Updated for 2026 regulations

Know every permit before you sign a lease.

Stop Googling. Stop guessing. We map every permit, fee, and deadline for your city — so you open legally and on time.

Get Your Free Permit Checklist See How It Works

● Live in Austin, Houston & Dallas — verified from government sources monthly

Restaurant owner confidently managing her permits on a laptop

Austin • Houston • Dallas

BP Concierge

BestPermits Concierge

Meet your BestPermits concierge.

Opening a restaurant is stressful enough. We handle the compliance research so you can focus on your food, your team, and your grand opening.

✓ Free compliance scan

✓ Verified monthly

✓ 3 Texas cities

How It Works

Three questions. Every answer.

No signup required. No credit card. Just tell us your city, restaurant type, and whether you serve alcohol.

Run your free scan

Enter your city and restaurant type. We instantly map every permit, license, and registration you need — with exact fees, timelines, and links to every application.

30 seconds

Get your permit plan

We build a step-by-step timeline showing which permits to apply for first, which can run in parallel, and where the bottlenecks are. No more guessing.

Your critical path, mapped

Open on time, fully legal

Track every application status, get renewal alerts before deadlines, and never worry about a surprise inspection again.

Zero compliance surprises

Now Live in Texas

Three cities. Every permit.

We launched with the three biggest Texas markets. More cities added weekly.

Austin, TX

Travis County · 20 permits tracked

Scan Austin

Houston, TX

Harris County · 18 permits tracked

Scan Houston

Dallas, TX

Dallas County · 20 permits tracked

Scan Dallas

Built For Restaurants

Your type. Your city. Your permits.

Every restaurant type has different requirements. We know exactly what yours needs.

🍴

Full-Service Restaurant

Typically 12–16 permits required

Average first-year cost: $2,400–$5,200

See requirements →

🍺

Bar & Nightclub

Typically 10–14 permits required

Average first-year cost: $3,800–$8,500

See requirements →

🍔

Fast Casual

Typically 8–12 permits required

Average first-year cost: $800–$2,100

See requirements →

🚕

Food Truck

Typically 6–10 permits required

Average first-year cost: $600–$1,800

See requirements →

☕

Coffee Shop / Bakery

Typically 7–11 permits required

Average first-year cost: $700–$1,600

See requirements →

🍲

Catering Company

Typically 8–12 permits required

Average first-year cost: $900–$2,400

See requirements →

The Problem

Opening a restaurant shouldn't require a law degree.

😱

35,000 licensing authorities across the US. Every city, county, and state has different rules. Nobody lists them all in one place.

💰

$2,000 to $10,000 in fines for operating without proper permits. One missed license can shut you down on opening day.

🕑

60–90 days for liquor licenses alone. Start late and your opening date slips by months. Most owners don't know until it's too late.

📝

14 different applications across 6 agencies for a single restaurant in Austin. Each with its own forms, fees, and deadlines.

The Solution

We already did the research for your city.

✓

Complete permit list — every license, fee, and timeline for your exact city and restaurant type.

✓

Critical path mapped — we tell you what to file first so your slowest permit doesn't delay everything else.

✓

Direct application links — no more hunting. Click through to the exact form for each permit.

✓

Renewal alerts — we track every deadline and notify you before anything expires.

✓

Verified monthly — every data point is re-checked against government sources every 30 days.

What Owners Discover

The permits most people miss.

⚠️

Grease Trap Interceptor Permit

Most first-time restaurant owners don't know this exists until their health inspection fails. It's required in all 3 Texas cities we cover and can delay your opening by 2+ weeks.

Average fine if missed: $500

🕑

TABC Liquor License Timing

Takes 60–90 days to process. If you apply after signing your lease, you could be paying rent for 3 months with no revenue. We flag this as your critical path item.

Potential cost of late filing: $6,000+ in lost rent

💰

The Hidden Cost Stack

A full-service restaurant with a bar in Austin needs 14+ permits totaling $2,800–$9,000 in the first year. Most owners budget for 3–4. We show you all of them upfront.

Run a free scan to see your exact costs →

Our Data

We verify every data point. Every month.

Other sites give generic advice. We give you verified facts from government sources, re-checked every 30 days.

Sourced from government websites

Every fee, form, and deadline comes directly from the issuing agency. We link to the source so you can verify it yourself.

Re-verified every 30 days

Regulations change. Fees increase. We re-check every data point monthly and update pages within 24 hours of any change.

Confidence-scored accuracy

Every fact carries a confidence score. Anything below our threshold gets human-reviewed before it reaches your screen.

Real processing time data

We track actual processing times from thousands of applications — not just what the agency website says.

Austin, TX — Data Freshness

Food Establishment Permit

Verified 4 days ago

TABC Mixed Beverage

Verified 9 days ago

Fire Inspection

Verified 12 days ago

Certificate of Occupancy

Verified 4 days ago

Sign Permit

Verified 4 days ago

What happens when you miss a permit?

These are real consequences Texas restaurant owners face every month.

$2,000+

Average fine per violation

Operating without a required permit in Texas can result in immediate fines and a forced closure until you're compliant.

90 days

Liquor license processing

TABC applications take 60–90 days. If you haven't applied before signing your lease, that's 3 months of rent with no revenue.

14+

Permits for a single restaurant

A typical full-service restaurant needs permits from 6+ different agencies. Each has its own forms, fees, and timelines.