What you need for a concession trailer license in Colorado

Last updated 2026-08-19

Do you need a license for a concession trailer in Colorado?

Yes. Sell food to the public from a concession trailer in Colorado and you need licenses. The core one is a retail food establishment license from the local public health agency that will inspect you. You also need tax and business filings. No single statewide concession trailer card exists.

Colorado puts food sales to the public under the Food Protection Act in Title 25, Article 4, Part 16 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. Day-to-day construction and operation rules sit in 6 CCR 1010-2. CDPHE writes those rules and oversees the program. Your county or regional health department usually prints the actual license. ^[1][2][10]

A sales tax license from the Colorado Department of Revenue is a separate filing. Prepared food sold to go is generally taxable. Confirm your menu with Revenue instead of guessing from a group chat. ^[4]

People mix this up with cottage foods. Cottage foods is a limited home kitchen path. It does not cover a trailer with hot holding, a flat top, or a fryer. ^[7]

I would not buy the trailer first. Call the health department that covers your commissary address and ask for the mobile unit plan review packet. That call tells you whether the unit you want is even licensable. The packet is free.

If you are still mapping the whole first year, use the startup walkthrough on how to start a concession trailer in Colorado. It is the order of operations. This page is the license stack.

Which Colorado agencies actually license a concession trailer?

No single agency hands you a complete stack. The health license comes from your local public health agency. The Secretary of State records the business. Revenue handles sales tax. DMV titles the trailer. The fire authority signs off on suppression if you cook.

That split surprises people who want one window. Colorado does not run a one-stop concession trailer desk.

Filing	Who issues it	What it covers
Retail food / mobile license	Local public health agency, under CDPHE rules	Food safety, plan review, inspections
Sales tax license	Colorado Department of Revenue	Collecting and remitting sales tax
LLC, corporation, or trade name	Colorado Secretary of State	Entity on contracts and bank accounts
EIN	IRS	Federal tax ID, banking, payroll
Trailer title and registration	Colorado DMV	Legal use of the trailer on public roads
Hood / suppression sign-off	Local fire authority	Grease-laden cooking and fuel

CDPHE lists local public health agencies so you can find the desk that actually answers the phone. Denver Public Health runs its own food safety process inside the City and County of Denver. Do not mail Denver plans to a neighboring county and hope. ^[9][11]

Start with health and fire in the same week. Those two contradict each other if you sequence them six months apart.

Neighboring states split the stack differently. If you also run events across the state line, compare concession trailer license in Arizona.

What is a retail food establishment license in Colorado?

It is the health license that lets you store, prepare, and sell food to the public. For a concession trailer, it is usually issued as a mobile retail food establishment license after plan review and a pre-operational inspection. Temporary event permits are a different paper for short pop-ups.

Colorado's operating rules track the FDA Food Code model. The Food Code defines a mobile food establishment as "a food establishment operating from a movable vehicle, portable structure, or watercraft." That is the box your trailer sits in. ^[6]

You submit plans. The reviewer checks equipment, sink layout, potable water, wastewater, finishes, the menu, and how you will use a commissary. Then they inspect the built unit. Then they issue the license. Then they inspect you on a routine schedule. ^[1][2]

A Certified Food Protection Manager card is the usual expectation for a retail food establishment. Get an ANSI-accredited exam. ServSafe is the name most kitchens know. The card is not the license. It is one person on the unit who passed a test.

A food handler course covers a person. The establishment license covers the trailer. Do not confuse the two.

If your unit only works two weekends a year, ask the county whether a temporary retail food license fits better than a full mobile license. Planning a season of events? You want the mobile license. Guessing wrong wastes a filing fee and a week.

How much does a concession trailer license cost in Colorado?

There is no single statewide price. Health license and plan review fees are set by the local public health agency. Sales tax and business filings are separate invoices. Confirm every fee with the board that bills you before you lock a budget number.

I will not invent a Denver, El Paso, or Jefferson County fee here. Those schedules move. Pull the current fee sheet from the county that will inspect you. ^[1][9]

Here is what you can pin down today: the IRS does not charge for an EIN. The Service states, "Applying for an EIN is a free service offered by the Internal Revenue Service." Paid EIN websites are a waste of money. ^[3]

Secretary of State entity filings have published fees on the SOS business site. Confirm the current Articles of Organization amount before you file. Fee schedules move. ^[12]

Revenue publishes sales tax license instructions on its license page. Confirm the current amount there. Do not reuse a blog number from 2019. ^[4]

First-year paper cost is usually small next to the trailer. The expensive surprises are plan review resubmittals, a hood that fails fire inspection, and a commissary lease that starts before you can sell a single plate.

Want a packet that lists the health and fire-suppression documents most counties ask for? ConcessionPath sells a $149 one-time Health + Fire-Suppression Kit. You can also download the same county applications for free. I would not pay a consultant thousands to hand you forms that already sit on the health department website.

How much does a concession trailer cost in Colorado?

The trailer itself, not the license, is the big check. Used units commonly change hands from the mid-teens of thousands of dollars up past $50,000. New custom builds often land from about $50,000 to well over $100,000 once you add a fryer package, listed fire suppression, a generator, and a wrap. Nobody publishes a clean Colorado government price index for this. Those ranges are market talk, not a statute.

A cheap used trailer that cannot pass 6 CCR 1010-2 is not cheap. Residential counters, home refrigerators, missing tank vents, and a hand sink crammed behind a door will fail plan review. Budget a pre-purchase conversation with your inspector if they allow it. Some counties will look at drawings before you buy. That conversation is worth more than a shiny interior. ^[2]

A concession trailer Colorado buyers find on Marketplace still has to pass the same finish, sink, and water-system rules as a new build. Out-of-state stickers do not transfer. You start Colorado plan review from scratch.

Operating costs in year one sit outside the purchase price. Commissary rent, propane, generator fuel, event booth fees, insurance, sales tax, and repairs. Insurance is not optional if a venue asks for a certificate. I am not quoting premiums. They swing with menu, radius, and claims history.

Spend money on a listed hood and a water system the reviewer will accept. Skip vinyl that looks like a brand launch. Customers buy the food. Inspectors buy the sinks.

How long does a concession trailer license take in Colorado?

Business filings can be same day. The health license is the long pole. Plan review plus a pre-operational inspection commonly runs several weeks to a few months, and it stretches if your drawings bounce. Confirm current review times with your local public health agency. Nobody can honestly guarantee a date.

SOS online filings often post quickly. An EIN from the IRS website is immediate during IRS hours. Sales tax accounts through Revenue Online often come back in days, sometimes longer. Those are the easy pieces. ^[3][5][12]

Plan review is where calendars die. Incomplete water system drawings, a menu that just says tacos with no TCS steps, a three-compartment sink that does not fit, or a fire system that is not installed yet will send you back in line.

Build the trailer to the approved plans. Field changes without telling the reviewer create a second review. I have no statewide stopwatch. Ask your county a blunt question. What is your current plan review queue for mobile units? Write down the name of the person who answered.

If a seller promises you will be open in two weeks with no plans submitted, walk away. That timeline is a sales pitch, not a health department calendar.

Do you need a commissary for a concession trailer in Colorado?

Most Colorado health departments expect a mobile unit to work out of an approved commissary or servicing area. That is where you store food, dump wastewater, fill potable water, wash equipment that will not fit in the trailer, and park overnight if they require it.

Some counties accept a written agreement with an existing licensed kitchen. Some inspect the commissary as part of your license. Home kitchens almost never qualify if you run a full retail food trailer. ^[1][2]

Read your county's mobile unit packet. If they say commissary, budget it. Shared kitchens along the Front Range fill up. Get the letter on letterhead before you submit plans. A handshake with a restaurant owner is not a commissary letter.

I would not sign a 12-month commissary lease the week you sketch the menu. Confirm the health department will accept that address first. Then sign.

Change commissaries later? Tell the licensing agency. Silent moves show up on inspection day.

What fire and vehicle papers does Colorado expect?

Produce grease-laden vapors with fryers, flat tops, or charbroilers, and you should expect a Type I hood and a listed fire-suppression system, plus a fire inspection. The trailer also needs a Colorado title and registration if you tow it on public roads. ^[8]

Local fire authorities follow the fire code adopted in that city or fire district. Do not assume a system that passed in another state will be accepted without a look. Put the make and model of the suppression system on your plan set so health and fire read the same page.

DMV treats the trailer as a vehicle. Title it. Register it. Plate it. If you bought out of state, budget time for a Colorado title transfer. ^[8]

Propane cages and generators have their own mounting issues. Ask fire and health in the same week so one approval does not undo the other.

I would not open with a shop-built hood and no listing paperwork. Venues and inspectors both ask. A pretty stainless box is not a listed system.

Can you use a Colorado cottage foods registration instead?

No. Cottage foods is a home kitchen path for a short list of non-potentially hazardous foods. A concession trailer selling prepared meals is a retail food establishment. CDPHE's cottage foods program does not license mobile units. ^[7]

If someone told you to skip the health department because of cottage foods, they are mixing statutes. Cottage foods cannot cover a hot menu on the roadside. It also cannot cover on-site cooking in a trailer.

Use cottage foods only if you truly stay inside that statute. Jams from a home kitchen are one world. Birria from a concession trailer is the other. Pick the statute that matches the food.

Trying to hide a trailer behind cottage foods is how you get shut down at the first staffed event.

Do you need a new license in every Colorado county?

Often you need at least extra permission. Your base license does not automatically travel. Denver runs its own food program. Other counties may accept your home license for a temporary event, or they may want their own mobile or temporary permit. Confirm before you take a deposit on an event. ^[9][11]

There is no honest statewide passport. I would keep a folder with the current health license, last inspection, certified manager card, commissary letter, sales tax license, insurance certificate, and the trailer registration. Event coordinators ask for that stack more than they ask for your logo.

If you bounce between Front Range counties every weekend, call the destination county on Monday, not Friday night. Some desks want an application several days before the event.

California operators run into a similar county-by-county grind. The paper is not the same, but the habit of calling ahead is. See concession trailer license in California if you also work that side of the map.

What first-year paper path should you actually follow?

Do the cheap, reversible filings first. Talk to health before you buy steel. Submit plans. Build or remodel to the stamped comments. Pass fire. Pass the pre-operational inspection. Then open. That order saves money.

Start with the menu and the cooking methods. The menu drives sinks, the hood, tank sizing, and whether you even need a full trailer. Then call the local public health agency for the commissary address and ask for the mobile unit plan review packet. ^[1][11]

Form the LLC or file a trade name if you need one. Get the EIN the same day on the IRS site. Open the bank account. Apply for the sales tax license on Revenue Online. ^[3][5][12]

Lock a commissary letter on letterhead. Submit plans. Answer comments. Install fire suppression. Get fire sign-off. Schedule the pre-operational inspection. Only then take paid event deposits you cannot refund.

Hire staff and you generally register as an employer with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and sort workers' compensation. A sole proprietor with no employees is a different fact pattern. Confirm your situation with CDLE rather than copying a forum post. ^[13]

The longer startup sequence, including equipment order, lives in how to start a concession trailer in Colorado. For out-of-state comparisons, use how to start a concession trailer in Arizona and how to start a concession trailer in California.

What gets people rejected at plan review in Colorado?

Incomplete drawings. A menu that does not match the equipment. No commissary letter. A hand sink in the wrong place. Water tanks that are too small for the advertised service volume. Missing wastewater tank sizing. Bare wood. Home refrigerators. A used trailer with residential finishes. ^[2]

Opening before the license is issued is the other failure mode. That is how you get a cease-and-desist and a bad first inspection on file.

I would rather delay two weeks than cook on an unlicensed unit at a high-visibility festival. The inspector will find you. The event organizer will not go to bat for an unlicensed trailer.

Resubmittals are normal. Panic is optional. Answer the comment letter line by line. Do not send a new pretty rendering that ignores the comments.

Want a paid checklist of the health and fire documents counties keep asking for? Start at /start. Free county forms still work. ConcessionPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. Confirm fees, quotas, and review times with the board that signs the license.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a license for concession trailer in Colorado?

Yes. A concession trailer that sells food to the public is a retail food establishment. You need a local health license after plan review, plus a Colorado sales tax license, business filings, an IRS EIN, trailer registration, and fire sign-off if you cook. There is no single statewide concession trailer license.

How much does concession trailer cost in Colorado?

The license stack is usually small next to the unit. Used trailers often sell from the mid-teens of thousands of dollars up past $50,000. New builds commonly run from about $50,000 to well over $100,000. Health and plan review fees are local. Confirm those with the county. Nobody publishes an official Colorado trailer price index.

How long does concession trailer take in Colorado?

SOS and EIN filings can be same day. Sales tax accounts often come back in days. The health license is slower. Plan review plus a pre-operational inspection commonly takes several weeks to a few months if drawings bounce. Confirm the current queue with your local public health agency. No one can guarantee a date.

Who issues the health license for a mobile unit in Colorado?

Your local public health agency issues most retail food licenses. CDPHE writes 6 CCR 1010-2 and oversees the program. Denver runs its own food safety desk. Find the agency that covers your commissary address on CDPHE's local public health list and use that packet, not a neighboring county's forms.

Is a food handler card enough to run a concession trailer in Colorado?

No. A food handler course covers one person. The trailer still needs a retail food establishment license. Most retail food operations also need a Certified Food Protection Manager on an ANSI-accredited exam. The manager card does not replace plan review, the pre-operational inspection, or the establishment license.

Do I need a Colorado sales tax license if I only work weekends?

Weekend-only sales are still sales. If you sell taxable food or goods in Colorado, Revenue expects a sales tax license and returns. Prepared food is generally taxable. Confirm your menu on the Department of Revenue sales tax license page rather than assuming a hobby exception exists.

Can I license a used concession trailer in Colorado?

Yes, if it can pass current 6 CCR 1010-2 rules and local fire review. Out-of-state licenses do not transfer. You still submit Colorado plans and sit for a pre-operational inspection. Budget extra time for tank sizing, finishes, and a listed hood if the used unit was built to another state's packet.

Does Denver accept another Colorado county's mobile license?

Do not assume it does. Denver Public Health runs its own food safety process. Other counties may want a temporary permit, a copy of your home license, or a full local license. Call the destination county before you take an event deposit. There is no statewide mobile passport.

Do I need workers' compensation for a concession trailer in Colorado?

If you have employees, you generally need to sort workers' compensation and register with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. A sole proprietor with no employees is a different fact pattern. Confirm your situation with CDLE. Venues may still ask for a certificate even when the statute is narrower.

What sinks does a Colorado concession trailer need?

Expect at least a hand sink and a three-compartment sink. A separate food prep sink shows up when the menu needs it. Exact tank sizes and sink counts sit in the county mobile packet and 6 CCR 1010-2, not in a national blog. Do not guess from photos of someone else's trailer.

Can I prep concession trailer food in my Colorado home kitchen?

Usually no. Most counties want an approved commissary or servicing area for a mobile retail food establishment. A home kitchen that might fit cottage foods will not fit a hot trailer menu. Get the commissary letter on letterhead before you submit plans.

Is there a statewide mobile food passport in Colorado?

No. Colorado does not issue one license that clears every county desk. Your base health license is the start. Destination counties and Denver can still want their own permit or a full local review. Confirm each county before you book. Keep copies of the license, last inspection, and commissary letter in the trailer.

Sources

1. CDPHE Retail Food program: Colorado retail food establishments are licensed and inspected under CDPHE and local public health agencies.
2. Colorado Secretary of State, 6 CCR 1010-2 Retail Food Establishment rules: Colorado retail food construction and operation rules are published as 6 CCR 1010-2.
3. IRS, Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online: Applying for an EIN is a free service offered by the Internal Revenue Service.
4. Colorado Department of Revenue, Sales Tax License: Businesses that sell taxable goods in Colorado, including many prepared foods, must obtain a sales tax license from Revenue.
5. Colorado Department of Revenue, How to start a business: New Colorado businesses register tax accounts, including sales tax, through the Department of Revenue.
6. U.S. FDA, Food Code: The FDA Food Code defines a mobile food establishment as a food establishment operating from a movable vehicle, portable structure, or watercraft.
7. CDPHE, Cottage Foods Act: Colorado cottage foods is a limited home-based path and does not replace a retail food license for a concession trailer.
8. Colorado DMV, Trailers: Trailers used on Colorado roads must be titled and registered through Colorado DMV.
9. Colorado General Assembly OLLS, Colorado Revised Statutes Title 25 (2023): The Colorado Food Protection Act is codified in Title 25, Article 4, Part 16 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.
10. CDPHE, Public health departments: Local public health agencies are the desks that issue most retail food licenses in Colorado.
11. Colorado Secretary of State, Business Division: Colorado entities and trade names are filed with the Secretary of State Business Division, which publishes current filing fees.
12. Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Employer services: Colorado employers register with CDLE for unemployment insurance and related employer accounts.