How to Start a Catering Business in Georgia

Georgia’s catering market is genuinely strong. Corporate lunches in Atlanta’s Midtown office towers, destination weddings along the Savannah riverfront, music festivals, university events, private chef dinners in Buckhead — the demand is real and varied. And unlike opening a restaurant, you don’t need a dining room, a hostess stand, or daily foot traffic to make it work.

But “easier than a restaurant” has limits. Catering comes with its own layered compliance requirements — commercial kitchen access, county health permits, food safety certifications, and if you’re serving alcohol, a separate Georgia DOR permit system entirely. There’s no single “catering license” in Georgia. Instead, you’re working within the same food service regulatory framework as restaurants, with some additional wrinkles specific to off-site food service.

This guide walks through every step, in order.

Why Start a Catering Business in Georgia

The economics are different from a restaurant in ways that favor a small operator starting out.

No dining room means no build-out costs, no front-of-house staff, no daily open-to-close operations. You work events on your schedule, which makes it genuinely possible to start part-time while you keep your day job and build a client base. When an event books, you prep, you serve, you clean up. Between events, your overhead is mostly kitchen rental and insurance.

Pricing in Georgia catering runs roughly $20–$60 per person for buffet-style service and $50–$150+ per person for full plated events. Corporate accounts often pay faster and book more consistently than private parties — a single company with regular lunch meetings can anchor your calendar.

The shared kitchen model changed the entry math. Instead of building a commercial kitchen from scratch (more on that cost later), you rent time at a commissary kitchen while you build the business. That’s the practical starting point for most new caterers in Georgia.

Step 1: Choose Your Business Structure

Form an LLC before you take your first paid event. Not after. Not “once things pick up.”

Catering liability isn’t just one thing — it’s several things stacked on top of each other. A guest gets sick from something you served. A chafing dish tips and damages a client’s tablecloth. An employee slips carrying equipment into a venue. You serve alcohol at an event and someone has a bad night. An LLC puts a legal wall between those claims and your personal finances.

File online at ecorp.sos.ga.gov. The state fee is $100. Processing takes 5–12 business days standard, or you can pay $100 extra for 2-day expedited if you have a job booked and need to move fast.

After that, you’ll pay $60/year in Annual Registration fees (that’s a $50 base fee plus a mandatory $10 service fee, effective September 6, 2025). Annual Registration is due between January 1 and April 1 each year. Miss the April 1 deadline and there’s a $25 late penalty — not catastrophic, but avoidable.

Step 2: Secure a Licensed Commercial Kitchen

This is the central fact about catering in Georgia: all food prepared for public sale must come out of a licensed commercial kitchen. Your home kitchen does not qualify.

That distinction matters because of the Cottage Food Act (HB 398, effective July 1, 2025). Cottage food allows home-kitchen production of specific non-potentially hazardous items — baked goods, jams, candies, granola — sold directly to consumers with no revenue cap. What it doesn’t cover is catering. The moment you’re preparing protein dishes, hot foods, or anything temperature-sensitive for service at an event, you’re outside cottage food territory and inside Georgia Department of Public Health Chapter 511-6-1 jurisdiction.

So you need a licensed commercial kitchen. Your three realistic options:

Rent time at a commissary or shared kitchen. This is the standard starting point. Rates in Georgia typically run $12–$25/hour or $800–$1,500/month for dedicated access. The Georgia Department of Agriculture maintains a list of licensed shared community kitchens at agr.georgia.gov — that’s your first stop for finding options near you.

Partner with a restaurant for off-hours access. Some restaurants will rent their kitchen from 9 PM to 6 AM when they’re closed. Cheaper than a commissary, but you’re dependent on their schedule and their compliance record.

Build your own commercial kitchen. This is the long-term play, not the starting move. We’ll get to what that costs.

Whatever kitchen you use, it must meet DPH Chapter 511-6-1 standards: three-compartment sink, dedicated handwash sink, proper commercial refrigeration, adequate ventilation, and documented pest control. The county environmental health inspector will verify all of it before issuing your permit.

Step 3: Get Your County Health Permit

Georgia doesn’t issue food service permits at the state level. The permit comes from the Environmental Health department in the county where your kitchen is located.

The process runs: submit kitchen plans and a sample menu → schedule an inspection → pass inspection → receive permit. Some counties want detailed facility diagrams. All of them want to see that your equipment meets standards before they sign off. Budget time for this — it’s not a same-week process.

Two food safety certifications are required:

Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM). At least one employee with supervisory responsibility must hold this. ServSafe is the most common ANSI-accredited exam in Georgia. Plan on roughly $150–$200 for the course and exam combined. The certification is valid for 5 years.

Food Handler certification. Every food handler on your staff must complete this within 30 days of hire. It’s a shorter, less expensive certification than CFPM — but it’s mandatory across your whole team, not just management.

For questions about the permitting process before you apply, the Georgia DPH info line is (404) 657-6534.

The multi-county question. This is where caterers get confused. Your health permit covers food preparation at your licensed kitchen — the county where you cook. When you take that food to an event in a different county, you’re in a gray zone that varies by jurisdiction.

Some counties require notification when an outside caterer is serving at an event there. Others require a temporary food service permit for off-site events. Before you book events in counties you don’t normally operate in, call that county’s Environmental Health department and ask directly. A quick phone call is faster than finding out at the event.

Step 4: Alcohol Catering License (If Serving Alcohol)

Many clients want wine at the rehearsal dinner, beer at the corporate happy hour, champagne at the wedding. If you’re going to pour it, you need more than just your food service permit.

The Georgia Department of Revenue issues catering alcohol permits. The governing rules are Georgia Administrative Rules Subject 560-2-13.

There are two structures:

Annual catering license. Covers all your events for a calendar year.

Per-event catering permits. More flexible for caterers who only occasionally serve alcohol. The fee is $15/event for resident caterers, $50/event for non-resident caterers.

One hard requirement: you must already hold a valid retail alcohol license in your home jurisdiction to qualify for a catering alcohol permit. You can’t get the catering permit first. If you’re planning to serve alcohol at events, work the retail license into your setup timeline early — it adds a step.

Your employees who pour alcohol need their own permits too. Employee pouring permits cost $30 per employee and require completion of alcohol awareness training. They renew every 2 calendar years. Budget this into your staffing costs from the start.

And keep in mind: even with all your Georgia DOR paperwork in order, each event must comply with local alcohol ordinances at the venue’s location. A county that’s partially dry, or a venue in a jurisdiction with specific alcohol rules, can create complications regardless of what permits you hold at the state level.

Step 5: Get Your Local Business License

Georgia has no statewide business license. Licensing is handled locally — by your city if you’re in one, or by your county if you’re unincorporated.

What you’re getting is an Occupation Tax Certificate. Expect to pay $50–$200/year depending on your jurisdiction and how they calculate occupational tax (some use flat fees, others use gross receipts).

Two documents are mandatory for every Georgia business license application, no exceptions:

E-Verify Affidavit. Required under O.C.G.A. § 36-60-6. If you have 11 or more employees, you must be registered with E-Verify and provide your user number. Fewer than 11 employees? You still have to file an exemption affidavit. The form is required either way.

SAVE Affidavit. Required under O.C.G.A. § 50-36-1. You’re verifying your lawful presence in the US. This requires notarization and a Secure and Verifiable Document — a Georgia driver’s license or passport both qualify.

If you’re renting space at a commissary kitchen, you typically don’t need to worry about zoning (the kitchen already has it). But if you’re operating from your own commercial space or a home-based prep area, verify zoning with your local planning department before you sign a lease.

Step 6: Insurance

Catering insurance isn’t optional — it’s functionally required by the market. Most event venues will ask for a Certificate of Insurance (COI) before they let you set up. Many wedding planners and corporate event coordinators won’t book you without it.

Here’s what you actually need:

General liability. Covers property damage at event venues and slip-and-fall incidents during service. The baseline.

Product liability. Covers foodborne illness claims. This is the one that keeps you up at night — a single food safety incident can generate serious claims.

Liquor liability. If you serve alcohol, this is non-negotiable. Most venues explicitly require it. Some will specify minimum coverage amounts.

Commercial auto insurance. Your personal auto policy almost certainly doesn’t cover transporting food and equipment for a business. Get a commercial policy or a business use endorsement.

Workers’ compensation. In Georgia, workers’ comp is mandatory once you have 3 or more employees — including part-time employees. That’s a lower threshold than most people expect. The Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation oversees this at sbwc.georgia.gov.

For a COI, venues will often want themselves listed as an additional insured. That’s a standard request — your insurer handles it, usually at no additional cost.

Budget $2,000–$5,000/year for a comprehensive catering insurance package. The actual number depends on your revenue, coverage limits, and whether you’re serving alcohol.

Step 7: Register for State Taxes

Catering services — food plus service together — are subject to Georgia sales tax. You collect and remit the combined state and local rate, which typically runs 7–9% depending on your county. Georgia’s base state rate is 4%; local rates add the rest.

Get your EIN first. It’s free and takes about 10 minutes at irs.gov/ein. You’ll need it to register with the Georgia Tax Center.

If you’re hiring employees — and in catering, you almost certainly will be for large events — also register for employer withholding. Georgia’s flat income tax rate is 5.19% for 2025, dropping to 5.09% in 2026 under HB 111.

Costs at a Glance

Here’s what you’re actually looking at, broken out:

Item	Cost
LLC filing	$100 one-time
Annual Registration	$60/year
Commissary kitchen rental	$800–$1,500/month (or $12–$25/hour)
County health permit	Varies by county
CFPM certification	~$150–$200 (valid 5 years)
Local Occupation Tax Certificate	$50–$200/year
Alcohol catering permits (if applicable)	$15–$50/event
Employee pouring permits	$30/employee, every 2 years
Insurance	$2,000–$5,000/year
Catering equipment	$2,000–$10,000
Vehicle/transport	Existing vehicle, or $10,000–$25,000 for a cargo van
Workers’ comp (3+ employees)	Varies by payroll and classification

Total first-year estimate using a shared kitchen: approximately $15,000–$35,000.

Total first-year if you build your own commercial kitchen: approximately $60,000–$150,000.

That gap is why most new caterers start with a commissary kitchen. Owning your kitchen is a year-three conversation, not a day-one decision.

The Practical Sequence

A lot of these steps can run in parallel, but the order below minimizes wasted effort:

Form your LLC at ecorp.sos.ga.gov ($100).
Get your EIN from irs.gov/ein (free).
Secure a commissary kitchen — check agr.georgia.gov for licensed options.
Get your CFPM certification — you’ll need it before your health permit inspection.
Apply for your county health permit — contact your county Environmental Health department.
Apply for your local Occupation Tax Certificate — bring your E-Verify and SAVE affidavits.
Register at Georgia Tax Center for sales tax and employer withholding.
Get insurance — general liability, product liability, commercial auto at minimum.
Apply for alcohol catering permits if you’ll be serving alcohol (and get your retail license first).

If you’re targeting a specific event date for your first booking, work backward from step 5. County health permit inspections take time, and you can’t legally operate without one. That’s the critical path.

Georgia doesn’t make catering impossible — but it doesn’t make it simple either. The kitchen requirement alone filters out a lot of people who thought they could start with their home setup. Get the kitchen sorted first, and the rest of the compliance structure falls into place.