Change of Ownership

Steps Toward Obtaining an Annual Health Permit

The following steps apply to change of ownership for food or drink establishments or mobile units. Keep in mind that our plan review and inspection process is separate from city/village inspections, permits, codes and liquor licenses. Contact the applicable city/village government for their requirements.

Operation of the establishment may continue while you are waiting for your plans to be reviewed, provided that the facility did not close between the change in ownership and provided that the menu, concept, equipment, and layout remain the same. If you are planning to make changes, go to our New Construction page.

Step 1 - Plan Review Packet
Step 2 - Submittal of Plans
Step 3 - While Waiting for Plans to be Reviewed
Step 4 - Plan Review
Step 5 - Pre-operational Inspections

Step 1 - Plan Review packet

1

Download or view the following documents, or call our office to request a packet. If the physical location of your facility or commissary is located within Champaign or Urbana city limits, download or view the C-U¹ documents. For other areas of Champaign County², use the County documents.

Forms

Plan Review Application (C-U or County)
Commissary Agreement (mobile units only)
Toilet Facilities Agreement (mobile units only)

Additional Documents for Review:

Plan Review Construction Guide (C-U or County / Spanish / Chinese) – note: 27 pages / read carefully
Fee Schedule (C-U or County)
General Information (C-U or County)
Food Code
Mobile Food Service Requirements (English / Spanish / Chinese)
Mobile Unit FAQs
Water Heater Worksheet - Instantaneous Heater (Excel file)
Water Heater Worksheet - Storage Heater (Excel file)

Complete the plan review application. For change of ownership with no changes in layout or equipment, only the following items need to be submitted:

Plan review application
Menu
Plan review fee
Commissary agreement (mobile units only)
Toilet facilities agreement (mobile units only)

Step 2 - Submit Your Plans

2

Submittal of Plans

Submit your complete plan review packet to our office. Incomplete packets will be returned due to missing information.
Plan review packets are reviewed in the order they are received, within approximately 30 business days.

Step 3 - While Waiting for Plans to be Reviewed

3

You will be allowed to remain in operation while on the plan review waiting list as long as there are no changes in menu, concept, equipment, or layout.
If you haven’t done so already, contact the city or village where your facility is located and/or operated. They may have building/code inspections, permits or other requirements that must be met. Here are links to the building safety departments at the city of Champaign and the city of Urbana.
Get certified. Before your health permit will be issued, you must provide proof of at least one person on staff who has obtained a Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) certificate. This applies to Category 1³ and Category 2⁴ facilities. All CFPM staff in Category 1 restaurants⁵ will also need to complete Allergen Awareness training. See our food worker training page for information about certification classes and allergen training.
All other staff members that are considered food handlers⁷ must obtain Food Handler Certificates (FHC). Information about food handler training.
Complete a Standard Operating Procedures Worksheet (CU or County / Spanish / Chinese). Please submit the completed worksheet within 30 days after you submit your plan review packet.
You will need an Illinois Business Tax (IBT) number. Contact the Illinois Department of Revenue to obtain an IBT number. If your organization is not-for-profit, you may need to apply for tax-exempt status. Health permit fees are waived for organizations that can provide Chhampaign county.
If you will be located and/or operating in Champaign or Urbana, contact their finance departments regarding food and beverage taxes.
You may need to register your business with Champaign County.

Step 4 - Pre-operational Inspections

4

Once your project reaches the top of the plan review waiting list, we will contact you to schedule a construction survey. The facility must be brought into compliance with current codes before a health permit can be issued to the new owner. You will be provided with a punch list of items that will need to be completed prior to the final inspection.
It is your responsibility to contact our office at least three days in advance of completing the punch list work to schedule a final inspection. There should be no outstanding punch list items remaining.

Step 5 - Health Permit

5

After final approval has been granted, your health permit and city food license (if applicable) will be issued. To obtain your permit, you must submit a fully completed health permit application, proof of CFPM staff (if applicable) and fee(s). Health permit fees are waived for not-for-profit organizations that can provide proof of Illinois sales tax exemption.

Annual health permit application (C-U or County)
Vehicle identification form (C-U or County) - additional form for mobile units only.
Be sure that you have met all city/village requirements.

Definitions

C-U or County

C-U means any food service establishment (like a restaurant) within the city limits of Champaign or Urbana, Illinois.

County means any food service establishment in Champaign County, Illinois, that is outside of the city limits of Champaign and Urbana.

Restaurants

A "restaurant" means any business that is primarily engaged in the sale of ready-to-eat food for immediate consumption. "Primarily engaged" means having sales of ready-to-eat food for immediate consumption comprising of at least 51% of the total sales, excluding the sales of liquor.

Food Handler

A "food handler" means an individual working with unpackaged food, food equipment or utensils or food-contact surfaces. "Food handler" does not include unpaid volunteers in a food establishment, whether permanent or temporary.

Category 1

"Category 1" means a food establishment that presents a high relative risk of causing food-borne illness, based on the large number of food handling operations typically implicated in food-borne outbreaks and the type of population served by the facility, or both. Category I facilities include those where the following operations occur:

Potentially hazardous^* foods are cooled, as part of the food handling operation at the facility.
Potentially hazardous^* foods are prepared hot or cold and held hot or cold for more than 12 hours before serving.
Potentially hazardous^* cooked and cooled foods must be reheated.
Complex preparation of foods or extensive handling of raw ingredients with hand contact for ready-to-eat foods occurs as part of the food handling operations at the facility.
Vacuum packaging, other forms of reduced oxygen packaging, or other special processes that require a HACCP plan; or
Immunocompromised individuals such as the elderly, young children under age four and pregnant women are serves, where these individuals compose the majority of the consuming population.

* Potentially hazardous foods are now referred to as time-temperature control for safety (or TCS) foods.

Category 2

"Category II" means a food establishment that presents a medium relative risk of causing food-borne illness, based upon few food handling operations typically implicated in food-borne illness outbreaks. Category II facilities include those where the following operations occur:

Hot or cold foods are held at required temperatures for no more than 12 hours and are restricted to same-day services;
Foods are prepared from raw ingredients, using only minimal assembly; and
Foods that require complex preparation (whether canned, frozen or fresh prepared) are obtained from approved food-processing plants, high-risk food service establishments or retail food stores.