Opening a restaurant in Switzerland: permits, costs and planning

You have an idea for a restaurant, and perhaps a property in mind. Before signing a lease, three questions need answering: can you legally run the restaurant you have planned at those premises, do you have enough money to get started, and how many customers will you need to serve to earn a living?

Opening a restaurant in Switzerland involves cantonal procedures, checks on the premises and financial planning. A hospitality qualification and permission to operate are separate requirements. Here we explain the rules in Geneva and Vaud, then work through an example that connects your budget to the number of meals you need to sell.

1. Who will eat at your restaurant?

A neighbourhood restaurant serving mainly lunch has different needs from one where guests spend the whole evening. Your prices, menu, kitchen size and staffing all depend on this first decision.

Start with a specific meal: who is coming, for what occasion, how much can they spend, and how much time do they have? A lunch served in under an hour to people working nearby gives you more useful planning assumptions than a general promise of a friendly dining experience.

Your market research (in French) starts in the neighbourhood, at the times you intend to open. A busy street on Saturday evening may be empty on Tuesday at lunchtime. Visit on several days and speak to potential customers: foot traffic is not the same as demand from people willing to sit down and eat. Analysing competing restaurants (in French) helps you compare their prices, opening hours and the needs they already meet.

Your menu must also work within the kitchen space and preparation time available. Dishes that share ingredients make purchasing easier. An ingredient used in only one dish is more likely to go to waste if that dish sells poorly. Cost a few recipes and time their preparation to check whether the menu works at your planned prices and service pace.

2. Are the premises suitable for your restaurant?

Taking over a former restaurant may save on building work, but it does not guarantee that your plans will be approved. Moving from a café serving snacks to a full hot-food kitchen, extending opening hours or adding a terrace may change the requirements. The previous operator’s authorisation does not automatically transfer to you.

Before committing, establish:

• the permitted use of the premises and any approvals needed for building work;
• the capacity of the ventilation, extraction, electrical supply and drainage;
• the fire safety, accessibility and hygiene requirements;
• the permitted hours, noise levels, odours and deliveries;
• the right to use a terrace and the conditions of its approval;
• who pays for works, service charges and reinstatement under the lease.

Get answers from the landlord and the relevant authorities. Have a qualified professional assess the installations and provide a quote. Inadequate extraction can make apparently cheap premises far more expensive than expected. If approvals are still uncertain, agree what happens if they are refused or delayed before you make a binding commitment.

Taking over a restaurant: what are you buying?

A takeover can mean two different transactions. You may buy equipment and other business assets, or buy the shares in the company that operates the restaurant (in French). In the second case, the company keeps its contracts and debts, including any you have not identified. An asset purchase also requires a review of how the lease, contracts and employees will transfer.

To assess the price, reconcile the seller’s figures with the accounts, till records and actual expenses. Above all, ask who works in the restaurant, for how many hours and for what pay. If the owner and a relative work without a salary, the reported profit will not be the profit you achieve after hiring two people to replace them.

3. Which permits and licences do you need?

You may hear the French term “patente”, but it does not describe one standard licence throughout Switzerland. Distinguish the qualifications of the person running the business, permission to operate the establishment and compliance of the premises.

In Geneva

For a restaurant covered by these requirements, the process starts with the diplôme de cafetier (hospitality qualification, in French), followed by an application for authorisation to open or operate (in French). The cantonal business and undeclared-work authority, the PCTN, examines the application. Holding the qualification allows you to apply; it does not by itself allow you to open.

The application must identify the people and company involved, as well as the restaurant. If you finance the project and someone else runs it, that division of responsibilities must reflect what actually happens. A qualified person who does not perform the role cannot simply “lend” their licence: Article 19 of the LRDBHD prohibits acting as a nominal licence holder (in French).

In the canton of Vaud

The establishment’s licence (in French) combines an autorisation d’exercer and an autorisation d’exploiter. The first concerns the qualified person, who normally needs the cantonal certificate of aptitude. The second concerns the business operation and requires, among other things, registration with the Commercial Register. Ask the canton to confirm whether an equivalent qualification is accepted.

A complete application must be submitted at least 30 days before opening. This filing deadline is not a promise that a licence will be issued within 30 days. The canton requires an advance payment of CHF 500 towards fees, according to its page checked on 13 October 2026. Incomplete applications are returned for correction, so gather the documents before committing to a firm opening date.

Other cantons and takeaway businesses

In another canton, give the relevant authority a precise description of your plans: eat-in or takeaway meals, alcohol, deliveries, opening hours and terrace use. These details determine the procedures. Calling a business a takeaway does not, by itself, exempt it from food safety obligations, premises requirements or restrictions on alcohol sales.

4. How much money will you need to open and keep going?

The premises have a major effect on the budget. An existing kitchen that meets your needs and an empty space requiring a full fit-out call for very different investments. Rather than relying on an average startup budget that may not fit your project, build your own using quotes, the lease and your staffing plan.

Your business plan (in French) explains the concept and the customers you want to reach. Your financial forecast checks whether expected sales can cover the costs of generating them. It should cover the setup, the first months of trading and a reserve based on the risks of your project.

Funding the opening and earning a living afterwards require two separate calculations. An oven paid for before opening uses cash immediately, even though its cost may be spread over several years in the accounts. A rental deposit also ties up money without being an additional rent expense. A cash flow budget (in French) puts each payment on a timeline and shows how much will remain in the bank. The table above helps identify funding needs; do not add these items again if your cash flow forecast already includes them.

Plan your own pay too. In an LLC, the manager’s salary and related employer contributions belong in the budget. As a sole proprietor, your private drawings are not a salary expense in the accounts, but the business still needs to support your living costs. A restaurant that depends indefinitely on your unpaid work is meeting a different financial objective.

Worked example: how many customers do you need?

Consider a hypothetical restaurant with 40 seats, open 26 days a month. The following figures are excluding VAT and purely illustrative; they are not industry averages:

• each customer spends an average of CHF 35;
• costs that vary with sales (food, drinks and other variable costs) amount to 30% of revenue;
• fixed costs total CHF 42,000 a month, including wages, employer social insurance contributions, rent and the owner-manager’s planned pay.

Of each CHF 35 sale, CHF 10.50 covers variable costs. That leaves CHF 24.50 per customer towards fixed costs. The break-even point (in French) is therefore 42,000 ÷ 24.50: approximately 1,715 meals a month, or 66 customers a day. This represents roughly CHF 60,000 in monthly revenue.

With 40 seats, those 66 customers could be split between 35 at lunch and 31 at dinner. If you only open for lunch, some seats will need to be used twice. That raises a practical question: can customers eat at different times, and can the kitchen keep up?

Test two variations. If average spending falls to CHF 30 with the same fixed costs and variable-cost percentage, you will need about 77 customers a day. If you serve only 50 customers a day at CHF 35, monthly revenue is CHF 45,500. After variable costs, CHF 31,850 remains, leaving a CHF 10,150 shortfall against fixed costs. This reveals the gap to fund or the assumptions to revisit before you sign.

This simplified calculation does not replace a cash flow forecast: loan principal repayments and equipment purchases also need funding. Fixed costs should include the relevant depreciation and interest. Wages are treated as fixed here within the capacity of the planned team. If higher volume requires extra staff, recalculate with that additional cost.

Once you know the funding requirement, you can discuss a bank loan to finance the restaurant, additional owner contributions or equipment finance. Repayments should remain affordable under a cautious sales scenario. A proposed loan only becomes available funding once approval and its terms are confirmed.

5. Which legal structure should you choose?

Your choice of legal structure depends on your partners, funding and the risks you are willing to accept personally. Work this out alongside the premises and permit applications so that contracts are signed in the name of the right person or company.

As a sole proprietor, you are personally liable for business debts. An LLC (Sàrl/GmbH) or a company limited by shares (SA/AG) has its own assets. This separation does not remove liability for management misconduct or commitments you sign personally, such as a guarantee required by a landlord or bank.

The Swiss Code of Obligations (in French) requires an LLC to have at least CHF 20,000 in share capital, fully paid in at incorporation. An SA/AG requires at least CHF 100,000 in share capital, with at least 20% of each share’s nominal value and a total of at least CHF 50,000 paid in.

This capital is not a formation fee. Once the company is registered and its capital deposit account is released, the money can finance its business. If your CHF 50,000 contribution includes the LLC’s CHF 20,000 share capital, you have CHF 50,000 available, not CHF 70,000. Do not count the same money twice when funding the restaurant.

If you have partners, agree in writing who works in the kitchen, who runs the dining room and who manages the finances, along with the planned pay. Owning half the shares says nothing about how many hours each person must work. A members’ or shareholders’ agreement (in French) can set out how major decisions are made and what happens if one of you leaves.

6. Prepare the team and day-to-day operations

Food safety: who checks what each day?

Food safety self-checking (in French) is the system your business uses to ensure that the food it serves is safe. It must be documented and suited to the activity. Arrange any required food-business notifications or approvals with the relevant cantonal authority.

In practice, staff need to know who checks deliveries, where temperatures are recorded, how workstations are cleaned and where to find supplier and allergen information. They also need to know what to do when a check reveals a problem. An unusual refrigerator temperature, for example, calls for a decision about the affected food, not just an entry in a folder.

Enough staff for the whole service

Work starts before customers arrive and continues after they leave. Preparation, cleaning and closing must therefore appear on the rota, along with rest periods, holidays and cover for absences. A team that looks sufficient for the two hours of meal service may not be large enough for the whole day.

The national collective employment agreement for the hospitality industry (CCNT/L-GAV, in French) sets sector rules for the establishments and people within its scope. Your wage budget (in French) must reflect its provisions, the thirteenth salary and relevant cantonal rules, including minimum wages.

Add employer social insurance contributions and the applicable insurance to gross pay, including accident, occupational pension and daily sickness benefits cover. Our employee cost calculator helps you prepare a budget, which you should adjust using your compensation office’s rates and your insurance policies. Arrange affiliations with the relevant organisations. Where a work permit is required, it must be obtained before the employee starts.

Track sales and address VAT from the start

The till system and restaurant accounting (in French) should let you trace sales and their payment in cash, by card or through a platform. Refunds, tips and commissions must be identifiable. A platform’s bank transfer may already be net of its commission, so that amount alone is not enough to reconstruct sales.

Assess VAT liability (official information in French) at launch. The general threshold is CHF 100,000 of relevant turnover. If the circumstances indicate that this threshold will be reached within twelve months, liability starts when business activity begins. Do not wait until the hundred-thousandth franc has arrived in your bank account.

Restaurant services are generally taxed at 8.1%. Certain takeaway food sales may qualify for the reduced rate of 2.6%, subject to conditions; alcoholic drinks are excluded from that reduced rate. Configure the till according to the actual products and how they are sold. Our article on Swiss VAT explains the rates and calculation principles. Use VAT-exclusive figures consistently in your profitability forecast: the price customers pay is not directly comparable with average spending excluding VAT.

Before welcoming your first customers

By this stage, you should be able to explain why the neighbourhood can provide enough customers, what you are allowed to do at the premises and how the first months will be funded. If any answer still depends on an approval you hope to receive or an expense you have not costed, resolve that point before committing further.

Once the permits are in place, contracts signed and staff trained, a trial service lets you test the whole process: taking orders, preparing food, serving tables, collecting payment and closing the till. It helps you spot difficulties while you still have time to fix them.

Entreprendre.ch can help you form your Swiss LLC and organise its finances and accounting.

Sources and references

The following official and industry sources are in French.

• Geneva: conditions for authorisation to operate.
• Vaud: hospitality establishment licence.
• Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office: responsibility and food safety self-checking.
• National collective employment agreement for the hospitality industry.
• Federal Tax Administration: VAT rates.
• Federal Tax Administration: VAT liability.
• Swiss Code of Obligations, particularly Articles 621, 632 and 773.

References checked: 13 October 2026. The financial assumptions are illustrative and are not industry averages.