Ghost kitchen or delivery-only

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• Ghost kitchens and virtual brands — what is regulated and what is not

  Running four brands from one kitchen is usually one license, because brands are a marketing construct. The risk is elsewhere: your license was issued against a stated menu and specific equipment, and a new brand can quietly exceed both.

  Last verified August 10, 2026

• POS, Wi-Fi, phones, texting and delivery apps — the compliance parts

  The rules attached to the systems you install: PCI segmentation for guest Wi-Fi, the federal 911 requirements your phone system has to meet, consent rules for text marketing, and how Ohio taxes delivery fees.

  Last verified August 9, 2026

• Commissaries and servicing areas — what Ohio actually requires

  The word "commissary" does not appear in Ohio's food code. The thing it describes does, under a different name, with requirements attached — and knowing which term applies to you decides who you have to satisfy.

  Last verified August 10, 2026

The space you cook in

• Opening inside someone else's building — food halls, hospitals and stadiums

  A stall in a food hall or a kiosk in a hospital is its own licensed operation, and the person holding the license is accountable for facilities they do not own, cannot inspect, and did not build.

  Last verified August 10, 2026

• Where things go in a commercial kitchen, and why

  What the code actually dictates about equipment placement, what it leaves to you, and the adjacencies that quietly cost money later — including why the reach-in should not live next to the fryer.

  Last verified August 12, 2026

• Occupancy limits and how many restrooms you need

  How Ohio calculates the number of people your dining room may legally hold, how that number decides your restroom count, and why a bar needs almost twice the fixtures of a restaurant the same size.

  Last verified August 12, 2026

Food safety across shared lines

• Cooking, cooling, holding and date marking temperatures

  Every time and temperature Ohio actually requires, in the order a kitchen meets them — cook, hold, cool, reheat, date mark — plus the consumer advisory wording and the freezing rule for raw fish.

  Last verified August 9, 2026

• Sushi rice, fresh juice, soft serve and a hunter's deer — the special processes

  Four things a kitchen can do that most cannot, each with its own rule: rice acidified to shelf stability needs a HACCP plan, packaged fresh juice needs a warning label or a variance, a heat-treatment soft serve machine runs on a clock with a lockout, and custom-processing game has an order of operations you cannot vary.

  Last verified August 12, 2026

• Employee illness — what you must ask, and when to send someone home

  Ohio requires every food employee to report specific symptoms and diagnoses to you, and requires you to prove you told them. Here is the reportable list, the difference between restriction and exclusion, and the paperwork behind both.

  Last verified August 9, 2026

• Food safety certification in Ohio, and where to get it near Cleveland

  Ohio has two certifications, not one. Which you need depends on your risk level and your license date — and one of them has no exam at all. Plus the approved providers in all seven Northeast Ohio counties.

  Last verified August 9, 2026

The business side

• Insurance — what Ohio actually requires, and what your landlord demands instead

  Only a short list is required by law, and one item on it can only be bought from the state. Everything else is demanded by a lease, a lender or a commissary — which is why limits are set by contract rather than by square footage.

  Last verified August 12, 2026

• When a second location changes the rules — the thresholds that catch growing operators

  Growth does not trip one switch. Different obligations are measured three different ways — by locations, by headcount added up across every entity you own, and by revenue — and the one most people never see coming is revenue.

  Last verified August 10, 2026

Suppliers and services

Directory categories operators in this position ask for most. Every listing is free and unpaid.

• Commissary & shared kitchens

• POS, payments & reservations

• Equipment service & repair

• Restaurant supply & equipment dealers

• Insurance & risk

Reading a different way

This is a view, not a separate library — every guide above also lives in the topic index. If you want the underlying rules instead, every rule in Ohio’s food code is listed with what it governs. Other operation types.