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

Food Service Establishment License

A coffee shop is caught by the same license as a restaurant: §8.40.020 defines a food service establishment as 'a restaurant at a permanent location where food is prepared for sale or service to the public,' and the Clerk's fee table carries a single $115.00 Restaurant row rather than separate categories. The sequencing is the detail most likely to trip an applicant, and the Code states it: §8.40.040(B) provides that 'Before any license or permit will be issued, an applicant must first have applied for a state of Wyoming Food Service license or permit through the Cheyenne-Laramie County health department, and a sales tax permit through the Wyoming Department of Revenue.' Laramie County is among the six local health departments the Wyoming Department of Agriculture lists, so the food safety license comes from the county rather than from the Department of Agriculture. The county side is priced in the department's own Environmental Health Fee Schedule 2025, as updated 13 October 2025. The license itself is a state fee the county collects and retains 85 percent of, set by the Wyoming Legislature: $200.00 on a new application, $100.00 on renewal and $50.00 for a temporary license. Plan review is charged as a $103.00 application fee plus $87.00 per hour, quoted as minimums by complexity — a supermarket or multivenue and a complex facility are each $364.00 for the first three hours, a simple facility $277.00 for the first two, and a specialty facility or a remodel $190.00 for the first hour, with additional time billed beyond the minimum. Then, separately from the license, the county charges per inspection per license on its adopted Risk Assessment: $62.00 prepackaged, $92.00 fast food, $208.00 full service and $259.00 multiple venues, with a second follow-up at $103.00 and a walk-through at $78.00, one walk-through being subtracted from the plan review. Complaint inspections and first follow-ups are free. The practical consequence for a full-service restaurant is that the recurring county inspection at $208.00 costs more than the city license at $115.00 and more than the state license renewal at $100.00 — the inspection, not the license, is the largest annual food-safety line in Cheyenne. A restaurant serving alcohol pays separately: a restaurant liquor license is $1,050.00 and a bar and grill license $10,500.00 initially, falling to $1,500.00 on renewal, with all liquor licenses expiring each March 31.

Sign Permit (building permit plus review fee)

Under the Unified Development Code, a sign needs a building permit rather than a separate flat-rate sign permit — the Code folds signs into the building permit system, §6.5 stating that 'No sign shall be erected without a building permit' and that the Director decides sign permits at the same time as the building permit. The City's own FAQ confirms the practical effect: 'Yes, both new signs and remodels of existing signs require a building permit.' So a business budgets the valuation-based building permit fee on the sign's construction value plus the $50.00 planning review fee. A sign erector is separately licensed as a contractor.

Shared with other businesses in Cheyenne

• Food Establishment Permit — Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Consumer Health Services, $200 initial license; annual renewal is $100; a temporary permit of up to 14 days is $50, annual. Also required for restaurants and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.
• Food Handler / Manager Certification — Wyoming Food Safety Rule — Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Consumer Health Services, No fee, not applicable statewide. Also required for restaurants and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the food trucks page.