What permits do you need to open a retail store in Delaware County Pa?

Retail Food Facility License & Inspection

Any restaurant, coffee shop, food-truck commissary, food-retail store, or childcare facility that prepares or serves food in Delaware County needs this annual license from the Delaware County Health Department (DCHD), Environmental Health Division, 1400 N Providence Rd, Media — one of only seven Pennsylvania county health departments under the Local Health Administration Law of 1951. Per the current DCHD Fee Schedule, the fee is tiered by facility type, from $47 for a tax-exempt facility up to $570 for a facility over 10,000 square feet, with a $266 fee for the standard under-50-seat tier and a $28 duplicate-license fee. The fee schedule carries no printed effective date because, per Delaware County Code Chapter 57, fees are set by Council resolution and filed with the County Clerk rather than printed as a dated ordinance exhibit; it is the schedule currently linked from every DCHD licensing page. The license is annual and not transferable.

Precious Metals Dealer License

A retail-store business in Delaware County that buys precious metals from the general public for resale or refining — a pawn-shop or jewelry-buyer type operation — must obtain a Precious Metals Dealer License from the Delaware County Sheriff's Office. The license requirement and fee are set by Act 17 of 1984, §2, 'License required' (73 P.S. §1932): dealers 'shall obtain a license from the sheriff of each and every county' in which they purchase precious metals, the license fee 'shall not exceed $50 per year,' and the license 'shall be for one year.' The implementing regulation, 37 Pa. Code §501.5, sets the fee at exactly that figure. The $50 annual fee is paid into the Delaware County treasury, and a licensed dealer must also have its scale inspected by the Office of Consumer Affairs/Weights and Measures and send transaction records to the Delaware County District Attorney's Criminal Investigative Division, per Act 17 §3(c).

Retail Food Facility License

$241 for a new facility, or $103 if it is owner-operated with fewer than fifty seats — a genuine small-operator discount worth checking you qualify for. Renewal is $82, and so is a change of ownership. Plan review is free, and due at least sixty days before opening. The license interval is risk-based rather than flatly annual: 24, 18, 12 or 6 months depending on the risk factors in the Model Food Code, so a higher-risk operation is re-licensed more often. Follow-up inspections escalate — the second is $150 and the third $300. Fees are collected at the compliant licensing inspection rather than with the application. The jurisdiction question matters more here than in most states: the Department does not license in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Erie, Montgomery or Philadelphia counties, nor in the city health departments of Allentown, Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre and York, and roughly ninety-nine further municipalities run their own licensing. There is no reciprocity between them, so a business crossing a boundary licenses twice.

Food Employee Certification

Pennsylvania sets no fee and no renewal term for this, because it neither issues the certificate nor runs the programme — the state charges none and the only cost is whatever the accredited provider asks. What the law requires is one certified food protection MANAGER per licensed facility, not a food handler card for everyone, and the Department is explicit that enrolling in a food handler course instead of a management course does not satisfy it. There is no statewide food handler card in Pennsylvania at all. Anyone reading older material should be careful: the state used to issue its own certificate for $20 with a five-year renewal and continuing education under Chapter 76 of the Pennsylvania Code, and that chapter was rescinded on 12 May 2014. It is the single most likely source of a wrong Pennsylvania figure. In practice: the certified employee must be available during all hours of operation and is the person in charge when present, the certificate is posted publicly, a new facility has ninety days to comply, three months to replace a certified employee who leaves, and one person may only serve as certified manager for one facility. Prepackaged-only operations, non-profit-managed facilities, volunteer fire and ambulance groups, agricultural fairs and school booster organisations are exempt.

Shared with other businesses in Delaware County Pa

• Food Facility Plan Review — Delaware County Health Department, $47–$380 one-time, before opening/remodeling — standard plan review $237; facility over 10,000 sq ft $380; farmers' market vendor review $47; change of ownership/turn-key operation $47; operating without plan review approval $190; phased opening inspection $142, one-time, before opening or remodeling. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks and childcare centres; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• Temporary Food Facility License — Delaware County Health Department, $9–$142 per event (max 14 days) — 1–3 day event $57; 4–7 day event $90; 8–14 day event $142; 1–14 day event, tax-exempt $33; late fee (filed under 5 days before the event) $22 ($9 tax-exempt); the Department refuses applications filed within 24 hours of the event, per event, maximum 14 days. Also required for restaurants and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Certified Food Manager (CFM) Certificate — Delaware County Health Department, $57 per certificate; duplicate certificate $28, not stated in the published fee schedule. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks and childcare centres; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Weights & Measures Commercial Device License — Delaware County Office of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Weights and Measures, $10–$125 fuel dispensers $25 per dispenser hose (or per blend, for a single hose dispensing multiple blends); vehicle tank meters $50 per meter; scales 1–1,000 lbs $25/device, 1,000+ lbs $100/device; PLU devices/scanners, 3 or fewer terminals per location $65, 4 or more $125; timing devices (e.g., car-wash timers) $10/device; every category is capped at $1,000 per location, and a location with mixed device types pays the combined total subject to that cap, annual. Also required for auto repair shops, restaurants, coffee shops and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the auto repair shops page.