Tool
Work out your risk level
Ohio sets your risk level from the single highest-risk thing you do — not from the kind of restaurant you call yourself. Tick what actually happens in your kitchen and this will show you the level, the line of the rule that put you there, how many inspections it carries and what it costs.
Your licensor makes the determination, not this page. What this does is show you what they are looking at, in their words, so you can arrive at the conversation already knowing the answer — or knowing exactly which line you want to argue about. The reasoning behind every item is in the full guide.
Risk level self-assessment
Nothing ticked yet. Work down the list above — the answer appears here.
Your risk level
Level I
The rule’s own description: risk level I poses potential risk to the public in terms of sanitation, food labeling, sources of food, storage practices, or expiration dates.
What put you there
These are the highest-level activities you ticked. Each is shown in the rule’s words, so you can check it against the source.
- Coffee, a self-serve fountain, a hot beverage dispenser, or packaged drinks that need no temperature control “Coffee, self-service hot beverage dispenser drinks, self-service fountain drinks, prepackaged non-time/temperature controlled for safety beverages”
- Packaged refrigerated or frozen food sold exactly as it arrived — sandwiches, dairy, frozen meals “Pre-packaged refrigerated or frozen time/temperature controlled for safety foods”
- Fresh whole fruit and vegetables, not cut or processed “Fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables”
- Packaged shelf-stable food — chips, candy, cookies, canned goods “Pre-packaged non-time/temperature controlled for safety foods”
- Baby food or infant formula “Baby food or formula”
What it means
Food service operation: At least one standard inspection each licensing period.
Retail food establishment: At least one standard inspection each licensing period.
A licensing period runs from March 1 to the last day of February, which is why renewal is due March 1.
Your risk level
Level II
The rule’s own description: risk level II poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk level I because of hand contact or employee health concerns but minimal possibility of pathogenic growth exists.
What put you there
These are the highest-level activities you ticked. Each is shown in the rule’s words, so you can check it against the source.
- Preparing or baking food that does not need temperature control — bread, cookies, dry mixes “Handling, heat treating, or preparing non-time/temperature controlled for safety food”
- Receiving food hot and holding it hot, or receiving it cold and holding it cold — never changing its temperature yourself “Holding for sale or serving time/temperature controlled for safety food at the same proper holding temperature at which it was received”
- Heating an individually packaged, commercially made item and serving it right away “Heating individually packaged, commercially processed time/temperature controlled for safety foods for immediate service”
- Hand-dipping ice cream you bought already made “Hand dipping of commercially manufactured ice cream”
What it means
Food service operation: At least one standard inspection each licensing period.
Retail food establishment: At least one standard inspection each licensing period.
A licensing period runs from March 1 to the last day of February, which is why renewal is due March 1.
Your risk level
Level III
The rule’s own description: risk level III poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk level II because of the following concerns: proper cooking temperatures, proper cooling procedures, proper holding temperatures, contamination issues or improper heat treatment in association with longer holding times before consumption, or processing a raw food product requiring bacterial load reduction procedures in order to sell the product as ready-to-eat.
What put you there
These are the highest-level activities you ticked. Each is shown in the rule’s words, so you can check it against the source.
- Handling, cutting or grinding raw meat “Handling, cutting, or grinding raw meat products”
- Slicing ready-to-eat deli meats or cheeses “Cutting or slicing ready-to-eat meats and cheeses”
- Cooking or assembling food that is served right away, held hot or cold, or cooled “Assembling, partially cooking, or cooking time/temperature controlled for safety food that is immediately served, held hot or cold, or cooled”
- Running a soft serve ice cream or frozen yogurt machine “Operating a soft serve ice cream or frozen yogurt machine”
- Reheating individual portions only “Reheating in individual portions only”
- Heating a sealed pouch, bag or can and holding the product hot “Heating of a product, from an intact, hermetically sealed package and holding the product hot”
What it means
Food service operation: At least two standard inspections each licensing period.
Retail food establishment: At least two standard inspections each licensing period.
A licensing period runs from March 1 to the last day of February, which is why renewal is due March 1.
Your risk level
Level IV
The rule’s own description: risk level IV poses a higher potential risk to the public than risk level III because of concerns associated with: handling or preparing food using a procedure with several preparation steps that includes reheating of a product or ingredient of a product where multiple temperature controls are needed to preclude bacterial growth.
What put you there
These are the highest-level activities you ticked. Each is shown in the rule’s words, so you can check it against the source.
- Cooking soup, sauce, stock, chili or braises in quantity, cooling them, and reheating more often than once every seven days “Reheating bulk quantities of leftover time/temperature controlled for safety food more than once every seven days”
- Catering — preparing food for an event held somewhere else, charged per event or per head “Catering as defined in division (G) of section 3717.01 of the Revised Code”
- Serving a raw animal food ready-to-eat “Offering as ready-to-eat a raw time/temperature controlled for safety animal food or a food with these raw ingredients”
- Using time instead of temperature as the control on any item “Using time as a public health control for time/temperature controlled for safety food”
- Non-continuous cooking — partially cooking raw animal food, cooling it, and finishing it later “Non-continuous cooking of raw time/temperature controlled for safety animal food”
- Freezing fish to destroy parasites “Using freezing as a means to achieve parasite destruction”
- Preparing food in a health care or assisted living facility, for immunocompromised or elderly residents “Preparing food for a primarily high risk clientele including immuno-compromised or elderly individuals in a facility that provides either health care or assisted living”
- Running a heat treatment dispensing freezer “Operating a heat treatment dispensing freezer”
- Anything you hold a HACCP plan for “Performing activities requiring a HACCP plan”
- Anything you hold, or need, a variance for “Activities requiring a variance for the process”
What it means
Food service operation: At least two standard inspections plus two critical control point inspections each licensing period — and two variance reviews where a variance applies.
Retail food establishment: At least two standard inspections plus two process review inspections each licensing period — and two variance reviews where a variance applies.
A licensing period runs from March 1 to the last day of February, which is why renewal is due March 1.
Your mobile risk tier
Low risk
What put you there
- Holding pre-packaged refrigerated or frozen food for sale, in complying equipment “Holding for sale or service pre-packaged refrigerated or frozen time/temperature controlled for safety foods in equipment that complies with the food code”
- Selling pre-packaged food that needs no temperature control “Offering for sale or serving pre-packaged non-time/temperature controlled for safety foods”
What it means
At least one standard inspection each licensing period, whichever tier you are in. The tier decides the fee, and the infrastructure your unit has to carry.
Low risk is narrow, and it is worth being sure. If you open, assemble, cook or reheat anything on the unit, you are high risk — and a misdeclaration is not a saving.
Your mobile risk tier
High risk
What put you there
- Assembling or cooking food that is served right away, held hot or cold, or cooled “Assembling or cooking time/temperature controlled for safety food that is immediately served, held hot or cold, or cooled”
- Reheating leftovers — bulk or individual portions “Reheating bulk quantities or individual portions of leftover time/temperature controlled for safety food”
- Heating a sealed pouch, bag or can and holding it hot “Heating of a product, from an intact, hermetically sealed package and holding it hot”
- Running a heat treatment dispensing freezer “Operating a heat treatment dispensing freezer”
- Operating as a mobile catering food service operation “Operating as a mobile catering food service operation”
What it means
At least one standard inspection each licensing period, whichever tier you are in. The tier decides the fee, and the infrastructure your unit has to carry.
Temporary operations
Not scored I to IV
The four risk levels are assigned to fixed operations, and low or high risk to mobiles. A temporary operation — an event of no more than five consecutive days — is licensed and charged by the day instead.
What it means
At least one inspection during the period of operation.
What the license costs, 2026
City of Cleveland: $130.00 commercial, $65.00 non-commercial.
Cuyahoga County Board of Health: $64 per day commercial, $32 per day non-commercial.
Printed as each agency publishes it — the county states a daily rate and the city does not, so confirm which basis applies to the number of days you are running before you budget it.
What a temporary has to carry, and the exemptions that apply to fundraisers, are in concession stands and temporary events.
What the license costs, 2026
| Licensor | Annual license fee |
|---|---|
| City of Cleveland | — |
| Cuyahoga County Board of Health | — |
Cleveland licenses inside its own city limits; the county board of health licenses every other municipality in Cuyahoga County. Only one of these rows is yours — look up which see the jurisdiction lookup on the site. Plan review is a separate one-off fee, and this is the license alone.
A dash means the published schedule we hold does not give a figure for that combination. Call the licensor rather than assuming.
This is a self-assessment, not a determination. The licensor assigns your risk level, using the same criteria shown here, and may see something in your operation that a checklist cannot. Fees are the 2026 published schedules and change. Confirm both with the agency that licenses your address before you budget against them.
What this rests on
Sources
- Ohio Administrative Code 3701-21-02.3 — risk level of food service operations Ohio Administrative Code 3701-21-02.3 — risk level of food service operations
- Ohio Administrative Code 3701-21-02.4 — food service operation inspection frequency, and the licensing period Ohio Administrative Code 3701-21-02.4 — food service operation inspection frequency, and the licensing period
- Ohio Administrative Code 901:3-4-05 — risk level of retail food establishments Ohio Administrative Code 901:3-4-05 — risk level of retail food establishments
- Ohio Administrative Code 901:3-4-06 — retail food establishment inspection frequency Ohio Administrative Code 901:3-4-06 — retail food establishment inspection frequency
- Ohio Revised Code 3717.01 — definitions, including catering food service operation and food delivery sales operation Ohio Revised Code 3717.01 — definitions, including catering food service operation and food delivery sales operation
- City of Cleveland Department of Public Health — 2026 License Fee Schedule City of Cleveland Department of Public Health — 2026 License Fee Schedule
- Cuyahoga County Board of Health — 2026 Food Protection Program Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026 Cuyahoga County Board of Health — 2026 Food Protection Program Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026