What a restaurant has to keep up with, and who does it.

Retail food establishment permit

The health department permit is what lets you open the doors, and the inspection that comes with it is unannounced after the first one. Apply well before you plan to serve — thirty to sixty days is normal.

Workers’ compensation coverage in force

If someone gets hurt on the clock this is what pays their medical bills and their wages. Going without it where your state requires it is not a fine — in most states it is a criminal offense and you become personally liable for the claim.

Once you have employees

State unemployment insurance account registered

The account your state unemployment contributions are paid into — every state runs a program and every covered employer registers with it, usually with the labor or workforce department rather than the revenue one. It is worth getting right early for a reason that is not obvious: your contribution rate is experience-rated, so the claims filed against this account in your first years set what you pay for years afterwards. Register before your first payroll. The wage base and the new-employer rate are set by your state and change, so take both from the state.

State income tax withholding account registered

The account you withhold your employees’ state income tax into and remit from. You register with your state’s revenue department, usually online and usually free, and you need your EIN in hand to do it. Register before your first payroll, not after: the penalty is normally for remitting late, and you cannot remit to an account that does not exist. A few states have no wage income tax and therefore no withholding account — if yours is one of them, waive this and keep the state unemployment insurance account, which every state has.

Fatality and severe-injury reporting procedure

A death is eight hours. An in-patient hospitalization, an amputation or the loss of an eye is twenty-four. That clock runs whether or not you are exempt from keeping the 300 log, and whether or not anyone in the office knows the number to call.

Certificate of occupancy for the premises

If you are taking a space that staff or customers will use, the building official signs off that it may be occupied for what you intend to do in it — and a new certificate is normally required when the USE changes, even if nothing is built. That is the one that catches people: a unit that was a shop is not automatically an approved kitchen, a gym or a clinic, and the landlord’s existing certificate does not transfer to your use. Find out before you sign, because the work it takes to pass is the tenant’s problem and the rent starts either way. If you work from home or out of a vehicle, waive this one.

Local business license or business tax registration

Your city or county almost certainly wants its own registration on top of anything the state issued, and the two are unconnected — a perfectly formed LLC with every state account open can still be trading unlawfully in its own city. Check the city AND the county, because plenty of businesses owe both, and check the zoning at the same time: a license is routinely refused on the ground that the use is not allowed at that address, which is a much cheaper thing to discover before you sign a lease. Record the expiry printed on the license; the renewal interval and the fee are set locally and vary between neighboring towns.

Certified food protection manager on staff

The Food Code wants somebody in charge who has passed an accredited exam — ServSafe or equivalent. Most certificates run five years, and most jurisdictions want that person reachable on every shift.

Kitchen hood suppression system inspected

The hood system over the line is the thing standing between a flare-up and losing the building. The standard wants it inspected by a qualified contractor every six months, and your insurer will ask for the tag.

Form I-9 on file for every employee

Section 1 within the first day of work, section 2 within three business days, and the file kept for three years after hire or one year after they leave — whichever is later. An audit counts forms, not intentions.

Once you have employees

PPE assessment and program

Before you hand out gloves and glasses the rule wants you to have walked the work, written down what can hurt someone, and signed and dated the assessment. The certificate is the part that gets cited, not the gear — and it is the proof an inspector or a client asks for.

Sales and use tax permit, or a note that you owe none

If you sell anything your state taxes you register for a permit before the first sale, not before the first return — collecting tax without one is its own offense in several states, and so is failing to collect. What counts as taxable is set state by state and is not obvious: almost every state with a sales tax taxes goods, a good many tax some services, and a few tax neither because they have no sales tax at all. This is a question a founder cannot answer from first principles, so look it up once with your state’s revenue department and record either the permit or the answer that you owe none.

Fire extinguishers serviced every year

Every portable extinguisher you keep for staff to use gets a maintenance check once a year and a quick look every month. You record the annual service date and keep that record for a year after the last entry or the life of the extinguisher, whichever is less. The tag your service company leaves is usually the record.

Once you have employees

Food handler cards for everyone who touches food

Most — not all — states and counties want a food handler card within a month of hire. Where it is required, an inspector asks for the cards by name.

Annual safety refresher

Everyone should be retrained at least once a year; the training records prove it.

New-hire safety orientation

Everyone new should learn the hazards, the exits and who to tell before their first day of work, and anyone who checks your program asks whether they did.

Employer Identification Number on file

Your business tax ID. You cannot run payroll, open a business account or file a return without it, and it is free from the IRS.

General liability policy in force

No statute makes you carry this — your landlord, your hiring clients and most contracts do. One trip-and-fall claim against an uninsured business is the whole business.

Fire safety / emergency action plan

Where the exits are, who counts heads, who calls it in. Extinguishers on the wall are enough to trigger it. At ten employees or fewer OSHA lets you brief everyone out loud instead of writing it down — keep it on paper anyway, because the written version is the one an inspector, an insurer or a client asks to see.

OSHA "It’s the Law" poster displayed

Federal law says the poster has to hang where your crew actually sees it — a break room wall, not a binder. It is free from OSHA and it is the cheapest citation you will ever avoid.

Daily temperature log

Inspectors check that cold food is held at 41°F or below and hot food at 135°F or above, and that cooked food is cooled fast enough. The Food Code sets those numbers but does not require a written log in most kitchens; a log checked every shift is how you catch a failing cooler before the inspector does. This is our recommendation, not a federal rule.

Cleaning and sanitizing log

Surfaces and utensils used with food that needs temperature control are cleaned at least every 4 hours while in use, and sanitized after cleaning. A log with the sanitizer test-strip reading is how you show it happened. This is our recommendation, not a federal rule.