What permits do you need to open a food truck in Hamilton County Oh?

MSD Food Service Registration, Grease Trap Review and Sewer Availability

The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati is a Hamilton County requirement even though the City of Cincinnati runs it day to day: the county's own page states that MSD 'is a County Sewer District as defined under Section 6117 of the Ohio Revised Code', that as owner 'the County is responsible for... adopting rules and regulations', and that 'the City serves as the sole operator of MSD'. For a food business MSD imposes three duties under Article XV of those rules, and MSD's own page states each of them. First, 'A Request for Availability of Sewer Service application is required for construction of a new restaurant or food service establishment or for modification of an existing property for an increased or new use. This application is necessary to ensure sewers are accessible and have capacity to serve the property.' Second, 'When local plumbing code requires food service operations to install a grease control device (trap or interceptor), MSD must perform a grease trap review', with a kitchen plumbing plan and isometric showing the fixtures draining to the trap, plus a typical menu. Third, 'Food service operations are required to register with MSD and then renew or update their applications periodically. Initial registration is covered as part of the grease trap review. Renewals are required every five years.' MSD adds that these sit 'in addition to any Building or Health Department requirements from a municipality or township', so they stack on the HCPH food license and the county building permit rather than replacing anything. MSD does not publish the amounts for this work: its Development Services page states that it 'accepts cash, checks, or online payments for sewer tap permits, sewer tapper licenses, and inspection fees' and asks applicants to 'contact Development Services by phone to verify fees before making a payment', so the duty and the five-year renewal are recorded here and the figures come from that call. Applications moved to the county's CAGIS ezTrak portal in late 2025.

Mobile Food Service Operation / Mobile Retail Food Establishment License

A truck, cart or trailer licensed here can work anywhere in Ohio, and where it licenses depends on its headquarters rather than on where it trades. ORC 3717.43(A) requires the application for a mobile food service operation license to be submitted 'to the licensor for the health district in which the applicant's business headquarters are located, or, if the headquarters are located outside this state, to the licensor for the district where the applicant will first operate in this state', and ORC 3717.43(B) provides that a mobile license issued by one licensor 'shall be recognized by all other licensors in this state'. So a truck headquartered in an unincorporated township or in one of the 45 jurisdictions HCPH serves licenses with Hamilton County Public Health at $128.00 or $78.00 depending on the risk level of its menu; a truck headquartered in the city of Cincinnati licenses with the Cincinnati Health Department instead, at that city's own higher rate, and does not license again with the county. The low-risk rate is not a local discount: OAC 3701-21-02.1(A)(4) requires that a low risk mobile fee 'will be fifty per cent of the mobile food service operation fee', and the county's $50.00 district fee is exactly half its $100.00 high-risk district fee. Staying put has a consequence — a mobile operation that remains at one location for more than forty consecutive days stops being mobile under ORC 3717.01 and needs a fixed-premises license, which is a materially larger fee. HCPH reviews mobile plans before a unit opens and publishes a mobile plan review application and checklist alongside the license forms; the plan review columns on the fee table are for fixed operations, because ORC 3717.45(B)(1) authorises a plan review fee only for operations other than mobile and temporary ones. An operator working festivals and one-off events instead of a regular route should compare this against the $68.00 temporary license, which is capped at ten per licensing period.

Transient Vendor's License

This is the license for selling away from a fixed address — fairs, festivals, markets, travelling to the customer — and unlike the county vendor's license 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 license since House Bill 366 took effect on 9 April 2025.

Shared with other businesses in Hamilton County Oh

• Temporary Food Service Operation / Temporary Food Establishment License — Hamilton County Public Health (Hamilton County General Health District), $68 per event, as printed on the Hamilton County Public Health Environmental Health Division License Fees table (rev. 1/1/26, effective 12/1/2025) and on the county's own 2026 Temporary Food License Application packet; the schedule's state fee column is blank on this row, so the $68.00 is a county-only amount, five consecutive days or fewer at the same location at the same event; ORC 3717.43(D) makes a temporary license non-renewable, and ORC 3717.43(E)(1) allows a licensor to issue not more than ten temporary licenses per licensing period to the same person or government entity, and only one for each particular event. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Manager Certification in Food Protection — Ohio Department of Health, Food Safety Program, No fee, not stated by the Ohio Department of Health. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• Food Service Operation License — Ohio Department of Health, Food Safety Program, $28 state fee for a commercial operation ($14 non-commercial, $6 per vending machine location), plus a license fee set independently by the local board of health, 1 March to the last day of February. Also required for restaurants and coffee shops; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.