You may have noticed that chain restaurants now have calories listed on their menus. And you may be wondering if you are required to include calories – or other nutrition information – on your restaurant menu. The answer is, as always, it depends.

Generally, if you are opening a restaurant and sell “restaurant-type food” (including bakeries, cafeterias, coffee shops, etc.) and it is part of a chain of 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and offering substantially the same menu items, then you probably do have to comply with the federal restaurant menu labeling requirements. In short, if your new restaurant venture is a franchise, the federal menu labeling rule probably applies and should be on your radar.

Restaurants covered by the rule are required to disclose the number of calories in each standard menu item, as that item is usually prepared. For example, if your franchise serves both whole and half sandwiches, you must display the...

After a lot of planning and hard work, you’ve settled on a location, name and a menu for your restaurant. Congratulations! But you may be wondering, “now what?” One of the most important tasks in setting your restaurant up for success is making sure you’re on top of food safety. Nothing will detract from your restaurants’ success more than making people sick. Just ask the owner of the now-shuddered all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet that used to be next door!

So how do you find out what food safety rules and regulations you need to follow? Wading through that swamp can be a challenge for sure! But know this – regulation of restaurants and other retail food establishments is generally handled at the state and local level – so you should start there first.

Normally food safety laws are set at the state level, such as through the state department of health or the equivalent in your state. Inspections, however, are usually conducted by city or county...