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

Food Establishment License (fee set by resolution, not published)

The license is mandatory and its price is not published, so no fee is asserted here. §13-0302 was repealed and re-enacted in full by Ordinance No. 5473, adopted April 28, 2025. The re-enacted section adds a pre-operational inspection requirement, nontransferability, and a January 1 renewal cycle with the fee 'payable prior to January 1st of each year,' but on the point this record exists to answer, nothing changed: the fee remains 'an amount to be established by resolution of the board of city commissioners,' with no dollar figure written into the ordinance itself either before or after the 2025 amendment. No such resolution or fee schedule is published on the City's site; the Food and Beverage page links only the FDA Food Code and the two plan review applications, and states no dollar figure. The only figures Fargo Cass Public Health has published anywhere reachable sit inside a document labelled a 2017 sample application. Its Schedule of License Fees ran: Food Tier 1 $200.00, Tier 2 $300.00, Tier 3 $400.00; Grocery, bakery or retail meat Tier 1 $100.00, Tier 2 $150.00, Tier 3 $175.00; Mobile food unit vendor Tier 1 $100.00, Tier 2 $150.00, Tier 3 $200.00; Schools, churches and group homes Tier 1 $100.00, Tier 2 $150.00, Tier 3 $200.00; Concession, year round, Tier 1 $100.00, Tier 2 $150.00, Tier 3 $175.00; Concession, seasonal, Tier 1 $50.00, Tier 2 $75.00, Tier 3 $100.00. Additional fees were plan review $150.00, alcohol service with a physical bar $150.00 and without $50.00, multiple unit fee for group homes $25.00 per unit, commissary fee for mobile food $25.00, and soft serve ice cream $100.00. Two structural notes came with it: establishments providing catering or delivery must apply for the Mobile Food License rather than a fixed one, and group homes with multiple units are charged a separate fee per unit. All of that is background from 2017 only, never the current fee. None of the Food and Beverage page, the Environmental Health page, the 2026 FCPH Program Highlights, the 2024 plan review application or the 2023 mobile food plan review application publishes a current fee schedule, so the operative amounts are quoted to applicants on request: FCPH gives FCPHFood@FargoND.gov and 701.476.6729. Tiering is by menu complexity rather than size; the 2017 tier definitions place coffee shops in Tier 1 alongside convenience stores and hot dog carts. A retail store falls in scope only if it sells food, under separate grocery, bakery and retail meat tiers. Fargo Cass Public Health describes its own reach as 'restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, gas stations, school and childcare center kitchens, food trucks, carts and stick stands' in Fargo and West Fargo.

Food Handler or Manager Certification — North Dakota Food Code position

No fee: per the North Dakota Food Code guide for food handlers, there is no statewide requirement for a food handler card or a certified food protection manager — the person in charge on duty need only demonstrate food safety knowledge, whether through a CFPM certificate, correctly answering an inspector's questions, or simply an inspection record free of priority violations. A small number of local health districts impose their own stricter local training requirement on top of this state standard; confirm directly with the local jurisdiction where a specific business operates.

Shared with other businesses in Fargo

• Sign Permit — City of Fargo Inspections Department, A permanent sign is charged at $50.00 or $0.50 per square foot of display area — the schedule's own term is 'face' area — whichever is greater, with double-sided signs counted as a single face. Portable signs are licensed separately: $50.00 per calendar year for the license to place portable signs, plus $15.00 each time a sign is placed., permanent sign permits are one-time per sign; the portable sign license runs a calendar year. Also required for coffee shops, retail stores, fitness studios, auto repair shops, veterinary clinics and salons and barbers; what it involves is set out on the salons and barbers page.
• Food Establishment License — North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Lodging Division, $130 plus 50 cents per seat for a restaurant, capped at $310; a limited restaurant is a flat $130; a mobile food unit is $130; a temporary stand is $50 per event, capped at $250 a year., annual. Also required for coffee shops and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.