Opening a Restaurant in Tempe or Scottsdale: Permits & Timeline
Opening in the Phoenix metro means clearing three levels of government at once — state, county and city — and they don't coordinate with each other. You do that.
Budget three months at best, and seven realistically if alcohol is involved. The liquor license and the plan reviews set your critical path; everything else fits around them.
Here's the sequence, the agencies, and what each one wants.
If you would rather not manage that sequence yourself, it is what our Phoenix restaurant consulting does, from the first permit application through opening day.
The critical path, month by month
Month 1 — Legal and tax
Form the entity with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Get your EIN. Apply for your TPT license online.
Months 1–2 — Plan reviews, submitted in parallel
Architectural and kitchen plans go to Maricopa County Environmental Services and your city's building department at the same time. Apply for the state liquor license now — it's the longest item.
Months 2–4 — Build-out
Construction runs. Your municipal liquor hearing happens. Expect plan revisions.
Months 5–7 — Final inspections and liquor issuance
Building, fire and health finals. Staff certifications. Pre-operational health sign-off. Liquor license issued.
The mistake that costs people two months is submitting the county and city plans sequentially instead of together.
1. Arizona Department of Revenue — TPT license
Arizona doesn't have a conventional sales tax; it has a Transaction Privilege Tax on the privilege of doing business, which you collect from customers in the same way.
Apply: Arizona Joint Tax Application, online at AZTaxes.gov
Classification: file under Restaurants & Bars
Cost:$12 per location to the state, plus a separate city license fee for each city you operate in
Renewal: the license runs the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, and must be renewed annually by 1 January. It's delinquent after the last business day of January.
Renewal cost: Arizona charges no state renewal fee. Cities do vary — Scottsdale charges $50, and many charge nothing. Either way you still have to complete the renewal.
Diarize it. A lapsed TPT license is an entirely avoidable, entirely annoying problem.
2. Maricopa County Environmental Services — plan review
Any facility serving open, time/temperature-controlled food must clear the MCES Plan Review & Construction Program before construction begins. Not during. Before.
Submit through the consolidated Maricopa County Permit Center portal.
What they want:
Floor plan drawn to scale, showing equipment layout, plumbing schematics and grease trap specification
Full equipment specs — everything must be ANSI/NSF certified
Your complete proposed menu
Interior finish schedule: floors, walls and ceilings must be smooth and easily cleanable
Timeline: initial plan review runs 2 to 4 weeks.
After construction, you either submit a Pre-Operational Attestation or clear an on-site final inspection to activate your operating health permit.
Also required: the county's guidance states that the Person in Charge shall be a Certified Food Protection Manager and must be onsite during hours of operation. Plan on certifying everyone who will run a shift, not one person. This is separate from — and in addition to — your line staff's Food Handler's Certificates, which are due within 30 days of performing food employee activity and expire three years from issue. Both certificates must be visible or readily accessible at the establishment.
3. Your city — and Tempe and Scottsdale are not the same
Portal — Tempe: Tempe Licensing Portal · Scottsdale: Scottsdale One Stop Shop
Zoning & building — Tempe: Commercial Plan Review for structural and fire · Scottsdale: pre-application meeting required to determine entitlement and use permits
Business license — Tempe: General Business License for a physical location · Scottsdale: $12 application + $50 license fee
City liquor license — Tempe: $500 application + $200 issuance + $300–$1,200 annual, total for a new license $1,000–$1,900 · Scottsdale: fees vary, call License Registration at 480-312-2400 to confirm before submitting
TPT city renewal — Tempe: no city renewal fee · Scottsdale: $50 annually
Watch out for — Tempe: After-Hours License ($500/yr) to operate 2:30am–6:00am · Scottsdale: strict exterior patio and zoning code review
Scottsdale's pre-application meeting is not optional and not a formality. Book it early. It's where you find out whether your intended use actually works at that address, and finding that out in month four instead of month one is the difference between a delay and a disaster.
Scottsdale is also materially stricter on patios and exterior appearance. If outdoor dining is central to your concept, resolve it before you sign the lease.
4. Liquor — the item that sets your opening date
You need both a state license and a city license, and you cannot sell alcohol until you hold both. The order is fixed:
All applications begin with the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control (DLLC). You apply online. DLLC then forwards your application to your city for review — police, fire, building safety, and finally a vote of the City Council. Even after Council approval, the city reserves the right to withhold its certificate if something surfaces.
The license type: most full-service restaurants want a Series 12 (Restaurant) license — all spirituous liquor for on-premises consumption. Unlike Series 6 (Bar) and Series 7 (Beer and Wine Bar), which are quota licenses, Series 12 is not. You get it from the state rather than buying one on a secondary market, which is a very large practical advantage over California.
The condition: food sales must be at least 40% of gross revenue. That is an ongoing obligation, not a one-time test, and there are audit records to file. If you are really a bar with a kitchen, Series 12 is the wrong license and the audit will find it.
State fees (DLLC's published Series 12 schedule):
Application fee: $100
Issuance fee: $2,000 full year, or $1,750 half year
Annual renewal: $585 (late fee $150 on top)
Additional fees for interim permit, site inspection and fingerprints — the DPS fingerprint check is $22, and Tempe PD does the fingerprinting free for license applicants
Overall licensing time frame: 105 days
Liquor law training required: Basic and Management
Renewal month in Maricopa County: March
One useful distinction: Tempe requires a Use Permit from Planning for Series 6, 7 and 9 licenses, a process that can take 2–3 months on its own. A Series 12 restaurant license is not on that list — which is another reason the restaurant license is the faster road.
DLLC also requires the application notice to be posted on the premises for 20 days, where anyone passing can read it and object. That posting is public, visible, and how your future neighbors find out what you're planning. If there's any chance of objection — a residential boundary, a patio, late hours — talk to the neighbors before the sign goes up, not after.
The realistic view
Best case, no alcohol, second-generation space: three months.
Full service with a Series 12 and a Scottsdale patio: five to seven months. DLLC's stated overall time frame is 105 days from application to issuance, and the city review sits inside that window rather than after it — but plan reviews, construction and inspections all have to land around it.
Apply for liquor first, not last. It runs in parallel with everything else, and it is the only item that cannot be accelerated with money.
Get the plan and the numbers in one place
Permits are the visible part. The part that determines whether you make it is the financial model behind them — startup cost schedule, projections that survive a lender's stress test, and a break-even you actually believe.
Our Restaurant Startup Bundle is the business plan, operations manual, training manual and financial templates together, editable end to end — built for a new opening and equally usable in Tempe or Los Angeles. Instant download.
Opening in the Valley and want the timeline pressure-tested before you sign? Book a free 20-minute consult.
Fees and timelines above are taken from the Arizona Department of Revenue, the Arizona DLLC's Series 12 schedule, Maricopa County Environmental Services, and the Cities of Tempe and Scottsdale, checked August 2026. They change. Scottsdale in particular asks that you call License Registration to confirm liquor fees before submitting. Confirm anything you are budgeting or scheduling against.
