Opening and running a restaurant in El Paso, Texas: permits, taxes and what sells

Permits and the health authority

El Paso permits fixed food establishments through its Code Enforcement Department's Food Inspection Program, processed at the city's One Stop Shop — there's no separate stand-alone public health department running this. The Food Service Establishment Permit is tiered by square footage per the city's own fee schedule: under 3,000 sq ft is $174 ($178 with the technology fee), 3,001-6,000 sq ft is $344 ($348), 6,001-9,000 sq ft is $515 ($530), and 9,001+ sq ft is $685 ($700), plus a $53 annual application and processing fee on top. That fee schedule is labeled "FY2020" but is the most current one the city has posted online, so confirm with Code Enforcement that it still reflects today's pricing before you budget. Texas's statewide food safety baseline, the Texas Food Establishment Rules (Title 25 TAC Chapter 228), applies underneath the city's own ordinance; DSHS steps in directly only where no local authority has adopted one, and El Paso has, so Code Enforcement — not DSHS — is your point of contact.

Sales tax on the ticket

An El Paso restaurant charges 8.25% combined sales tax on prepared food — the state's 6.25% plus 1% city sales tax, 0.5% for the El Paso County Transit District (Sun Metro), and 0.5% for El Paso County — per the Comptroller's official local rate listing. That total is already the statewide ceiling: city, county, transit and special-purpose district add-ons are capped at 2% combined on top of the state rate.

Alcohol

Serving alcohol runs on TABC permits, not a city license. A restaurant pouring beer and wine typically holds a Wine and Malt Beverage Retailer's Permit (BG) or a Retail Dealer's On-Premise License (BE); one serving spirits needs a Mixed Beverage Permit (MB). Any of those requires a Food and Beverage Certificate (FB) add-on, and the current TABC rule caps an FB holder's alcohol sales at 60% of total sales unless the business otherwise qualifies as a "restaurant" — not the older "51% food" framing still repeated in casual advice. Pouring past midnight needs a Late Hours Certificate. On tax, the state charges the permit holder a 6.7% mixed beverage gross receipts tax (not billed to the guest) plus an 8.25% mixed beverage sales tax charged on the drink itself. Whether alcohol is allowed at a given address depends on a local-option election; we didn't verify El Paso County's wet/dry status precinct by precinct, so confirm with TABC or the county clerk before building a bar program around a specific location.

The local food calendar

Two verified events give El Paso a recognizable food calendar: the El Paso Greek Festival, hosted by St. Nicholas, and the La Viña Harvest Wine Festival, tied to the region's own wine country just across the New Mexico line. Both are worth planning around if you're near the venues. Beyond those two, we didn't find a verified, citable list of recurring farmers markets or food halls for El Paso in this research pass — check with Code Enforcement or a local market association for the current schedule.

What kind of restaurant works here

El Paso had roughly 683,000 residents as of the 2025 Census estimate, making it a large but geographically isolated market — the nearest major Texas metro is hours away, and the city sits across the border from Ciudad Juárez and next to Las Cruces, New Mexico, which shapes both its cuisine and its cross-border customer base. Demand is comparatively steady year-round rather than tied to a beach or ski season, with the two verified festivals above as the clearest seasonal spikes; a restaurant near UTEP or Fort Bliss sees a different weekly rhythm than one in a purely residential neighborhood, so hours and staffing are worth setting around your own customer base.

Running it on your own site

Set your exact 8.25% rate under Admin → Restaurant for your specific address, and every online ticket — pickup, delivery, a dine-in order from the table, or a pay-it-forward treat for another table — applies it automatically and shows it to the guest before they pay. If the Greek Festival or the wine festival means a short staffing push once a year, scheduling and shifts live in the same admin as your menu and ordering, so there's no separate system to stand up for it. Reservations run on real time slots built from your own party-size and lead-time rules, and none of it touches a delivery dispatcher or a POS terminal — whatever you already use for those stays exactly where it is.