Permanent food facilities

Are you thinking of opening a restaurant or food truck? Our document, "Starting a food business in Marin County," has information you need to know before you start. It talks about buying a place or building a new one, and how to keep your food safe for your customers. We can help! Call us at 415-473-6907 or send us an email.

Are you buying a restaurant or store that already sells food? Before you can start selling, you need to get a "Change of Ownership" inspection to make sure everything is up to date and meets current California Retail Food Code also known as CalCode. If you need to change anything in the store, like the kitchen or equipment, you need to get our approval first. Through our food plan check process we'll check your plans to make sure they're safe. 

Before you can open your business, you need to get a yearly health permit from us. You can't sell food without it.

If your business meets all the following requirements, you are considered a 100% pre-packaged operation. 

• No cooking, food preparation, packaging or repackaging of food products. 
• No ice making, bagging or dispensing. 
• No beverage or coffee dispensing, mixing or preparation. 
• No unwrapped beef jerky, candy or other unpackaged food products.
• No beer taps or wine dispensers, or other types of drink dispensers.

Please visit 100% Pre-packaged food facility requirements to learn more about physical facility requirements and the plan submittal process. 

If your facility has less than 25 square feet of storage, including both retail and back stock storage, for 100% non-potentially hazardous foods, you are not required to obtain a permit to operate in Marin County.