Selling food in Hays County means a permit from Development Services in Kyle

Hays County Development Services runs the food-permit program, and its reach is wider than just the open county. It covers every retail kitchen, mobile unit, temporary event vendor, farmers-market seller, and even yard-egg producer operating in the unincorporated areas and inside the cities of Buda, Kyle, and Wimberley. If you store, prep, package, or serve food in any of those places, you're in the program. San Marcos, on the other hand, runs its own health inspections, so a place inside that city limit follows a different path.

You apply online through MyGovernmentOnline — choose Texas as the state and Hays County as the jurisdiction, set up an account, and submit there. The application goes through an administrative review and then a technical review, and a new fixed or mobile establishment gets a pre-opening inspection before the permit is issued. The county posts pre-opening checklists for both fixed kitchens and trailers, and they're worth reading before you ever schedule that inspection.

The permit expires December 31 every year, so it's an annual renewal, not a one-and-done. The food-permit staff are reachable at 512-393-2150 or [email protected], and Development Services sits at 2171 Yarrington Road in Kyle if you'd rather sort it out in person.