A new Texas law aims to ease the burden on restaurants by reducing fees and streamlining permits.
Edwin Martinez, who opened his Irving restaurant 14 years ago to bring authentic Puerto Rican food to North Texas, said rising costs since the pandemic have forced him to raise prices. “When I serve the food, I like to be right there on the counter to see the people saying, like, ‘Yes, this is what I’m looking for,’” said Martinez, owner of Adobo Puerto Rican Cafe.
The Texas Restaurant Association (TRA) called Senate Bill 1008 “a signature win.” The law caps local health department fees to the state’s fee chart, reduces local permits, allows a Texas food manager certificate to be valid statewide without extra paperwork or costs, requires departments to post charges online, and eliminates local fees for alcohol permits.
“This bill is going to help those local restaurants save a little money at a time when they really do need that help,” said TRA spokesperson Kelsey Erickson Streufert. She added, “Very simply, it saves restaurants and other food service businesses time and money.”
Beginning September 1, restaurants will still obtain permits from local health departments, but the TRA says the process will involve fewer permits, lower costs, and less duplication. Streufert explained that restaurants serving alcohol currently pay multiple fees at state and local levels. “This bill says, ‘No more.’ You’re going to pay the state for your alcohol permit and no local governments. And so, that alone is going to save restaurants hundreds or even a thousand dollars every single year,” she said.
The law also standardizes the food manager certificate statewide. “If I’m a doctor or a lawyer in Texas, I pay the state one fee, that license lets me work all across the state without any local hurdles. We’re doing the same thing here for food managers,” Streufert explained.
Nimesh Patel, Operations and Culinary Vice President of Boston’s Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar, which operates three locations in North Texas, said implementation may take time. “As far as it getting into the field, making sure the counties and the cities are aware that they have the same playing field across the state, I think that will take time,” Patel said.
Patel said the change could save his chain about 20 hours of paperwork annually and improve margins. “Our margins are very thin these days, and so we don’t have to go get a state license, a city license, and a county license,” he said. He also welcomed the transparency requirement for local departments to post fees online and give 60 days’ notice of any changes. “This at least allows the business owner to know what their fees are going to be, and they get proper notice when they plan to increase those,” Patel said.
The law also allows businesses to operate across Texas with consistent rules. “We can go into Fort Worth. We can go to Frisco—not just our North Texas market, but we can also operate in San Antonio and Austin, knowing we have the same rules and regulations,” Patel said.
Martinez, who pays about $300 for his current permit, is uncertain how much the new law will save him but welcomes the change. “I don’t know what’s going to change on that. If they’re going to change something, it’s better for me—a cent is a cent,” he said. “That’s going to help us to stay alive.”
