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

Food Service / Retail Food / Mobile Food Unit Health Permit

A restaurant, coffee shop or food truck operating in Shelby County, and a childcare center that prepares or serves food on-site, needs a permit from the Shelby County Health Department's Environmental Health Division. This office is a field office of the Alabama Department of Public Health's Northeastern District, not an independent county health department — Jefferson and Mobile Counties are the only two in Alabama with that independent status, per the Jefferson County Department of Health's own history page — so Shelby has no local rule-making or fee-setting power of its own over this permit; the requirement and its structure come entirely from the statewide ADPH framework under Ala. Admin. Code ch. 420-3-22 and the FDA Food Code. The specific dollar amount Shelby currently charges is not published on the county's own Environmental Services page, and none of the fee-schedule PDF/page URL patterns that work for several other ADPH-administered Alabama counties returned a working Shelby page during this research. Call the Shelby County Health Department, 205-685-4178, for the current fee before budgeting for this permit. This permit is separate from, and required in addition to, the general county privilege license recorded above, which the ALDOR Handbook itself states cannot be issued without a Health Department certificate first.

Alcoholic Beverage License (state ABC Board; Shelby County is Wet Countywide)

Shelby County itself charges no fee for alcohol sales and imposes no county-level wet/dry restriction of its own on a business: the license to sell or serve alcohol comes entirely from the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, recorded at the state layer, not from Shelby County. Shelby County is classified Wet countywide on the ABC Board's own current wet/dry list, per the Board's own published PDF table; under that list no part of Shelby County is dry, and a business does not need to check a city-by-city wet/dry status before applying for a state ABC license anywhere in the county. A restaurant, coffee shop or retail store selling alcohol also still owes every other county and, if inside city limits, municipal requirement recorded separately for Shelby County.

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 Shelby County Al

• General County Privilege License — Restaurants, Cafes, Cafeterias — Shelby County Business Revenue Department / License Offices, $8.50–$76 a year, combined state+county total, tiered by the population of the nearest incorporated city and by seating capacity (2022 ALDOR Handbook, §40-12-151), annual; all Title 40-12 licenses are due October 1 and delinquent November 1 (§40-12-26); a 15% delinquency penalty plus 6% annual interest applies to a late renewal (§40-12-10(e)). Also required for coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops 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.