How to get every restaurant permit in Nashville

Metro Public Health Department's Food Protection Services. Davidson County runs the program under contract with the Tennessee Department of Health, using Tennessee's food rules. Call 615-340-5620.

Yes. Metro Codes requires a U&O for all restaurants entering a space, whatever the previous use. Any hood or kitchen work also needs a renovation permit.

Usually, yes. TABC's liquor-by-the-drink license covers spirits, wine and high-gravity beer but not regular beer (up to 8% alcohol by weight, about 10.1% ABV), which needs a Metro Beer Permit Board on-sale permit.

At least 40 seats at tables (or a bar at least 20 inches deep) for a TABC restaurant license, plus more than 50% of revenue from meals. For a Metro on-sale beer permit, the Beer Board's inspection checks for at least 16 seats.

Outside the DTC and CF zoning districts, a beer permit needs a Metro Council exemption resolution for your restaurant. That means a public hearing with 600-ft mailed notice and a posted sign at least 14 days ahead. Check this before signing the lease.

You or your architect can start the application with the Zoning Help Desk, but ePermits accounts are limited to registered licensed contractors, and trade permits are pulled by licensed trades. Homeowners and unlicensed applicants have to work in person with Codes.

Metro Water decides through the Sewer Discharge Compliance Application. Full-service restaurants start at a 1,500-gallon interceptor and limited-service concepts may use a smaller trap. Interceptors must be pumped at least every 90 days.

We didn't find a separate Metro entertainment license for restaurants. What matters is your zoning use class (restaurant vs bar/nightclub), the noise ordinance, occupant load for fire code, and beer sale hours. Confirm with Codes zoning before booking acts.

Tennessee law lists employing a certified food protection manager as one way the person in charge can show food safety knowledge. Plan on certifying at least one manager and confirm current expectations with Metro Health.

Get Health Department and Fire Marshal approval and your Codes Use & Occupancy permit, then the Beer Board inspection and hearing (Metro lists the U&O, business license and TN Certificate of Registration among on-sale beer requirements). The U&O and health permit also come before the TABC inspection. Beer can sometimes start under a temporary Beer Board permit of up to 30 days (until the next Board meeting).

Only unemployment insurance. Register for an employer account in the Jobs4TN Employer e-Services portal before your first payroll (you get the account number instantly). Tennessee has no income tax on wages, so there's no withholding account. Also report each new hire within 20 days and post the four free state posters plus the federal ones.

When you have five or more employees (non-construction). Owners, LLC members and partners don't count; full-time corporate officers do unless they opt out. Most restaurants cross five quickly, so bind the policy before opening.

Yes. If your dining room or total occupant load is 50 or more, it's a place of assembly under the 2024 fire code and the Fire Marshal's Office requires an annual Places of Assembly operational permit — $224 up to 10,000 sq ft, $384 above — applied for in ePermits at least 15 business days before the inspection. Music or alcohol don't matter; head count does.

Beer up to 8% alcohol by weight: the Metro on-sale beer permit ($250 + $100 a year). Wine or high-gravity beer: TABC's Wine-Only Restaurant license ($300 + $270–$350 a year, 40 table seats, more than 50% food). Beer only: just the Metro permit, and no TABC server permits.

Not really. Metro's on-sale beer permit requires seating for 16 where meals are regularly served and the Beer Board inspection checks for working kitchen appliances and food available; every TABC on-premises license requires a prepared-food menu. If food will be 50% or less of sales, you'll need TABC's Limited Service Restaurant license ($2,000–$5,000 a year plus a security plan and zoning letter) instead of the restaurant license.

Yes. TABC rule 0100-01-.03 bars free drinks, drinking games and unlimited-drink deals at any time, and after 10 p.m. you can't serve two or more drinks to one person at once or pour more alcohol for the same price (so no 2-for-1 or discounted doubles after 10). Discounted prices are fine. Liquor service stops 3–8 a.m. Mon–Sat and 3–10 a.m. Sunday; beer stops 3–6 a.m. weekdays and 3–10 a.m. Sunday.

No separate license was found for a restaurant making soft serve or ice cream on site — it's covered by your Metro Health food service permit and plan review. The Department of Agriculture's Frozen Dessert Product License is for plants that make and distribute frozen desserts, and TDA says it doesn't license restaurants; confirm with TDA (615-837-5193) if you'll sell packaged pints to other stores.

A Metro Health mobile food unit permit with a notarized commissary agreement; a fire permit (the $300 statewide State Fire Marshal permit that all Tennessee cities must accept, or Nashville's $151 Fire Marshal food-truck permit); a Davidson County business license; and, to vend in the signed downtown zones, NDOT's $55 Mobile Food Vendor permit (renewed every 2 months). Elsewhere you need the property owner's written permission.

No Metro or Tennessee law regulates delivery-app fees, consent or packaging, so it's contract terms. A delivery-only kitchen still needs its own U&O and Metro Health permit. Delivering beer needs the Metro Delivery/Curbside beer permit; ask TABC about liquor or wine to-go before offering it.

Yes, with controls. Keep shellstock tags 90 days, buy only from certified dealers and print the consumer advisory on the menu. Processes like acidified sushi rice, curing, smoking for preservation or reduced-oxygen packaging need a variance from the Tennessee Food Variance Committee (submitted through Metro Health) before you serve them.

Yes — an NDOT encroachment permit ($250) and Metro Council approval for anything projecting over Metro right-of-way. Keep it inside your property line to avoid the Council cycle.

Not for permitting. All are food service establishments under Metro Health and 'restaurant' use under zoning; hood and suppression requirements depend on whether your equipment produces grease-laden vapors, not on the concept. TABC's restaurant license needs 40 table seats, so a small café serving wine may not qualify.