Commercial Compliance Hub

9 permits · verified 2026-08-24

What permits do you need to open a coffee shop in Midland?

In short

A coffee shop in Midland, TX has 4 permits that apply to every business of this type, plus 5 more that depend on your premises, signage or how you are set up. Midland Health Services, Environmental Health charges $70 per permit for the temporary food permit. 3 of the 9 are charged as a range or formula rather than a flat fee. Verified 2026-08-24 against the issuing agencies’ published fee schedules.

The permits at a glance

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Commercial Plan ReviewCity of Midland Development Services, Permitting and Inspections25% of the building permit feeone-time, per application2026-08-24
Temporary Food Permitonly if it applies to youMidland Health Services, Environmental Health$70 per permit14 days or less2026-08-24
Food Service Establishment PermitMidland Health Services, Environmental Health$150–$250 per year, by employee countone year2026-08-24
Seasonal Food Permitonly if it applies to youMidland Health Services, Environmental Health$105 per season1 April to 30 September2026-08-24
Fire Protection System Permitonly if it applies to youMidland Fire Marshal's OfficeNot publishednot stated in the published material2026-08-24
Commercial Building PermitCity of Midland Development Services, Permitting and Inspections$100 up to $20,000 of valuation, then $100 plus $3.50 for each additional $1,000 or part thereofnot stated in the published fee schedule2026-08-24
Certificate of Formationonly if it applies to youTexas Secretary of State$300 one-time filingno expiry2026-08-20
Assumed Name Certificate (DBA)only if it applies to youTexas Secretary of State$25 one-time filingup to ten years, renewable2026-08-21
Texas Sales and Use Tax PermitTexas Comptroller of Public AccountsNo fee — there is no fee for this permitno expiry while actively engaged in business2026-08-21

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 coffee shop in Midland?

There is no single figure, and any site quoting one is rounding away the part that matters. Of the 9 records listed for a coffee shop in Midland, TX, 4 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 4 that always apply, 1 carry a flat fee, coming to $0.00. That is a floor, not a total. 3 of the 9 are charged as a range or a formula set by the issuing agency, and 1 has no fee published at all. The ones that vary:

Commercial Plan Review: 25% of the building permit fee

Food Service Establishment Permit: $150–$250 per year, by employee count

Commercial Building Permit: $100 up to $20,000 of valuation, then $100 plus $3.50 for each additional $1,000 or part thereof

Which offices issue these permits in Midland?

Permits for a coffee shop in Midland, TX come from 5 separate offices: City of Midland Development Services, Permitting and Inspections, Midland Health Services, Environmental Health, Midland Fire Marshal's Office, 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.

Is anything about these requirements changing?

25% of the building permit fee, which the fee schedule now lets you compute: on a $250,000 fit-out the permit is $905 and the review $226. Do not confuse this with the payment split — the city also takes 25% of the APPLICATION fee at submission and 75% after approval, which is a schedule of instalments rather than a separate charge. The 25% review rate matches Waco and Abilene, and sits below Arlington's 35%, Mesquite's 28% and Grand Prairie's 45%.

$70 for 14 days or less, and the form names what it covers: fairs, carnivals, circuses and public exhibits. Above the $52 that Arlington, Waco, Pasadena, Frisco and Abilene all charge, and well below Mesquite's $300 temporary annual arts permit. A farmers market permit is $50.

$150 for one to five employees, $200 for six to ten and $250 for eleven or more — the same scale covers a restaurant or on-premises consumption business, a retail food store or grocery, and a warehouse distributor. That makes Midland among the cheapest cities in this dataset for a small kitchen: a five-employee restaurant pays $150 where Frisco would charge $300 and Dallas $773. Two things to watch. The late penalty is unusually harsh — 25% of the permit fee PER DAY past the due date, on top of the fee itself — and there are no refunds on permit fees at all. A permit application must be submitted for each establishment, and an incomplete form will not be processed.

$105 for a fixed season running 1 April to 30 September — the dates are set by the form, not chosen by the applicant, so a business trading outside that window needs a different permit. Cheaper than an annual food service permit at any employee band, and the right instrument for a summer operation.

The Fire Marshal's Office runs separate permitting for fire sprinkler installation, fire alarm installation and fire suppression systems, and reviews plans against the City of Midland Fire Code, which adopts the 2015 International Fire Code. No fee is shown because Midland publishes none: eight fire pages and every document they link were searched, and the only dollar figure in the department's material is a $2,000 fireworks fine. Get the amount from the office on 432-685-7333. One requirement worth designing around rather than discovering at inspection: since 1 September 2017 the department has enforced the audible and visual notification provisions of IFC 907.5 on all buildings provided with fire alarm systems, and it issued that notice precisely because owners and contractors were unaware of them.

$100 covers everything up to $20,000 of valuation, then $3.50 for each further $1,000 or part of one — so a $250,000 fit-out computes to $905 and a $1m project to $3,530. That is among the cheapest commercial building permits in this dataset: the same $1m project costs roughly $2,410 in San Antonio, $3,365 in Frisco and far more in Odessa, which charges a $1,000 base before its per-square-foot rate. Payment is split rather than taken up front — 25% with the application at submission, and the remaining 75% once the plan reviewer notifies you of approval, before the permit issues. A bonded contractor must be listed on the permit for it to issue.

Required to form an LLC or corporation, not to trade as a sole proprietor. Texas has no statewide general business licence, so for many businesses this filing plus a sales and use tax permit is the entire state-level obligation.

Only needed if you trade under a name different from the one on your formation filing. The certificate is effective for a term not exceeding ten years from the date of filing and does not roll over by itself — it must be actively renewed, and a new certificate can be filed within six months of the original expiring. The $25 is the Secretary of State fee; sole proprietors and general partnerships file with the county clerk instead, at county rates.

There is no fee for this permit — the Comptroller says so directly, which is worth stating because a blank fee reads as though nobody knows. It does not expire on a date, but it is not permanent either: it is valid only while you are actively engaged in business as a seller, and the Comptroller's office may cancel it on finding that you are not. Filing obligations keep it alive, so a return must be filed for every period even when there were no taxable sales or purchases to report. Apply through Comptroller eSystems and allow two to three weeks.

Sources

Every figure above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown. Confirmed by Editorial Team.

  1. Commercial New Building and Additions — building permit submittal checklistCity of Midland · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
  2. Environmental Health Permit Application — Regulated Program Types and Annual Permit FeesMidland Health Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
  3. Fire Marshal's Office — permit requirements and code guidanceMidland Fire Marshal's Office · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
  4. Building Permits — fee schedule effective 1 February 2026 and payment splitCity of Midland Development Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
  5. Formation of Texas Entities FAQs - Texas Secretary of StateTexas Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
  6. Form 503 - Instructions for Assumed Name CertificateTexas Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-22
  7. Sales and Use Tax Permit — Texas ComptrollerTexas Comptroller of Public Accounts · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-20

Related

Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.