7 permits · verified 2026-08-24
What permits do you need to open a restaurant in Garland?
In short
A restaurant in Garland, TX has 2 permits that apply to every business of this type, plus 5 more that depend on your premises, signage or how you are set up. City of Garland Environmental Health charges $150 per inspection for the food establishment inspection fee. 2 of the 7 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 Garland
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food Establishment Inspection Feeonly if it applies to you | City of Garland Environmental Health | $150 per inspection | per inspection | 2026-08-24 |
| Food Establishment Permit | City of Garland Environmental Health | $100–$500 per year, by establishment type | 1 year | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Food Establishment Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Garland Environmental Health | $50 per single event | single event | 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 Garland?
There is no single figure, and any site quoting one is rounding away the part that matters. Of the 7 records listed for a restaurant in Garland, TX, 2 apply to every business of this type and 5 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 2 that always apply, 1 carry a flat fee, coming to $0.00. That is a floor, not a total. 2 of the 7 are charged as a range or a formula set by the issuing agency, and 0 have no fee published at all. The ones particular to this business that vary:
Food Establishment Permit: $100–$500 per year, by establishment type
Mixed Beverage Permit (MB): $2,650–$5,300 per two-year period; $5,300 original, $2,650 renewal
Is Garland 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 — Garland sits where the table below puts it against every other TX jurisdiction covered here that publishes the same permit.
Temporary Food Establishment Permit: Garland charges $50. Across 8 jurisdictions it runs from $35 in Grayson County to $62 in Austin, with a median of $51. 1 charges less, 4 charge more and 2 charge exactly the same.
Read the spread rather than the rank. Temporary Food Establishment Permit varies by $27 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 Garland?
Permits for a restaurant in Garland, TX come from 4 separate offices: City of Garland Environmental Health, 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.
- City of Garland Environmental HealthIssues 3 permits on this page: Food Establishment Inspection Fee, Food Establishment Permit, Temporary Food Establishment Permit800 Main Street, Garland, TX 75040www.garlandtx.gov/166/Environmental-Health
- 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 Garland that other businesses do not?
1 of the 4 permits particular to a restaurant here applies to no other business type we cover in Garland: Mixed Beverage Permit (MB).
Temporary Food Establishment Permit
$50 for a single event. The schedule prices only the single-event permit, so an operator working a run of events should ask Environmental Health whether a multi-event permit exists before assuming one does — several neighbouring jurisdictions publish one and Garland does not.
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 Garland
- Food Establishment Inspection Fee — City of Garland Environmental Health, $150 per inspection, per inspection. Also required for coffee shops and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
- Food Establishment Permit — City of Garland Environmental Health, $100–$500 per year, by establishment type, 1 year. 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 Garland?
The closest match is a coffee shop, which shares 3 of these permits. A restaurant also needs 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 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Retail stores | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Food trucks | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Childcare centres | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Fitness studios | 2 | 0 | 4 | 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 coffee shops page. Sources for the permits that apply to every type of business are listed on the Garland permits page and the TX state page. Confirmed by Editorial Team.
- Fee Schedule, Food and Food Establishments — City of Garland, effective 4 November 2025City of Garland (via Texas DSHS Local Ordinance Registry) · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
- City of Garland Ordinance No. 7626, amending Chapter 22 food establishment rules and hearingsCity of Garland, filed with Texas Department of State Health Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
- 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.