Opening a Restaurant in Michigan: Permits, Licenses, and Who to Call
You are leasing, buying, building out, or expanding a fixed Michigan restaurant, café, or catering kitchen. The example below follows one broad restaurant purchase and shows who decides each task, what to ask, what to have ready, and the official sources behind it. Your transaction, site history, menu, utilities, service, and buildout can change the list.
You selected alcohol. Michigan liquor licensing can involve the license type, ownership, location, local approval, inspections, insurance, and transfer timing. This restaurant check does not cover that path.
Ask
“Which on-premises license and permits fit this plan, and what should be confirmed before I sign or buy the business?”
Have ready
The address, ownership and financing plan, purchase or lease draft, existing license details, service plan, hours, seating, local unit, and target opening date.
Who decides
Michigan Liquor Control Commission and the local governmental unit
This route does not assess license availability, transfers, quotas, financing, local approval, insurance, server training, or alcohol operations.
Your menu or plumbing changes can affect water demand, hot-water sizing, grease control, drains, and what the sewer authority will accept.
Ask
“Is the water supply approved for this operation? Where do all sinks and drains go? What grease control, plumbing changes, sewer approval, well review, or septic review is needed for this menu and volume?”
Have ready
Water and sewer bills, well and septic records, plumbing drawings, grease-interceptor records, equipment flow rates, seating, meal volume, menu, and planned cleaning methods.
Who decides
The local health department, plumbing official, and public sewer authority; Michigan EGLE when the discharge is outside an approved sanitary system
This check cannot size a water heater or grease device, test a well or septic system, trace drains, or approve a discharge.
Michigan food licenses do not transfer to a new owner. Apply for your own license at least 30 calendar days before the ownership change, allow time for any required plan review, and pass inspection before a license is issued.
Ask
“What must I submit at least 30 calendar days before the ownership change, and what plan review, inspection, tax, and closing steps must be finished before I operate?”
Have ready
Ownership and tax details, approved plans, menu, certified manager information, equipment and utility approvals, application fee, and target opening date.
Who decides
The local health department food-service program
This check cannot reserve an inspection, predict an opening date, or confirm that the site will pass.
You plan to run a fixed food business in the community where the site sits. Restaurant use, cooking, seating, carryout, catering, signs, hours, parking, and outdoor activity can be treated differently by local rules.
Ask
“Is this exact food-service use allowed at this address? What zoning, site-plan, parking, sign, outdoor-use, fire, or occupancy approvals come first?”
Have ready
The address, a draft menu, service style, hours, seating count, parking, delivery plan, outdoor plan, sign plan, and a simple site sketch.
Who decides
The city, village, or township that controls land use at the site
This check cannot see the parcel's zoning district or identify the correct local office from a mailing address.
Michigan warns that a purchaser can face successor-liability issues when a business seller has unpaid taxes. The seller can request tax clearance, but the transaction facts still need professional review.
Ask
“Will the seller request current Michigan tax clearance, and what escrow or closing steps should my lawyer or tax adviser use for this purchase?”
Have ready
The purchase agreement, asset list, seller's legal and tax names, Treasury account details available from the seller, clearance request, closing date, and professional contact information.
Who decides
Michigan Department of Treasury and your qualified legal or tax adviser
This check cannot determine successor liability, interpret the purchase agreement, protect escrow funds, or replace transaction-specific legal and tax advice.
A lease or purchase can leave you with an old license, unapproved equipment, unfinished inspection items, a weak hood system, or utility limits that are hard to see during a tour.
Ask
“Please provide the food license and inspection reports, approved plans and menu, occupancy record, building and trade permits, hood and fire-suppression records, grease records, water or septic approvals, equipment list, and open violation letters.”
Have ready
The lease or purchase draft, seller asset list, floor plan, prior approvals, equipment serial numbers, service records, and names of the current health, building, fire, sewer, and utility contacts.
Who decides
The owner or seller, then each office that issued the record
This is a practical document request. A complete-looking file does not prove that approvals transfer, equipment works, or the site fits your menu.
02Before ordering equipment, building, or changing the site
Get the plan-review answer before work or equipment
Official check
New construction, conversion to food service, and many remodels or changes in operation need food plan review. The local health department decides what this project must submit, and required plans must be approved before construction or remodeling.
Ask
“What plan-review package, fee, drawings, menu details, procedures, equipment sheets, and utility approvals do you need for this project?”
Have ready
A full draft menu, standard operating procedures, scaled floor plan, equipment list and spec sheets, finish schedule, plumbing plan, water and sewer details, and project schedule.
Who decides
The local health department food-service plan reviewer
This check does not review plans, size equipment, or tell you that a kitchen layout will be approved.
Get special-process approval before buying equipment
Official check
You selected sous vide, vacuum packaging, curing, smoking for preservation, acidifying or pickling for preservation, sprouting, or a similar special process. Some methods require a variance and a HACCP plan approved in advance.
Ask
“Does each planned process need a variance, HACCP plan, laboratory support, special equipment, or records before I can use it?”
Have ready
Recipes, process flow, time and temperature steps, packaging method, equipment specs, scientific support, draft HACCP plan, labels, and record forms.
Who decides
The local health department, with MDARD specialized-processing support
This check cannot decide whether a variance applies, write a HACCP plan, or validate a food process.
Specialized processingMichigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development · Reviewed July 11, 2026
Check the hood and fire system before buying cooking equipment
Official check
You selected cooking equipment, frying, grilling, smoking, or hood work. The menu and appliances affect exhaust, make-up air, gas, and fire-suppression design.
Ask
“What hood, exhaust, make-up air, fire-suppression, gas, and inspection requirements apply to this exact appliance line and menu?”
Have ready
Menu and cooking methods, appliance cut sheets, hood and fan details, roof or wall route, make-up air, gas load, existing suppression records, and floor plan.
Who decides
The mechanical and fire enforcing agencies for the site, coordinated with food plan review
This check cannot choose a hood type, size a system, approve an appliance, or confirm that existing equipment can stay.
Line up building, trade, fire, and occupancy review
Official check
Your answers raise a building or equipment change that may need plan review, permits, inspections, fire review, or an updated occupancy approval.
Ask
“Which office enforces each code here, and what plans, permits, inspections, fire review, and occupancy approval come before this work and before opening?”
Have ready
Current occupancy record, approved food plans, floor and site plans, seating count, equipment specs, contractor details, utility loads, and the full work list.
Who decides
The state, county, or local enforcing agency for each code discipline
The enforcing office can differ by code discipline. This check cannot identify it or approve a change of use.
You plan to have employees. That brings unemployment, workers' compensation, workplace-safety, payroll, wage, leave, and federal duties beyond the food-service license.
Ask
“Which employer registrations, insurance, safety steps, posters, records, and training apply before the first employee starts?”
Have ready
Entity and tax IDs, start date, headcount, job duties, hours, payroll setup, kitchen hazards, and insurance information.
Who decides
Michigan UIA, Workers' Disability Compensation Agency, MIOSHA, Treasury, and the relevant federal agencies
This restaurant check only gives an employer starting point. It does not cover payroll, wage-and-hour, leave, tax, or federal hiring duties.
Michigan requires a person in charge during all hours of operation. Most ordinary restaurants also need at least one full-time managerial employee certified through an accredited food-safety program. The local office can identify a narrow low-risk exception.
Ask
“Who will be the certified food-safety manager, who is the person in charge on each shift, and what food-safety and allergen knowledge should they be ready to show?”
Have ready
Manager names, shift plan, current certificates, course enrollment if needed, menu and allergen information, and written food-safety procedures.
Who decides
The local health department food-service program
This check does not approve a course, certificate, staffing plan, or a person's food-safety knowledge.
Set up Michigan tax registration and the food tax rules
Official check
Restaurants commonly sell taxable prepared food. Michigan's prepared-food rules can turn on how food is heated, combined, packaged, and served with utensils.
Ask
“Which Michigan tax accounts do I need, and how should each menu and point-of-sale item be treated under the current prepared-food rules?”
Have ready
Entity and federal tax IDs, ownership start date, locations, full menu, service and packaging practices, utensil practices, and point-of-sale categories.
Who decides
Michigan Department of Treasury, with a qualified tax adviser when needed
This check does not classify menu items, calculate tax, register the business, or cover income, payroll, city, or federal taxes.
Map the trip from the licensed kitchen to each service site
Official check
You selected a fixed catering kitchen or food served away from the kitchen. The base kitchen license does not answer every transport, holding, event-site, or local approval question.
Ask
“How should food be prepared, held, transported, served, returned, and cleaned under this fixed license, and what separate approval is needed at the places we serve?”
Have ready
Menus, service locations, travel times, vehicle and container details, hot and cold holding plan, water and handwashing plan, cleanup plan, and event schedule.
Who decides
The local health department for the fixed kitchen and the food regulator for each service location when required
This route does not cover mobile food units, temporary licenses, every event permit, or approval in another jurisdiction.
Some questions have no safe generic answer without the exact address, records, people, or equipment. The interactive check keeps each one visible instead of turning it into a silent gap:
You did not enter an exact address. Confirm the legal municipality and parcel before relying on a local answer.
The city, village, or township is still unknown. A mailing city may not be the zoning authority.
Coverage receipt
What this guide covers
This route covers a fixed restaurant, café, or catering kitchen at one Michigan address.
Checked
local site use and food-service office routing, food plan review and food-service licensing, certified manager and person-in-charge starting points, Michigan business-tax and prepared-food starting points, records to request from the owner or seller, a tax-clearance and successor-liability handoff, building, trade, fire, and occupancy routing, commercial hood and fire-system routing, water, sewer, grease, drain, well, or septic routing, special-process and HACCP routing, raw or undercooked menu-advisory routing, off-site service and transport routing from the fixed kitchen, a visible handoff to the separate liquor-license path, a starting handoff for employer duties.
Still decided elsewhere
The actual zoning decision, enforcing offices, plan approval, equipment sizing, permit needs, utility capacity, inspection result, tax treatment of each sale, and approval to open.
Not checked
Food trucks, mobile units, temporary stands, cottage food, grocery or convenience retail, wholesale food manufacturing, a full liquor-license review, full business formation, payroll and wage rules, a full MIOSHA program, federal food rules, emergencies, or active enforcement matters.