How to read a Sunbiz new business filing

Published October 24, 2026 · Florida New Openings

Long before a shop has a sign, a lease or a license, it usually has a legal entity. In Florida those entities are filed with the Division of Corporations and published on Sunbiz. This guide explains what a filing is, the difference between an LLC and a corporation, what the record shows, how fictitious names fit in, and why a storefront-style name and address is a signal rather than a promise.

What Sunbiz is

The Florida Division of Corporations is part of the Florida Department of State. Its public website, dos.fl.gov/sunbiz, is where new businesses file their formation documents, where existing ones file annual reports, and where anyone can search the records at no cost. Every LLC, corporation, limited partnership and fictitious name registered in Florida has a page there, with the filed documents attached as images.

The division is a filing office, not a licensing agency. It checks that a document is complete and the name is available; it does not inspect premises, approve a concept or verify that a business will ever open. That distinction is the whole point of the rest of this guide.

LLC or corporation

Most new small businesses in Florida file as a limited liability company. The formation document is called Articles of Organization and the governing law is Chapter 605 of the Florida Statutes. An LLC is run by its members or by managers, and the people listed on the filing are shown as “authorized persons” or managers.

A corporation files Articles of Incorporation under Chapter 607 (or Chapter 617 for a nonprofit). Corporations list officers and directors. Franchise operators, restaurant groups and anyone planning to bring in investors often choose a corporation; single-location independents overwhelmingly choose the LLC. On our lists the entity type appears as “Florida LLC” or “Florida corporation”; a business formed in another state and registered to operate here shows up as a foreign entity.

What the record shows

Open any entity on Sunbiz and you will see the same fields:

• Name and document number. The document number is the permanent ID; names can change.
• Date filed and status. A new filing shows ACTIVE. Entities that stop filing annual reports are administratively dissolved in the fall.
• Principal address and mailing address. The principal address is where the business says it operates. For a storefront business this is often, but not always, the shop.
• Registered agent name and address. The agent receives legal papers. It can be an owner, a lawyer or a commercial registered-agent service, so the agent’s address rarely tells you where the business is.
• Authorized persons, managers or officers with titles and addresses.
• FEI/EIN number, usually “applied for” or blank on a brand-new filing.
• Document images: the articles as filed, and later each annual report, which is due between January 1 and May 1 every year.

Fictitious names (DBAs)

A business that operates under any name other than its exact legal name must register that name as a fictitious name under section 865.09 of the Florida Statutes, also through the Division of Corporations. The registration lasts five years, and the law requires the name to be advertised once in a newspaper in the county of the principal place of business before filing.

For spotting openings, fictitious names matter because they are frequently the first public appearance of the name that will actually be on the sign. “Sunshine Hospitality Group LLC” tells you little; its fictitious name “Lola’s Cuban Kitchen” tells you a lot. When a new LLC and a storefront-style fictitious name share an owner and an address, the picture gets clearer.

How to read one in practice

1. Start with the name. Does it read like a place you could walk into (kitchen, grill, salon, studio, market, barbershop, boutique) or like a holding company, a consultancy or a property address?
2. Check the principal address. A suite in a shopping center or a street address on a commercial corridor is a stronger signal than a house, an apartment or a P.O. box. Look at the same address on a map.
3. Look at the date filed. Formation usually comes months before opening; the lease, build-out and licenses follow.
4. Scan the people. Repeat names across several filings often mean an experienced operator or a group expanding, which raises the odds the place opens.
5. Cross-check against a DBPR food-service license if it is a food business. A matching license at the same address turns a signal into something much closer to a confirmed opening.

A signal, not a promise

A filing costs little and commits to nothing. Plenty of LLCs are formed for a lease negotiation that falls through, a food-truck idea, a side business or simply to reserve a name. The name on the filing can change, the address can move, and the whole thing can be dissolved without ever having a customer. Florida New Openings handles that honestly: a filing is labeled New business filing, it is kept separate from licensed openings, and the terms we use on every list say so. Treat it as early notice that someone is trying, and watch for the license that confirms it.

Where to see new filings in your metro

We read new Florida filings daily, keep the ones whose name and address read like a storefront, and sort them by metro: Orlando · Tampa · Miami · Jacksonville · Fort Lauderdale · West Palm Beach. By category: Miami shops & retail, Orlando salons & spas, Tampa salons & spas, Fort Lauderdale shops & retail, West Palm Beach salons & spas.

Questions people ask

This guide describes Florida’s public business records in general terms and is not legal advice. For filing requirements, work from the Division of Corporations’ own instructions.

See this week’s lists: Orlando · Tampa · Miami · Jacksonville · Fort Lauderdale · West Palm Beach.