What permits do you need to open a food truck in Forsyth County Nc?

Forsyth County Beverage License (county malt beverage and wine retail license)

This is a real Forsyth County business license, and it is a different instrument from an ABC permit. G.S. 105-113.78 provides that a person holding a retail malt beverage or wine ABC permit for an establishment located in a county shall obtain from the county a county license for that activity, and that the annual tax for each license is as stated — on-premises malt beverage $25.00, off-premises malt beverage $5.00, on-premises unfortified or fortified wine $25.00, off-premises unfortified or fortified wine $25.00. The Forsyth County Tax Collector publishes its own Beverage License Application on the Tax Administration forms page, headed 'Forsyth County Tax Collector' over the county seal reading 'FORSYTH COUNTY ★ NORTH CAROLINA ★ 1849', and it prints those same four amounts, so the county figure and the statutory figure agree exactly; the statute fixes the tax rather than capping it. Session Laws 2014-3, s. 12.3(b) repealed G.S. 153A-152, the county privilege license tax statute, effective July 1, 2015, and s. 12.3(a) repealed the city equivalent at G.S. 160A-211, but Article 2C of Chapter 105 was untouched, which is why this license survives. The order of steps matters, and the statute sets it: G.S. 105-113.70(a) states that no local license may issue until the applicant has received the applicable ABC permit from the Commission, and that no county license may issue for an establishment located in a city in that county until the applicant has received the city's license for that activity — the county's form marks the State ABC Permit number for beer, fortified wine and unfortified wine as required. For premises inside Winston-Salem the city step comes first, and the City's own Business License page lists 'Beer and Wine Sales' among the business types that need a city privilege license at Beer off Premise $5, Beer on Premise $15, Wine off Premise $10 and Wine on Premise $15; those are city charges, not county ones. Forsyth is not among the counties listed in G.S. 105-113.71(b) whose governing bodies may decline to issue on-premises unfortified wine licenses, and G.S. 105-113.71(c) allows only the Town of Cary to decline to require the local license, though a license may still be refused case by case under (a) after a hearing. Whether a particular part of the county is wet or dry is a separate local-option question that this license does not turn on, and no claim about it is made here. Contact: Forsyth County Tax Collector, PO Box 82, Winston-Salem, NC 27102-0082, (336) 703-2300.

Mobile Food Unit Plan Review

A food truck or trailer operating in Forsyth County has its plans reviewed by county Environmental Health at $170.00 per unit, printed as MFU Plan Review on the Forsyth County Public Health FY 26-27 Fee Schedule. The review is where the commissary question is settled, and the statute is specific about it: G.S. 130A-248(c1) provides that a mobile food unit shall meet all of the sanitation requirements of a permitted commissary or shall have a permitted restaurant or commissary that serves as its base of operation, so an operator without a base kitchen has to solve that before the unit can be permitted. The plan review is a one-off charge on the unit; the recurring cost is the $120 annual food establishment permit fee that G.S. 130A-248(d) assigns to NC DHHS, listed separately, and the two should not be added together as a single county figure. A truck that also trades at fairs and festivals may separately need the $75.00 temporary food establishment permit for those events, also recorded separately. Forsyth County Environmental Health runs this programme countywide, in Winston-Salem and every other municipality in the county, since it acts for NC DHHS under G.S. 130A-4(b) rather than under a municipal delegation. Plans and payment go to 799 N. Highland Avenue, Winston-Salem, (336) 703-3225. The figure is from the county's current FY 26-27 schedule, which runs with the county fiscal year from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.

Push Cart Plan Review

A push cart is priced separately from a full mobile food unit in Forsyth County: the FY 26-27 Fee Schedule prints PushCart Plan review at $113.00, against $170.00 for a mobile food unit. The base-of-operations rule is stricter for a cart than for a truck, and it comes straight from the statute: G.S. 130A-248(c1) provides that a permitted restaurant or commissary shall serve as a base of operations for a pushcart, with no option of the cart itself meeting commissary requirements. This is the record that fits a coffee or espresso cart, a hot dog cart or a small beverage cart as much as a food cart. The plan review is one-off; the recurring charge is the $120 annual food establishment permit fee that NC DHHS charges under G.S. 130A-248(d), listed separately. A cart trading only at short-term events may instead be permitted as a temporary food establishment at $75.00, also recorded separately, and the county's own temporary food establishment page notes that vendors selling only certain items, among them popcorn, candied apples, cotton candy, funnel cakes, doughnuts, peanuts and commercially prepackaged chips and candy, do not need an operational permit from the Department though they should contact the NC Department of Agriculture. Plans and payment go to Environmental Health at 799 N. Highland Avenue, Winston-Salem, (336) 703-3225.

Temporary Food Establishment (TFE) Permit

Forsyth County's own page states that a Temporary Food Establishment permit is required to sell food or drink at a special event and 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. The amount is set by statute rather than by the county: G.S. 130A-248(d2) provides that a local health department shall charge each temporary food establishment and each limited food services establishment a fee of seventy-five dollars ($75.00) for each permit issued, and the county's FY 26-27 Fee Schedule prints the matching $75.00 under TFE Temporary Food Establishment Fee. Temporary food establishments are expressly excepted from the $120 annual permit fee by G.S. 130A-248(d), so a vendor at a single festival does not owe both. The submission rules are unusually strict and the county states them plainly: applications and payments for all TFE applications are only accepted via postal mail or in person at the Environmental Health Division, 799 N. Highland Avenue, with no over-the-phone, faxed, emailed or online payments accepted, and payment must be included with the application at the same time. The same page adds that vendors who sell only dipped ice cream, shaved ice, popcorn, candied apples, cotton candy, funnel cakes, doughnuts, peanuts and commercially prepackaged chips and candy do not have to get an operational permit from the Department, though they should contact the NC Department of Agriculture on 919-733-7366 to determine whether a permit is needed from that agency — a carve-out that takes a large share of festival snack stalls out of this requirement. The programme is countywide, so the same $75.00 applies at an event inside Winston-Salem or any other municipality in the county.

Shared with other businesses in Forsyth County Nc

• 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 coffee shops; 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, coffee shops, retail stores and contractors and trades; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.
• Certified Food Protection Manager — North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, Environmental Health Section, No fee, not stated in North Carolina law — the certifying programme sets its own. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• Food Establishment Permit — North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, Environmental Health Section, $120 a year, statewide, the permit does not expire; the fee is reassessed annually. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.