10 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them, each with the agency, the fee and the official page, and what the Census counts of restaurants in Utah say.
10 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them
Every row checked against its agency’s page; the latest on Oct 21, 2026.
Step 1 of 6Set up the business. Now: Certificate of organization (LLC) and the annual renewal
0 of 10 items done. Each step opens when the one before it is complete. Progress stays on this device. Members keep a dated, noted plan for each saved location in the workspace.
1Set up the business0 of 3
File online through the Division’s business registration portal. The certificate names a registered agent with a Utah street address. A missed renewal adds a $10 delinquency fee and the LLC expires; reinstating costs $18 for each missed year. Utah has no franchise tax on an LLC.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Needed when a sole proprietor, an LLC or a corporation trades under any name other than the owner’s legal name or the entity’s registered name. The registration is filed with the state, not the county, and cities ask for it on the business license application.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Needed to hire, to open a business bank account and for the Tax Commission registration. Issued at once online.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Register for taxOpens after step 1
Register online through Taxpayer Access Point or the state’s OneStop business registration before the first sale; the same application opens the withholding account once you have employees. The license must be displayed and each location needs its own. Restaurants and bars also collect the county restaurant tax on prepared food on top of the combined sales tax rate.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Utah has no statewide business license, but every city licenses businesses inside its limits and the license is where zoning, fire and health sign-offs are gathered before opening. A liquor license cannot be applied for until the city has issued the business license and its written local consent.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Approve the spaceOpens after step 2
Confirm the zoning allows your use before signing; a change of use needs building permits and inspections, and the certificate of occupancy comes before the business license is issued. The health department and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services both ask for it.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Get the permits for your kind of businessOpens after step 3
Submit the plan review application with the menu, the floor plan and the equipment list before building out, then pass the pre-opening inspection. Restaurants, bars, coffee shops, bakeries and ice cream shops are all food establishments under the rule, and the risk level is set from the menu and the volume served. Outside Salt Lake County the fee is on your own health department’s schedule.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Each food establishment needs at least one certified food safety manager who passed an approved exam, with the certificate kept on file at the establishment and shown to the health inspector on request; a low-risk establishment may be exempted. Every other employee who handles food holds a Utah food handler permit from an approved course within 30 days of starting.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Alcohol permitsOpens after step 4
Every retail license is a quota license: bar licenses are capped at 15 plus the state population divided by 8,934 in the year from July 2026, and restaurant licenses have their own cap, so the commission issues from whatever is available at its monthly meeting and bars often wait. Apply with the city’s local consent form, the business license, the lease and the floor plan. A restaurant license requires that a customer order food with any drink and limits where drinks are mixed and displayed; a bar admits only adults. Beer alone, with no wine or liquor, can also be sold under an on-premise beer retailer license issued with the city’s consent.
Fee
Members
Renewal
Members
Official page
Members
Checked Oct 21, 2026
Before the first hireOpens after step 5
Register with Workforce Services when the first wages are paid; the rate notice comes with the account. Workers’ compensation insurance is required for every employer with any employee, from the first hire, with no headcount threshold, and the Labor Commission fines employers found uninsured. Report each new hire within 20 days of the first day of work.
The free location checkWho lives and works around an address, the restaurants already there and the traffic on its road, from public records.
The full reportWhether the rules allow a restaurant at that address, the rent it supports, what has opened and closed nearby, and the questions to settle before signing.
No account. The restaurant check reads public records at the address itself.
Sources and dates
Division of Corporations fiscal year 2026 fee schedule (effective July 1, 2025); domestic LLC pages; Division of Corporations DBA application form; Utah Code 42-2-5; IRS EIN page; Tax Commission Publication 25 (sales and use tax general information); Taxpayer Access Point registration (form TC-69); Salt Lake City consolidated fee schedule and business licensing pages; Salt Lake County fiscal year 2026 fee schedule; Utah Code 10-1-203; Utah Uniform Building Standards Act (Utah Code Title 15A); city business license and building permit pages; Salt Lake County Health Department fee schedule (2026) and food protection pages; Utah Administrative Code R392-100; Utah Department of Health and Human Services food safety manager certification rule (R392-101); food handler training provider pages; DABS fee schedule and retail license pages; Utah Code 32B-1-202 (quota) and Title 32B Chapter 6 (specific retail licenses); Department of Workforce Services employer tax rate page (2026 taxable wage base and rate limits); new hire handbook and form 6; Utah Code 34A-2-201; U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023; U.S. Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.
Questions about opening here.
10 items, in order: certificate of organization (llc) and the annual renewal, assumed name (dba) registration, employer identification number (ein), sales and use tax license, employer withholding account, city or county business license and zoning approval and certificate of occupancy, and 4 more.
Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code, Internal Revenue Service, Utah State Tax Commission, Your city’s business licensing office, Your city’s planning and building divisions and Your local health department, and 3 more.
With certificate of organization (llc) and the annual renewal (Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code), then assumed name (dba) registration. The steps run structure, tax, space, permits, alcohol and employer, in that order.
Yes, to sell it: full-service restaurant license, limited-service restaurant license or bar establishment license. The local license usually comes first.
Each item's fee, renewal cycle and official page are shown to members, as the agency published them on the date checked. Cities and counties add their own fees.
How to open a restaurant in Utah (2026) | DoorWorthy
