How to get every restaurant permit in Boston
Restaurants inside the City of Boston (including neighborhoods like Dorchester, Roxbury, East Boston, Charlestown, South Boston, Allston/Brighton, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park and West Roxbury) are permitted by City of Boston departments — Inspectional Services (building, zoning and the Health Division), the Licensing Board, Fire Prevention, Consumer Affairs & Licensing, Public Works and the City Clerk — plus the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (an independent utility) and the Boston Public Health Commission. State agencies handle entity formation (Secretary of the Commonwealth), taxes (DOR), alcohol (ABCC, which must approve every Boston liquor license) and solid-waste bans (MassDEP); Massachusetts has no county-level restaurant permitting. Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, Quincy, Newton and other neighbors are separate municipalities with their own boards — check that your address is actually in the City of Boston before using this checklist.
50 permits and licenses across 34 agencies, from business setup to opening day.
Answer a few questions about your space and get every permit in order, with a timeline, a cost range, walkthroughs, and every application filled in for you to sign with Open.
Start these early
- Liquor license: check availability and your neighborhood's options before signing a lease. Approvals take 8–20 weeks and are often deferred until a license frees up.
- Zoning: if restaurant, takeout or entertainment use is conditional or forbidden, budget 3–6 months for a ZBA appeal and community process.
- Record of Legal Occupancy: if none exists, the landlord must request an ISD walkthrough before any permit can be issued.
- Long-form building permit: Boston warns these can take several months to over a year. File complete plans with all outside approvals at once.
- ISD Health plan review: at least 2–6 weeks, booked in person. Get stamped plans before construction starts.
- Common Victualler hearing: new addresses or hours outside 6 a.m.–11 p.m. need community engagement and a virtual hearing (expect several weeks from submission to hearing).
- Landmarks/historic district review: applications must be complete 15 business days before the monthly hearing.
- Place of Assembly and Certificate of Inspection (50+ occupants): they come late in the sequence, after the CO, and gate your CV and liquor license pickup.
- Gas service: a new or larger National Grid service line and meter can take months and involves street work — apply as soon as the equipment load is known.
- Caterer's alcohol license (§12C): 4–6 weeks at the ABCC after your food service permit is in hand.
- Public Improvement Commission (awnings/canopies over the sidewalk): hearings every two weeks; ISD holds the sign permit until the vote is uploaded.
- Food truck public sites: the annual lottery is held each spring; join early or expect to wait for rolling availability.
Key facts
- A Boston Fire Department Place of Assembly Permit is required for any venue where 50 or more people gather; it's annual, expires September 30, and costs $160 for 50–99 capacity, up to $6,500 for 14,000+.
- You must get your Common Victualler License before ISD Health will issue the Food Service Permit. The CV costs $100 + $1 per seat (takeout only: $100 + $110) and must be renewed online by October 31; late renewal costs double.
- A CV public hearing and community engagement are required if the address has no prior CV approval or you want to operate outside 6:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.
- Food Service Permits run January 1–December 31; a sit-down restaurant pays a $200 minimum in year one, then $200–$1,200 based on gross sales (with takeout).
- ISD Health plan review takes at least 2–6 weeks, is booked in person by calling 617-635-5326, and is skipped only when taking over an unchanged restaurant.
- Boston liquor license upfront costs total $470 ($200 ABCC application, $170 Boston Herald ad, $100 hearing fee); the process takes 8–20 weeks (4–12 weeks Licensing Board, 4–8 weeks ABCC).
- Chapter 202 of the Acts of 2024 (signed September 11, 2024) gave Boston 225 new liquor licenses over three years: 198 neighborhood non-transferable, 15 community-space non-transferable and 12 transferable all-alcohol.
- Neighborhood licenses: each year for three years, 5 per ZIP code (3 all-alcohol, 2 beer/wine) across 13 ZIP codes in Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, South End and West Roxbury (195 total), plus 3 all-alcohol licenses in total for Oak Square (Brighton).
- Abutter notice for a liquor license: within 3 calendar days of the Herald ad, send it by certified mail to direct abutters plus schools, churches and hospitals within 500 feet, and file a notarized Affidavit of Notice.
- Liquor license renewals must be submitted online by November 30; Massachusetts law allows no exceptions, and a missed renewal expires the license December 31.
- ISD long-form permit fee: $50 + $10 per $1,000 of work. Short-form: $20 + $10 per $1,000. Work must start within 6 months of issuance.
- Certificate of Occupancy fee: $50 filing fee plus 1% of total construction cost; it's issued about 10 days after inspections pass with complete paperwork.
All Boston restaurant permits
Questions owners ask
How long does it take to open a restaurant in Boston?
The City says anywhere from a few months to a year or more. Zoning relief (3–6 months), long-form permits (several months or more) and liquor licenses (8–20 weeks once a license is available) are the usual long poles.
What permits does every Boston restaurant need?
Boston names three: a Common Victualler License (Licensing Board), a Food Service Permit (ISD Health) and a Site Cleanliness License (ISD). You'll almost always also need a Certificate of Occupancy covering restaurant use, plus state business and tax registrations.
Which comes first, the CV license or the health permit?
The CV. The Licensing Board says you must get the CV before applying for the Food Service Permit, and ISD Health needs your CO, CV and (for 50+ seats or alcohol) Certificate of Inspection before the pre-operational inspection.
Can I get a liquor license in Back Bay or the North End?
New licenses are rarely available in quota-full areas: Allston/Brighton, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Downtown, Mission Hill, North End, Seaport, South Boston and the West End. Most operators there buy a transferable license on the private market and file an ABCC transfer.
What are the new neighborhood liquor licenses?
A 2024 state home-rule law gave Boston 198 non-transferable licenses for 13 ZIP codes in Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, South End and West Roxbury (plus Oak Square in Brighton). They're cheap to obtain ($470 upfront) but can't be sold and go back to the Board if you close.
Do I need a Place of Assembly permit?
Yes, if your occupant load is 50 or more. It comes from Boston Fire Prevention, renews every September 30, and starts at $160 for 50–99 people. Restaurants over 49 seats also need a Certificate of Inspection.
Do I need a license to play background music or have TVs?
Yes. Boston's Non-Live Entertainment license covers piped-in music, radio, jukeboxes and TVs ($35 application plus $80–$180, and $180 per widescreen TV). Bands, DJs, karaoke and dancing need a Live Entertainment license, usually with a hearing.
I'm taking over an existing restaurant. What can I skip?
If the space keeps the same use and you make no changes, you can skip ISD Health plan review and a new CO. You still need your own CV, Food Service Permit and other licenses, and zoning relief or provisos granted to the prior owner may need to be re-applied for.
Who can file building permits in Boston?
For a commercial space, the applicant must be the licensed contractor doing the work (office staff may submit in the contractor's name). Plumbing, gas and electrical permits must be filed by the licensed trade. The owner must personally request any occupancy walkthrough.
Is there a late-night or after-hours license in Boston?
No. Your closing time is written on your CV and liquor license by the Licensing Board. CV hours outside 6 a.m.–11 p.m. trigger community engagement and a hearing; alcohol can be licensed as late as 2 a.m. under state law. To add hours later, file the Board's Change Form ($100 hearing fee). Zoning also treats live entertainment after 10:30 p.m. differently.
I only want to serve beer and wine. Is the license different?
Same process (Licensing Board hearing + ABCC), lower annual fee: a 7-Day Malt and Wine restaurant license is $1,800 vs. $2,800 for all alcohol ($2,100 for wine, malt and cordials). The 2024 neighborhood licenses set aside 2 beer/wine licenses per ZIP per year. You can petition later to add cordials without a full upgrade.
Does Massachusetts require bartender training?
No statewide mandate for restaurants is published, but the ABCC requires ServSafe/TIPS certificates for caterer's licenses, the Board expects your Manager of Record to know the rules, and insurers and the Board look for trained staff after incidents. Bars and dance venues with 100+ occupants must have state-trained crowd managers on duty whenever open.
Can I run happy hour drink specials?
No. Massachusetts regulation 204 CMR 4.03 bans free drinks, price cuts for less than a full calendar week, unlimited-drink deals, more than two drinks per person at a time, pitchers to a single person, and drinking games. Food specials are fine.
Do I need a permit for a wood-fired oven or charcoal grill?
Yes, through Boston Fire. Solid-fuel cooking falls under the state fire code (527 CMR 1 / NFPA 96 Ch. 14): a dedicated hood and duct, suppression listed for solid fuel, spark arrestors and fuel/ash rules. BFD's portal lists an 'Open Burning and Cooking' permit; confirm the exact permit and fee with Fire Prevention (617-343-3628).
Are delivery-app fees capped in Boston?
Not anymore. The state's 15% cap (Chapter 358 of the Acts of 2020 §98) lasted only until the COVID-19 emergency ended, and Boston has no local delivery ordinance. Negotiate commissions directly; delivery sales still owe the 7% meals tax.
I'm opening a food truck, not a restaurant. What's different?
You skip the CV and the restaurant Food Service Permit. Instead: ISD health permit for the truck ($100), BFD fire inspection ($150), a state Hawker and Peddler license for each money-handler ($62 + $50 fingerprinting), a Business Certificate, insurance, a business plan and a signed commissary agreement, then the City food truck permit ($500). Public sites come from an annual lottery (23 sites); private sites need the owner's permission.
Do I need to worry about Massachusetts' accessibility code as well as the ADA?
Yes. 521 CMR is enforced by ISD at plan review. Under $100,000 of work (and under 30% of assessed value) only the new work must comply; $100,000+ adds an accessible entrance, toilet room and route; 30%+ of assessed value means the whole building. The Architectural Access Board grants variances for a $50 fee if compliance is impracticable.
My awning will hang over the sidewalk. Is the sign permit enough?
No. Anything projecting over the public way needs a Public Improvement Commission projection license (email the petition to PIC@boston.gov by the Thursday before a hearing) in addition to the ISD sign/awning permit and any Landmarks approval.
Can I serve alcohol at a catered event off-site?
Not under your restaurant license. You need the state §12C caterer's license ($1,650 + $150 per transportation permit) for private events, or your client gets a Licensing Board one-day license ($150 / $75) for public ones, and you must notify Boston Police and the Licensing Board 48 hours before each event.
Does a bar with no kitchen need a Common Victualler license?
No — a bar uses a General On-Premises alcohol license ($3,500 all alcohol / $1,900 malt & wine a year) instead of the restaurant license + CV. Boston doesn't publish whether a no-kitchen bar needs an ISD food establishment permit for ice and garnishes, so ask ISD Health (617-635-5326) before you apply.
Is there a different licence for a café or counter-service spot?
No. Cafés, counter-service and takeout kitchens get the same Common Victualler licence as a full-service restaurant (takeout-only pays $100 + $110 instead of $1 per seat) and the same ISD Food Service Permit. What changes is the hood: coffee, panini presses and ovens that don't produce grease-laden vapour may not need a Type I hood and suppression system — have your architect confirm with ISD and Fire Prevention before you buy equipment.