What permits do you need to open a coffee shop in Anoka County?

10-Day Temporary Food Stand License

A restaurant, coffee shop or other operator running a food stand for 10 days or less, such as at a carnival or community event, needs this county license. The county's food-truck page describes it as a license "for people operating a food stand for 10 days or less" and states that "This license is NOT available for food trucks"; trucks use the mobile food unit licenses instead. The application and fee must reach Environmental Services at least 14 days before the event, and the application form states the license is good for up to 10 days from February 1 to January 31 of the licensing period. The base fee is set per event and quoted by Environmental Services on request; the form adds a possible $25 late fee for an application received less than 14 days in advance. The page also asks operators to contact the city where the event takes place for any additional requirements.

Certified Food Protection Manager

Minnesota is unusual in issuing its own certificate rather than merely accepting a third party's: you pass an accredited exam privately, then apply to the health department, pay fifty dollars in total and receive a state certificate with its own effective date and a three-year life. Renewal needs at least four hours of approved continuing education taken inside the certificate's valid dates, with a six-month grace window to file afterwards, and an initial application must be made within six months of passing the exam. Paper applications stopped being accepted in April 2025. The exemptions are real: low-risk establishments, special event stands, vehicles, portable structures and carts, and premises whose preparation is limited to packaging non-hazardous food, cutting raw meat for the customer to cook, or heating hot dogs, popcorn, nachos, pretzels and frozen pizza. The owner need not be the certified manager.

Food and Beverage Establishment License

The fee is additive rather than banded: every establishment pays the $300 base, then its highest applicable category fee, then the statewide hospitality fee and a technology fee, and then add-ons for a second food service area, a private well or sewer, a hazard analysis plan, sleeping rooms, pools and spas. A food cart, mobile unit or seasonal stand pays $150 instead of a category fee; a special event stand pays a flat $75. Licenses opened after 1 October pay half. But who licenses you depends on where you are: a county or city holding a delegation agreement issues and prices in the health department's place, and Hennepin County's six-tier schedule — $100, $215 and $405 at the lower tiers, on a license year running 1 February to 31 January — resembles the state's not at all. The one constant is the $50 statewide hospitality fee, which is owed to the state by 1 July whoever issued the license. Groceries, processors and wholesalers are a different regime again, licensed by the agriculture department on a scale banded by gross sales and risk from $90 to several thousand.

Shared with other businesses in Anoka County

• Food Establishment License (Classes I–IX) — Anoka County Public Health and Environmental Services, Environmental Services, Set by size and license class: Ordinance 2022-2 §2.10 states that "Size and license class determine the applicable license fee". Contact Anoka County Environmental Services at 763-324-4260 for the current amount., annual; the license year runs from February 1 through January 31 (Ordinance 2022-2 §2.8). Also required for restaurants; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Mobile Food Unit License (annual) — Anoka County Public Health and Environmental Services, Environmental Services, $116.25–$465 annual license; the range Anoka County's Temporary Food Stands, Food Trucks & Food Carts page states for its three-, six- and twelve-month options: "($116.25 - $465.00)". The page gives the range only, without a figure for each option, annual, within the license year February 1 through January 31; three-, six- and twelve-month options are offered. Also required for food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Retail Tobacco License (where a city or town does not license) — Anoka County Public Health and Environmental Services, Environmental Services, Contact Anoka County Public Health and Environmental Services at 763-324-4260 for the current amount., annual; the license year runs September 1–August 31, with renewal applications due by July 31 (Ordinance 2018-10 §§4.4, 4.7). Also required for retail stores and restaurants; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.