What permits do you need to open a coffee shop in Stark County Oh?

Retail Dealer's Cigarette License

This record rests on the statute. A store, cafe, restaurant or service station that sells cigarettes at retail in Stark County needs a license for each physical place of business. ORC 5743.15(B)(1) requires each applicant, 'annually, on or before the first day of June,' to file with 'the county auditor of the county in which the applicant desires to engage in the retail business of trafficking in cigarettes', and to 'pay an application fee in the sum of one hundred twenty-five dollars for each physical place where the person proposes to carry on such business.' ORC 5743.15(B)(2) has the auditor issue the license 'for one year commencing on the first day of June'. When an application is filed after June 1, the fee 'shall be proportioned in amount to the remainder of the license year, except that it shall not be less than twenty-five dollars in any one year.' A duplicate license costs five dollars. The Stark County Auditor's licensing pages do not publish a cigarette license page, so contact the Auditor's office at (330) 451-7354 for its application form and calendar. A business that does not sell cigarettes needs no cigarette license.

Food Service Operation / Retail Food Establishment License

A restaurant, cafe, grocery or other retail food business, or a childcare center that serves food, inside the Stark County Health Department's area needs a food service operation or retail food establishment license, and the figure depends on whether the operation is commercial or non-commercial, whether it is under or over 25,000 square feet, and the risk level the Department assigns. All amounts above are as listed on the Department's sheet headed '2026 Food Service Fees / Effective February 1st'; the sheet prints one license figure per row and does not divide it into local and state parts. The Department's food page states that its Food Protection program 'Inspects and regulates every type of food service and food establishment - restaurants, caterers, institutions, retail markets, mobile vendors, temporary and seasonal food facilities.' Check the address before using these figures: the Department's About Us page states that 'The jurisdiction of the Stark County Combined General Health District is comprised of 17 Townships, 12 Villages, and the cities of Canal Fulton, Louisville, and North Canton.' Canton, Massillon and Alliance are not among the cities that sentence names, so this sheet does not price a business in those cities. The 2027 sheet is not yet posted on the Department's food pages.

Manager Certification in Food Protection

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 appears in neither the rule, the statute nor 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.

Shared with other businesses in Stark County Oh

• Food Service / Retail Food Plan Review (new or remodeled) — Stark County Health Department (Stark County Combined General Health District), As listed on the Health Department's sheet headed '2026 Food Service Fees / Effective February 1st', by risk level 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. Commercial, under 25,000 sq ft: $301.00 / $334.60 / $607.60 / $760.90. Commercial, over 25,000 sq ft: $419.30 / $439.50 / $1,468.00 / $1,554.20. Non-commercial, under 25,000 sq ft: $150.50 / $167.30 / $303.80 / $380.45. Non-commercial, over 25,000 sq ft: $209.65 / $219.75 / $734.00 / $777.10. The Department's 2026 Plan Review Application prints Risk Level I $301.00 through IV $760.90., one review per new or remodeled operation; the 2026 Plan Review Application states that the Department 'has 30 days' to review. Also required for restaurants, retail stores and childcare centres; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.
• Mobile Food Service Operation / Mobile Retail Food Establishment License — Stark County Health Department (Stark County Combined General Health District), $160.50–$293 per license year, per mobile unit: low risk $160.50, high risk $293.00, as listed on the Health Department's 2026 Food Service Fees sheet and the 2026 Mobile Plan Review Application, annual license year. Also required for food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Temporary Food Service Operation / Temporary Retail Food Establishment License — Stark County Health Department (Stark County Combined General Health District), $38.50–$77 per event: commercial $77.00, non-commercial $38.50, as listed on the Health Department's 2026 Food Service Fees sheet, a single event, in one location, for a period of not longer than five consecutive days. Also required for restaurants and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Vendor's License — Ohio Department of Taxation, $50 one-time, per fixed location, no renewal — stays in effect until cancelled. Also required for restaurants, retail stores, salons and barbers, fitness studios, auto repair shops and veterinary clinics; what it involves is set out on the retail stores 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 food trucks; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.