What permits do you need to open a restaurant in Aurora?

Retail Food Establishment — County Plan Review and Site Review

Covers the portion of Aurora south of Colfax Avenue — most of the city. The area north of Colfax is served by Adams County Health Department, and a small sliver by Douglas County Public Health. Adams County's own current fee schedule publishes no separate plan-review line for a standard retail food establishment — its only itemized plan-review charge is a $160 Special Event Plan Review Application, distinct from the base license fees the state schedule sets. Douglas County Health Department's own site states that its plan review fee is collected when the plan review packet is submitted, plus an hourly fee for the time spent reviewing plans and carrying out the final inspection, without publishing a flat dollar figure on that page. The base per-seat annual license fee (Colorado Revised Statutes section 25-4-1607, as amended by Senate Bill 25-285) is recorded at the state layer; Arapahoe County's own Board of Health presentation states figures for that base fee that do not match the state's 2026 schedule, so it is not restated here.

Retail Food Establishment License

Colorado now writes these fees into statute on a three-year escalator, so the number depends on the year as well as the business. For 2026 a restaurant or caterer pays $481 up to a hundred seats, $538 to two hundred and $581 above; a limited food service establishment $338; a grocery $244 or $441 by floor area, or $469 and $894 with a deli; a full-service mobile unit $481 and a prepackaged one $338. Every one of those rises on 1 January 2027 and again in 2028, after which the 2028 figures continue until a new schedule is set. Two qualifications matter. The statutory figures are a ceiling: a county or district board of health may charge less, and Denver may set its own by ordinance. And the state itself only licenses in nine counties — Clear Creek, Dolores, Gilpin, Moffat, Ouray, Park, Pitkin outside Aspen, Rio Blanco and San Juan — with local public health agencies doing it everywhere else. Plan review is separate at $155 plus actual cost; the statute caps that at $900 while the department's own page still says $580, so confirm before budgeting.

Shared with other businesses in Aurora

• Commercial Sign Permit — City of Aurora Development Services Department, Building Division, $385 flat, per permit (all sign types), one-time, per sign. Also required for coffee shops, retail stores, salons and barbers, fitness studios, auto repair shops and veterinary clinics; what it involves is set out on the auto repair shops page.
• Fire Inspection — Aurora Fire Rescue, Fire Inspections, By occupancy type: Assembly $135 (50–500 occupants) up to $1,353 (over 5,001); Business/Mercantile/Undetermined starts at $17.25 (0–500 sq ft), scaling with an added $2.50 per 1,000 sq ft for larger spaces; Nursing Homes $202; Hospitals $868. Non-compliance reinspection is $63.50 (first) or $174 (subsequent). Special permits: Tents $115, Carnival/Fair $232, High-Piled Storage $347, Firework Sales $376, Hazardous Materials $434., recurring — 1, 2, or 3 years depending on risk class. Also required for coffee shops, retail stores, salons and barbers, fitness studios, auto repair shops and veterinary clinics; what it involves is set out on the fitness studios page.
• Certified Food Protection Manager — Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Division of Environmental Health and Sustainability, No fee, set by the certifying programme, not by Colorado. Also required for coffee shops and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.