (Alabama Admin. Code 420-3-22), but MCHD's dollar fee schedule is locally set and, per the schedule's own note, authorized by the Mobile County Commission, and increases automatically every 3 years by CPI. This permit applies countywide — inside the City of Mobile, the county's other municipalities, and the unincorporated area alike — because MCHD is the countywide food-safety regulator, separate from and in addition to the general Business Privilege License recorded above.

Alcohol License — Local Governing Body Approval (unincorporated Mobile County)

Mobile County is classified 'Wet' by the Alabama ABC Board, so on-premise and off-premise alcohol sales are permitted countywide, and a restaurant or retail store applies to the state ABC Board for the underlying license. Alabama's statewide ABC licensing procedure requires local-governing-body approval before the ABC Board will issue a license: for a business inside a municipality's corporate limits or police jurisdiction, that governing body is the municipality — for a City of Mobile location, the Mobile City Council, via its own $50 filing fee and Council vote, a city-level process recorded separately in scripts/cities/mobile.mjs, not in this county file. For a business in unincorporated Mobile County, outside every municipality's corporate limits and police jurisdiction, the local governing body whose approval the ABC Board requires is the Mobile County Commission. The Commission's own website does not publish a fee schedule or a written step-by-step procedure for this approval step; Mobile County Commission meeting agendas do show ABC-Board-requested alcohol-license items voted on at regular Commission meetings, consistent with the Commission acting as this approval body, but no dollar fee or standing written procedure is published online. An applicant located in unincorporated Mobile County should contact the Mobile County Commission office directly, alongside the state ABC Board application itself, to learn the current procedure and any associated cost.

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 Mobile County Al

• 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.