What permits do you need to open a food truck in Columbus?

There is no single figure, and any site quoting one is rounding away the part that matters. Of the 8 records listed for a food truck in Columbus, OH, 4 apply to every business of this type and 4 are conditional. Adding every fee on the page together would overstate what most operators pay, because it would include permits they never need.

Of the 4 that always apply, 1 carry a flat fee, coming to $50.00. That is a floor, not a total. 2 of the 8 are charged as a range or a formula set by the issuing agency, and 2 have no fee published at all. The ones that vary:

Mobile Food Service Licence: $171.50–$315 a year — $171.50 for low risk, prepackaged or refrigerated-only service, $315 for high risk

Food Service Operation Licence: $28 state fee for a commercial operation ($14 non-commercial, $6 per vending machine location), plus a licence fee set independently by the local board of health

Permits for a food truck in Columbus, OH come from 6 separate offices: City of Columbus License Section, Department of Building and Zoning Services, Columbus Public Health, Food Protection Program, Franklin County Auditor, Vendor's Licence Section, Ohio Secretary of State, Business Services Division, Ohio Department of Taxation, Ohio Department of Health, Food Safety Program. No single office issues them all, which is why an opening means filing in several places rather than one.

• City of Columbus License Section, Department of Building and Zoning ServicesIssues 1 permit on this page: City Income Tax Registration4252 Groves Rd, Columbus, OH 43232 · (614) 645-8366www.columbus.gov/Business-Development/Business-Licenses-Resources
• Columbus Public Health, Food Protection ProgramIssues 1 permit on this page: Mobile Food Service Licence240 Parsons Ave., Columbus, OH 43215 · (614) 645-7005www.columbus.gov/Services/Food-Protection-Program
• Franklin County Auditor, Vendor's Licence SectionIssues 1 permit on this page: Vendor's Licence373 S High St, 21st Floor, Columbus, OH 43215auditor.franklincountyohio.gov/Consumer/Licensing-Types
• Ohio Secretary of State, Business Services DivisionIssues 2 permits on this page: Articles of Organization (LLC), Initial Articles of Incorporation22 North Fourth Street, Columbus, OH 43215 · (877) 767-6446bsportal.ohiosos.gov
• Ohio Department of TaxationIssues 1 permit on this page: Transient Vendor's Licencetax.ohio.gov
• Ohio Department of Health, Food Safety ProgramIssues 2 permits on this page: Food Service Operation Licence, Manager Certification in Food Protection246 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43215odh.ohio.gov/know-our-programs/food-safety-program

No fee, because there is no general business licence here — what stands in its place is a real 2.5% local income tax on business activity conducted within Columbus, filed as a tax return rather than paid for as a permit.

This Public Health licence covers the food side only — operating within Columbus city limits also requires a separate Mobile Food Vendors licence from the Department of Public Safety, layered on top rather than instead of this one. Trucks manufactured or first titled on or after May 1, 2026 must carry an on-board fire suppression system.

Issued by the county, not the city — this is the Sales Tax Account registration for the State of Ohio Department of Taxation, administered locally through the Franklin County Auditor's office.

$99 once, and then nothing. Ohio is one of the few states with no annual report and no annual fee for an LLC — the Secretary of State's own guidance says business entities are not required to file one, and the fee schedule carries no report line under either the LLC or the for-profit corporation heading. Standard processing is free and takes three to seven business days; expediting costs $100 for two days, $200 for one day or $300 for four hours with in-person delivery. Form 610 replaced the older form 533A in September 2025, so a downloaded 533A will be rejected.

$99 is a minimum, not a flat fee. It covers one to 990 authorised shares; above that the Secretary of State charges on a graduated scale, ten cents a share to 1,000, five cents to 10,000, two cents to 50,000, one cent to 100,000, half a cent to 500,001 and a quarter of a cent beyond — so a large authorisation costs materially more. A nonprofit never calculates on shares and pays $99 flat. As with an LLC, there is no annual report to follow.

This is the licence for selling away from a fixed address — fairs, festivals, markets, travelling to the customer — and unlike the county vendor's licence it is valid in all eighty-eight counties on one registration. It is issued by the Department of Taxation only, never by a county auditor. Same $50 as the fixed-location licence since House Bill 366 took effect on 9 April 2025.

There is no single Ohio restaurant licence fee, and any page quoting one is guessing. The state's share is fixed by rule at $28 for a commercial food service operation of any size or risk level, $14 non-commercial and $6 per vending machine location; the rest is set by whichever of roughly a hundred and ten local boards of health licenses your address. The Department of Health does not issue the licence at all — it approves the boards of health that do and binds them to a uniform method, so every district's schedule has the same shape: four risk levels by two floor-area bands, commercial or non-commercial, with non-commercial fixed at exactly half of commercial. Each district must run an annual cost analysis and hold a public hearing before changing its figure. Renewal is due by 1 March and a late application costs a further 25 per cent. Only the vending machine fee is capped against inflation; restaurant and mobile fees are not.

Ohio charges nothing for this. The Department of Health neither teaches the course nor sells the certificate — it approves providers, who set their own tuition, and the official application form carries no fee field at all. Two tiers exist and the names have changed: what was Level One is now person-in-charge certification, required for at least one person per shift at any operation first licensed after 1 March 2010, and what was Level Two is manager certification, required at risk level III and IV operations and needing an accredited exam as well as the course. Temporary, mobile and low-risk operations are exempt from the manager tier. Ohio has no food handler card in the California sense. The often-repeated claim that the certification lasts five years could not be found in the rule, the statute or any Department page — the five-year term belongs to the third-party exam certificate, not to the Ohio certification, so no expiry is published here.