How to find new businesses in Texas before they open: sales tax permits and TABC applications explained
A new business in Texas leaves a paper trail before it ever turns on the lights. If it will sell anything taxable, it needs a sales tax permit from the Texas Comptroller. If it will pour or sell alcohol, it files an application with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). Both records are public, both are published on data.texas.gov, and together they surfaced 26,617 new Texas businesses in the 60 days from August 17 to October 14, 2026. Here is how each record works and how early it really is.
1. Texas sales tax permits
Any person or company that sells or leases taxable goods or services in Texas must hold a sales and use tax permit, one per location. The Comptroller publishes its list of active permit holders with the outlet's name, address, the date the permit was issued, the date the outlet began (or will begin) selling, and an industry code. That makes it the broadest record of new storefronts, restaurants, salons, contractors and online sellers in the state: 25,098 of the 26,617 new businesses on our map (94%) came from it.
The key field is the first sales date. Many owners apply before they open, so the permit is often issued days or weeks ahead of the first sale. In our 60-day window, 11,799 of the 25,098 new permits (47%) listed a first sales date that had not arrived yet on the day the permit was issued. For those, the median head start was 16 days; a quarter of them had 34 days or more, and 1,106 (9%) gave more than 60 days of notice.
For the other 53%, the permit was issued after the business had already started selling, a median of 10 days after. Those are still brand-new businesses, just not early ones.
The head start depends on the kind of business. Bars (70%) and restaurants (61%) register early most often, because they cannot stock and sell without the permit in hand. Construction trades (33%) and real estate businesses (35%) usually register after they have started working.
The catch: re-permits
Not every new permit is a new business. Existing outlets get new permits when they change owners, change legal entity or move. To keep the list to real openings, we count a permit only when the first sales date is no more than 90 days before the permit date. An outlet that has been selling for years and simply re-registered is left out, and so are temporary event permits.
2. TABC liquor applications and licenses
Bars, restaurants with a drink menu, convenience stores that sell beer and liquor stores all need a TABC permit or license, and the application is filed well before opening day. TABC publishes two useful lists: pending original applications (filed, not yet approved) and issued licenses. In our window that meant 584 pending applications and 935 newly issued licenses.
A pending application is the earliest signal you can get for a bar or restaurant: of the 584, 520 were in the "Pending, In Review" stage and 64 had just been received. An issued license usually means the business is opening now or has just opened. TABC filings also catch businesses the sales tax list files under other codes: of the 1,519 liquor filings, 595 were grocery, convenience and liquor stores, 497 bars and 373 restaurants.
The permit type is a quick read on the business. A Mixed Beverage Permit (MB) means a full bar. A Wine and Malt Beverage Retailer's Permit (BG) is typical for restaurants that serve beer and wine only. Off-premise permits (BQ) and package store permits (Q, P) are retail: convenience stores, grocers and liquor stores. A Food and Beverage Certificate (FB) is tied to on-premise locations that serve food, and Late Hours (LH) means a place that plans to serve after midnight.
3. Putting the two together
- Pick your territory and categories. A sign shop cares about every new storefront; a beverage distributor cares about bars, restaurants and package stores.
- Watch pending TABC applications for the longest lead on bars and restaurants.
- Watch new sales tax permits with a future first sales date for everyone else. Those are the businesses still setting up.
- Act inside the window. With a median head start of 16 days on early permits, a weekly check is enough; a daily one is better in busy categories.
You can do all of this from the raw state files, but they are large, unmapped and use industry codes rather than plain categories. Texas New Openings pulls both sources every morning, removes the re-permits, sorts every record into twelve categories and places it on a live map. Of the 26,617 records, 23,450 are placed at their street address and 3,122 at the center of their ZIP code when the Census geocoder cannot match the address.
4. A note on timing
Neither agency publishes in real time. Permits and applications appear in batches, so the most recent week always looks thin at first and fills in over the following days. We date every record by its permit or application date, not by the day we first saw it, so the counts for a given week only grow. See the October 2026 report for how that plays out week to week.
Start with your city
Pick a city below to get its new permits and liquor applications every Monday, free. Browse every Texas city or jump straight to a category such as new restaurants or new bars.