Health Permit to Operate — San Francisco
A San Francisco Permit to Operate from SFDPH Environmental Health is required to run any retail food facility; it follows a passing inspection and annual renewal.
Overview
You must hold an EHB Permit to Operate to run a retail food facility in San Francisco, from the SF Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Branch (EHB).
Before applying you should already have your Business Registration, build-out per approved plans, SF Fire Department clearance, at least one Certified Food Protection Manager, and food handler cards for staff. SFDPH also enforces the city's trans-fat ban and food-service-ware/recycling-composting rules, and requires a colored inspection placard (green/yellow/red) to be posted.
Renewal: Annual; the license fee appears on the TTX Unified License Bill (due March 31).
What SpoonSeal tracks
The document(s) you upload for this requirement, with automatic renewal/expiration tracking (Current, Due Soon, Expired). Where the city publishes health-inspection results (e.g., NYC and Chicago), SpoonSeal syncs them automatically; elsewhere they can be added manually.
Stay ahead of this requirement
SpoonSeal stores your documents, tracks expirations, and reminds you before anything lapses — so you are always inspection-ready.
Get started free →This guide is informational and not legal advice. Always confirm current requirements with the official agency linked above.