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

ABC Local Government Opinion and Inspection/Zoning Compliance Form

Before the NC ABC Commission will treat a location as a suitable place, the local governing body has to sign off, and for an establishment that is not inside a city that body is Forsyth County. G.S. 18B-901(b) provides that before issuing a retail ABC permit — other than a special occasion, limited special occasion, temporary or special one-time permit — the Commission shall give notice of the application to the governing body of the city in which the establishment is located, or to the governing body of the county if the establishment is not inside a city, and shall allow that body 15 days from the mailing or delivery of the notice to file written objection stating the facts on which it is based. G.S. 18B-901(c) requires the local governing body to return a Zoning and Compliance Form to the Commission, on a form the Commission provides, showing the establishment is in compliance with all applicable building and fire codes. The Commission's own Local Government Opinion page requires a signed and notarised Local Government Opinion Form and proof of mandatory compliance with all applicable building and fire codes using the Inspection/Zoning Compliance Form, cites G.S. 18B-904(f), states that designated officials are expected to process these forms within 15 days of receipt, and notes that County Commissioners, City or Town Council members or Mayors may change their designee by filing a resolution form with the Commission — so the signatory in Forsyth County is the official the Board of Commissioners has designated by name or position. The permit itself remains a state instrument: G.S. 18B-901(a) provides that all ABC permits shall be issued by the Commission. This step is separate from, and additional to, the county beverage license the Tax Collector issues under G.S. 105-113.78, the $50.00 county fire ABC inspection outside Winston-Salem and Kernersville, and the $50.00 zoning, DMV and ABC letter from the joint Inspections Division, all listed separately.

Commercial Kitchen Exhaust and Type I/II Hood Permit

Any restaurant or coffee shop installing a commercial cooking hood in Forsyth County pays a mechanical permit priced by the capacity of the exhaust: $86.00 up to 2,000 CFM, $123.00 from 2,001 to 3,000 CFM, $154.00 from 3,001 to 5,000 CFM and $500.00 above 5,000 CFM, from Schedule III of Forsyth County Code § 7-52(b)(3), with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County INSPECTION FEES list of April 2026 printing the same figures. The jump at the top of the scale is steep and worth planning around: a high-capacity hood over a wood-fired oven or a heavy fry line costs more than three times the mid-tier permit. This is one of the ordinance rows the joint list matches exactly, which is why it is published; the county ordinance and that list state different minimum mechanical permit amounts, and no minimum is published here as a result. The hood permit is charged in addition to the building permit, the non-residential plan review and any refrigeration or heat-producing equipment permits on the same project, all listed separately. Fire-side work on the same hood — the extinguishing system and its plans — is reviewed separately, by the joint department's own fire plan review for premises it covers and by the Forsyth County Fire Department outside Winston-Salem and Kernersville; both are recorded separately here. The Inspections Division covers all of Forsyth County except the town and city limits of High Point, Kernersville and King. Contact: Suite 328, 100 East First Street, Winston-Salem, (336) 727-2624.

Zoning, DMV and ABC Compliance Letter

The joint department's April 2026 INSPECTION FEES list carries a charge for 'Zoning, DMV and ABC letters', and it is the practical zoning paperwork behind two very different applications. An applicant for a retail ABC permit needs written confirmation that the premises complies with zoning and with the applicable building and fire codes; the NC ABC Commission's own page requires proof of mandatory compliance with all applicable building and fire codes using the Inspection/Zoning Compliance Form as well as a signed and notarised Local Government Opinion Form. A motor vehicle dealer or an auto-repair business applying to the NC Division of Motor Vehicles needs the equivalent zoning confirmation for its site. This letter is a distinct document from the Local Government Opinion that the governing body's designated official signs, which is listed separately, and distinct again from the Forsyth County Fire Department's $50.00 ABC inspection for premises outside Winston-Salem and Kernersville, also recorded separately — an alcohol applicant in the unincorporated county can meet all three, and only the fire inspection amount comes from a document of the county's own. The fee mechanism for this letter is UDO § 3.1 A, which requires fees to be established and modified by the Elected Body, the Board of County Commissioners for Forsyth County, and requires the lists applicable to the Planning Board and the Inspections Division to be maintained on file and available to the public in the respective offices. The April 2026 list is that document, it prices Winston-Salem and Forsyth County in one column, and this page therefore records the requirement without publishing a figure for it. The Inspections Division covers all of Forsyth County except the town and city limits of High Point, Kernersville and King. Contact: Suite 328, 100 East First Street, Winston-Salem, (336) 727-2624.

Certified Food Protection Manager

North Carolina charges nothing and issues nothing — an accredited programme certifies, and its exam fee is what you pay. The person in charge must hold it, with two narrow exemptions the base food code does not have: congregate nutrition sites, and risk category I establishments serving only non-hazardous foods. A normal restaurant is category II or higher and is not exempt. A training course alone will not do; the rule requires passing the accredited test. New permit holders get two hundred and ten days to comply. There is no statewide food handler card in North Carolina — the word handler does not appear anywhere in the sanitation rules — so rank-and-file food employees need no state credential. The five-year validity often quoted belongs to the certifying programme, not to North Carolina law, which sets no term at all.

Food Establishment Permit

One number for the whole state, which makes North Carolina unlike almost every other. The statute sets $120 a year and local boards of health are barred from adopting any rule about grading, operating or permitting food facilities, so no county charges its own annual restaurant fee — Wake County's schedule footnotes every permit line back to the $120 paid to the state. Seventy of every hundred and twenty dollars is passed back to the county health department that does the inspecting. The permit itself never expires while you trade; only the fee recurs, and it expires a year after an establishment closes. What a county may still charge is plan review, capped by statute at $250, and a mandatory $75 for a temporary event. Late payment adds $25 after forty-five days and reinstatement after a suspension costs $150. Chain and franchise plans approved by the state need no further local review.

Shared with other businesses in Forsyth County Nc

• Forsyth County Fire ABC Inspection — Forsyth County Fire Department, Office of the Fire Marshal, $50 per inspection, as published on the Forsyth County Fire Department's Fire Permit Application and Fees page, for premises outside the town limits of Kernersville and the City of Winston-Salem, per inspection, carried out in support of an ABC permit application; a further application or a change of premises calls for a further inspection. Also required for restaurants and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Forsyth County Beverage License (county malt beverage and wine retail license) — Forsyth County Tax Collector (Tax Administration), $5–$25 a year per license, county-only, at the amounts G.S. 105-113.78 states and the Forsyth County Beverage License Application prints: on-premises beer $25.00, off-premises beer $5.00, on-premises wine $25.00, off-premises wine $25.00, annual; G.S. 105-113.70(b) provides that all licenses issued under the section are annual licenses for the period from May 1 to April 30, and (c) provides that a license may not be transferred from one person to another or from one location to another. Also required for restaurants, food trucks and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Refrigeration Unit Permit — Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Planning and Development Services, Inspections Division, County-only, from Forsyth County Code § 7-52(b)(5) Schedule V, with the April 2026 INSPECTION FEES list printing the same amounts: 0 to 10 horsepower $25.00; 10.1 to 20 horsepower $63.00; over 20 horsepower $270.00; each refrigeration line $21.00., one-time, per unit and per line installed or replaced. Also required for restaurants, retail stores and veterinary clinics; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.
• Food Establishment Permit and Annual Permit Fee (NC DHHS through Forsyth County) — North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health — Environmental Health Section, $120 a year per permit, charged by NC DHHS rather than by Forsyth County under G.S. 130A-248(d), and reassessed annually for permits that do not expire, the permit does not expire while the establishment operates and the fee is reassessed annually; G.S. 130A-248(b1) provides that a permit shall expire one year after an establishment closes, (b) provides that the permit is not transferable and that a new permit is needed if the location changes, and (c) requires the new owner or lessee to apply for a new permit on a transfer, with a transitional permit available. Also required for restaurants and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Food Service Plan Review — Forsyth County Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health, $250 one-time per project, county-only, printed as 'FSR Food Service Plan Review $250.00' in the Forsyth County Public Health FY 26-27 Fee Schedule, one-time, per project, before construction; the food service permit that follows does not expire while the establishment operates. Also required for restaurants; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Foodservice Remodel Plan Review — Forsyth County Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health, $140 one-time per project, county-only, printed as 'FRP Foodservice Remodel, Plan Review' in the Forsyth County Public Health FY 26-27 Fee Schedule, one-time, per remodel project, before construction begins. Also required for restaurants; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Push Cart Plan Review — Forsyth County Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health, $113 one-time per cart, county-only, printed as 'PushCart Plan review' in the Forsyth County Public Health FY 26-27 Fee Schedule, one-time, per push cart, before the cart is permitted; the operating permit is the separate $120 annual NC DHHS permit fee. Also required for food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Temporary Food Establishment (TFE) Permit — Forsyth County Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health, $75 per permit per event, collected by Forsyth County Environmental Health; G.S. 130A-248(d2) makes the charge mandatory rather than discretionary, and the county's FY 26-27 Fee Schedule prints the same $75.00, per event; the county's own page states that the permit is issued in conjunction with a fair, carnival, circus, public exhibition or other similar gathering that operates for a period of 21 days or less. Also required for restaurants and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Limited Food Service Establishment Permit — Forsyth County Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health, $75 per permit, collected by Forsyth County Environmental Health under G.S. 130A-248(d2) and printed as Limited Food Service Permit Fee at $75.00 on the county's FY 26-27 Fee Schedule, per permit; limited food service establishments are excepted from the $120 annual permit fee by G.S. 130A-248(d). Also required for restaurants; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Forsyth County Fire Operational Permit — Forsyth County Fire Department, Office of the Fire Marshal, As published on the Forsyth County Fire Department's Fire Permit Application and Fees page: events and festivals $50.00; tents and canopies $50.00; hazardous operations $50.00; tank removals $50.00; blasting operations $50.00; bonfires $50.00; fireworks $50.00; campfires $0.00. Forsyth County Code § 10-9(a) provides that fees are determined by resolution of the Board of County Commissioners and filed with the clerk to the board and the fire marshal's office for public inspection., per permitted operation or event; Forsyth County Code § 10-6(c) requires the Fire Marshal to inspect and approve the receptacles, vehicles, buildings, structures, storage areas, devices, processes and conditions related to the permit before it may be issued. Also required for restaurants, food trucks, retail stores and contractors and trades; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.
• Forsyth County Air Quality Permit — Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection, County-only, from Forsyth County Code Sec. 3Q-0203(a) and (d) with the Office's current permitting fees page printing identical amounts for these categories. Small facility and Exclusionary Small facility: application, new or modification, $50.00; ownership change $50.00; annual basic permit fee $250.00 per county fiscal year. Synthetic Minor: application $400.00; ownership change $50.00; annual basic permit fee $1,500.00. General facility: 50% of the otherwise applicable fee, with a $25.00 ownership change at Sec. 3Q-0203(d). Application fees must accompany the application, and all facilities holding a permit during the county fiscal year pay the applicable annual fee., annual, on the Forsyth County fiscal year running July 1 to June 30; all facilities holding an air quality permit during that year owe the applicable annual fee, and fees are non-refundable. Also required for auto repair shops and restaurants; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.