12 permits · verified 2026-08-24
What permits do you need to open a restaurant in Bell County?
In short
A restaurant in Bell County, TX has 5 permits that apply to every business of this type, plus 7 more that depend on your premises, signage or how you are set up. Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division charges $300 per reinstatement for the permit reinstatement after closure. 3 of the 12 are charged as a range or formula rather than a flat fee. Verified 2026-08-24 against the issuing agencies’ published fee schedules.
Permits particular to a restaurant in Bell County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Food Unit Inspectiononly if it applies to you | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | No fee | not yet set — determined by DSHS under a collaborative agreement | 2026-08-24 |
| Permit Reinstatement After Closureonly if it applies to you | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | $300 per reinstatement | one-time, per closure | 2026-08-24 |
| School Food Inspection | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | $250 per year, two inspections | one year, covering two inspections | 2026-08-24 |
| Central Preparation Facility and Commissary Permitonly if it applies to you | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | $300–$650 per year, by employee count | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Food Establishment Re-inspectiononly if it applies to you | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | $200 per re-inspection | per inspection | 2026-08-24 |
| Food Handler Card | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | $20 per person, two years | two years | 2026-08-24 |
| Retail Food Establishment Permit | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | $300–$650 per year, by number of employees (2026 rates) | annual | 2026-08-24 |
| Food Establishment Plan Review | Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division | $150 per review | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Mixed Beverage Permit (MB)only if it applies to you | Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission | $2,650–$5,300 per two-year period; $5,300 original, $2,650 renewal | every 2 years | 2026-08-21 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
TX registrations that apply to every type of business
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Formationonly if it applies to you | Texas Secretary of State | $300 one-time filing | no expiry | 2026-08-20 |
| Assumed Name Certificate (DBA)only if it applies to you | Texas Secretary of State | $25 one-time filing | up to ten years, renewable | 2026-08-21 |
| Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit | Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts | No fee — there is no fee for this permit | no expiry while actively engaged in business | 2026-08-21 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
How much does it actually cost to permit a restaurant in Bell County?
There is no single figure, and any site quoting one is rounding away the part that matters. Of the 12 records listed for a restaurant in Bell County, TX, 5 apply to every business of this type and 7 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 5 that always apply, 4 carry a flat fee, coming to $420.00. That is a floor, not a total. 3 of the 12 are charged as a range or a formula set by the issuing agency, and 1 has no fee published at all. The ones particular to this business that vary:
Central Preparation Facility and Commissary Permit: $300–$650 per year, by employee count
Retail Food Establishment Permit: $300–$650 per year, by number of employees (2026 rates)
Mixed Beverage Permit (MB): $2,650–$5,300 per two-year period; $5,300 original, $2,650 renewal
Is Bell County expensive for a restaurant?
Comparing like with like — only the permits charged as a single flat fee, since a valuation formula has no figure to rank — Bell County sits where the table below puts it against every other TX jurisdiction covered here that publishes the same permit.
Food Establishment Plan Review: Bell County charges $150. Across 5 jurisdictions it runs from $150 here to $500 in Arlington, with a median of $200. Nowhere else covered here charges less.
Food Establishment Re-inspection: Bell County charges $200. Across 5 jurisdictions it runs from $75 in Allen to $200 here, with a median of $100. Nowhere else covered here charges more.
Read the spread rather than the rank. Food Establishment Plan Review varies by $350 between the cheapest and dearest jurisdiction here, which is the sort of gap worth knowing before you sign a lease on one side of a city line rather than the other.
Which offices issue these permits in Bell County?
Permits for a restaurant in Bell County, TX come from 4 separate offices: Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Texas Secretary of State, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. No single office issues them all, which is why an opening means filing in several places rather than one.
- Bell County Public Health — Retail Food DivisionIssues 8 permits on this page, including Mobile Food Unit Inspection, Permit Reinstatement After Closure, School Food Inspectionwww.bellcountyhealth.org
- Texas Alcoholic Beverage CommissionIssues 1 permit on this page: Mixed Beverage Permit (MB)www.tabc.texas.gov
- Texas Secretary of StateIssues 2 permits on this page: Certificate of Formation, Assumed Name Certificate (DBA)www.sos.state.tx.us
- Texas Comptroller of Public AccountsIssues 1 permit on this page: Texas Sales and Use Tax Permitcomptroller.texas.gov/taxes/permit
What does a restaurant need in Bell County that other businesses do not?
1 of the 9 permits particular to a restaurant here applies to no other business type we cover in Bell County: Mixed Beverage Permit (MB).
Mobile Food Unit Inspection
This is the clearest published account of what HB 2844 actually did. Bell County's schedule carries two headings side by side: mobile food unit PERMIT fees good until 1 July 2026, and mobile food unit INSPECTION fees effective from that date. Of the second it says the amount is to be determined by DSHS once a collaborative agreement is entered into, that the fee will be reimbursed by DSHS, and that it is not to exceed $200. So from 1 July 2026 the county no longer sells a mobile permit — it inspects on the state's behalf, and the operator's permit comes from Texas DSHS. No amount is recorded here because none has been published. The superseded pre-July-2026 permit fees are deliberately not listed.
Permit Reinstatement After Closure
$300 following a closure or a second failure, covering a meeting with the inspector and reinstating the permit — and the schedule is explicit that this is SEPARATE from the $200 re-inspection fee. So a closure costs $500 before the doors reopen, on top of the trading lost. Amending a permit is $125 and a duplicate permit $25.
Mixed Beverage Permit (MB)
Read directly from the TABC two-year licensing fee schedule: Mixed Beverage Permit (MB) $5,300 original, $2,650 renewal, charged on a two-year cycle. A Wine and Malt Beverage Retailer's Permit (BG) is $1,900 if you do not need spirits. Note a widely-cited competitor lists $6,006 for this permit, which does not appear in the TABC schedule.
Shared with other businesses in Bell County
- School Food Inspection — Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division, $250 per year, two inspections, one year, covering two inspections. Also required for childcare centres; what it involves is set out on the childcare centres page.
- Central Preparation Facility and Commissary Permit — Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division, $300–$650 per year, by employee count, one year. Also required for food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
- Food Establishment Re-inspection — Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division, $200 per re-inspection, per inspection. Also required for coffee shops and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
- Food Handler Card — Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division, $20 per person, two years, two years. Also required for coffee shops, retail stores and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.
- Retail Food Establishment Permit — Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division, $300–$650 per year, by number of employees (2026 rates), annual. Also required for coffee shops and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.
- Food Establishment Plan Review — Bell County Public Health — Retail Food Division, $150 per review, one-time, per application. Also required for coffee shops and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
The 3 state-level registrations apply to every type of business across TX and are covered on the TX state page.
How does a restaurant compare with other businesses in Bell County?
The closest match is a coffee shop, which shares 5 of these permits. A restaurant also needs Mobile Food Unit Inspection, School Food Inspection, Central Preparation Facility and Commissary Permit and Mixed Beverage Permit (MB). A coffee shop needs nothing here that a restaurant does not.
| Business | Its own permits | Shared with a restaurant | Only a restaurant needs | Only it needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee shops | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Retail stores | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Food trucks | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Childcare centres | 3 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
Sources
Every figure for the permits explained on this page was read from one of these government pages on the date shown. Sources for the permits shared with other businesses are listed with their explanations on the childcare centres page, food trucks page, coffee shops page and retail stores page. Sources for the permits that apply to every type of business are listed on the Bell County permits page and the TX state page. Confirmed by Editorial Team.
- Retail Food Division Fee Schedule — Bell County Public Health, effective 1 January 2026Bell County Public Health (via Texas DSHS Local Ordinance Registry) · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
- Two-Year Licensing Fees — TABCTexas Alcoholic Beverage Commission · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
Related
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.