Permit Process

In King County WA, a smoothie shop that uses fresh fruit instead of powder is considered a food establishment.  To operate legally, we have to apply for a food service permit (county).  We also have to apply for a plumbing permit with the city.  Since we're not tearing down or adding walls, we don't need to apply for a builders permit. 

It costs $728 to *submit* the food service application.  Approval of the application *may* cost more.  An application that isn't acceptable will require a payment of $128/hour for additional review.  With that in mind, we decided to hire an architect -- ModusVStudio -- experienced with and knowledgeable about commercial permit processes and cost-efficient interior design.  Since we're working with a tight budget, we don't have the option to fuck-up the food service application and to make costly design mistakes. 

The food service application involves providing "professional quality" as-built drawings, equipment floor plan, finish-work schedule, menu and work-flow process plan, and on and on and on.  The architect assessed the utilities infrastructure of our shop and discussed with us possible designs to maximize cost-efficiency of daily operations, short-term and long-term.  He helped us locate sinks, prep tables, and service area based on the available plumbing infrastructure and developed a general work-flow process that will keep labor costs to a minimum. 

Once we settled on a design, the architect drew the plans and sent them to us 2 days after our on-site meeting.  We reviewed them, discussed other design possibilities, architect made appropriate revisions, and we submitted the plan to the county.  Start to finish in 4 days.  If we had done it on our own, it would've taken us at least 2 more weeks and increased significantly the chances of our application being rejected.  It costs $90 per day to not have our shop in operation.  We need to take advantage of the free rent days as best we can.  The architect was worth it.

In retrospect, we probably should've had a contractor or architect experienced with commercial code requirements to review the space before we signed the lease.  They can help assess build-out costs of a space.  Luckily for us, the utilities infrastructure of the space turned out to be adequate, though not ideal, for our uses.  While the current plumbing infrastructure isn't up to code to handle an ice-maker and prep-sink in the front service area (floor drain sink and reverse drain required), our architect and plumber figured out ways to make do with what we have in a way that fits our budget.

Once we have the food service permit, the inspector will investigate the site to ensure that we have sufficient equipment (esp. refrigeration) for the operation.  She'll probably use our work-flow process plan to guide her inspection.  

The plumbing permit is straightforward and is available over the counter.  We just need to fill out an application and list the fixtures we plan to install.  A commercial plumber is required to install the fixtures, even if it's just a wash-sink.

We hope to have our plan approved within 2 weeks of this posting.  Again, each day we're not open costs us $90 in overhead.  

For those considering opening a commercial operation, our architect's website is: www.modusvarchitects.com.  ModusVStudio also has a website devoted to commercial permit processing services: www.ezbuildingpermit.com