How to open a restaurant in France, step by step

What are the steps to open a restaurant in France?

In France, you do not need a cooking or business diploma to open a restaurant. You do, however, need some mandatory training and declarations, you must follow rules on hygiene, prices and alcohol, and above all you will take decisions that commit your money for years: the lease, the works, the loan. That is why the order matters. Signing premises before checking the local customers, or starting works before the loan is agreed, are the two most expensive mistakes.

This guide follows the real order of a project. Each part sums up the essentials and links to a detailed guide. Read it once in full for the big picture, then come back to each step when you reach it. Once your restaurant is open, carry on with our guide to running a restaurant, then the one on growing a restaurant.

Is there room for your restaurant? Market research

Market research answers one simple question: will enough customers, in this street or neighbourhood, want what you offer, at the price you need to charge? Most of it can be done for free, on foot and on Google Maps.

• Watch the spot at different times: weekday lunch, evenings, weekends. Count passers-by and look at who they are.
• List nearby restaurants: type of food, price of a main course, opening hours, Google rating and number of reviews.
• Read your future competitors’ reviews: what customers complain about is often your best idea for standing out.
• Identify your customers: office workers (lunch), residents (evenings), tourists (season), students (small budgets).
• Test your idea: a short survey of 30 to 50 local people, or a stall at a market or event.

It is also the right time to look for your restaurant’s name: it must speak to these customers, and be available. The method and checks are in choosing a restaurant name.

The result should fit on one page: who your customers are, how much they spend, when they come and why they would choose you. These answers feed straight into the business plan.

Step by step, with free data sources and a survey template: restaurant market research. To study nearby restaurants on Google, see also analysing competitors on Google Maps.

How do you write a restaurant business plan?

The business plan is the document that presents your project and shows it can be profitable. Your bank will ask for it, but it is first a tool for you: it forces you to put a number on every idea before spending.

It has two parts. The written part presents the concept, the team, the location, the customers, the competition, the menu and prices, and how you will make yourself known. The numbers part holds the forecast: turnover, costs, profit and cash over three years, plus the start-up funding plan.

The basic turnover calculation

A restaurant works out its turnover from three numbers: covers per service, services per week and average spend. For example, for a fictional 40-seat restaurant: 35 covers at lunch and 25 in the evening, 5 days a week, with an average spend of €24 before VAT, gives (35 + 25) × 5 × 24 = €7,200 a week, or about €31,000 a month over 4.33 weeks. These figures are only an example: yours come from your market research, and it is wise to build three versions (cautious, middle, optimistic).

The detailed plan, part by part, with a forecast template: the restaurant business plan.

What budget do you need, and how do you fund it?

The opening budget varies enormously from one project to another: taking over premises with a fitted kitchen costs nothing like turning an empty shop into a restaurant. Rather than an average that would tell you little, list your cost items and ask for quotes.

Funding usually combines personal savings, a bank loan and sometimes interest-free personal loans or start-up support. The cash reserve is the item most often underestimated: a restaurant takes time to fill, and the bills arrive from the first month.

The full list of costs, funding options and support schemes to check: restaurant start-up costs.

Start a restaurant from scratch or buy one?

There are two routes. Starting from scratch means taking premises (empty or not) and building everything: you choose everything, but you start with no customers. Buying means acquiring a business that is already trading: customers, equipment and sometimes the licence are there, but you pay for what exists, faults included.

Either way, have the commercial lease reviewed by a professional before signing: the permitted use of the premises, the term, the rent and its review, and who pays for works commit your restaurant for years.

If you are looking to buy, the method to value a business, the documents to ask for and the traps to avoid are in buying a restaurant in France. A simple, free clue: the Google reviews of the restaurant for sale, how they have changed and how the owner replies say a lot about the real state of the business.

What paperwork do you need to open a restaurant in France?

The formalities follow a logical order. Here is the checklist; each point is explained, with forms and official links, in permits and paperwork to open a restaurant in France.

• Choose the legal form (sole trader or company) with your accountant: compare them in legal structures for a restaurant in France.
• Register the business online on the French one-stop business formalities portal.
• Declare the activity to the local food safety authority (DDPP) before opening, with form cerfa no. 13984.
• Complete the food hygiene training (at least one person in the team).
• If you serve alcohol: take the operating permit training and declare the licence at the town hall.
• Check the rules for premises open to the public: fire safety and accessibility, especially if you do works.
• For a pavement terrace: ask the town hall for permission, see the terrace permit.
• Take out insurance (professional liability, premises, equipment).
• If you play music: declare it to the rights management organisations.
• If you hire: file the pre-hiring declaration before each new employee starts.

Allow time: some steps depend on others (the licence requires the operating permit, opening to the public requires compliant premises). A tracking table with the date of each step avoids bad surprises in the last week.

Which licence do you need to serve alcohol in a French restaurant?

A restaurant that serves alcohol only with meals does not need a bar licence (licence III or IV): there are two licences specific to restaurants, free of charge, according to the French government’s business portal (Service Public Entreprendre).

To sell alcohol for consumption on the premises, you also need the operating permit (permis d’exploitation): it is obtained after training of at least 20 hours over at least 3 days, is valid for 10 years and is renewed with training of at least 6 hours. The licence is declared with form cerfa no. 11542, at least 15 days before opening, at the town hall (the police prefecture in Paris). The receipt (cerfa no. 11543) proves you hold the licence.

If you also want to serve alcohol outside meals (a bar counter, drinks without food), you need a drinking establishment licence, with different rules. Details, special cases and FAQs: restaurant alcohol licences in France.

What VAT rates apply in a French restaurant?

A restaurant in France applies several VAT rates depending on what it sells and how. Here are the most common cases, according to Service Public Entreprendre:

When one sale mixes several rates (a set menu with a glass of wine, for example), you must split the price between the rates, or apply the highest rate to the whole. Your till must be set up accordingly from day one.

All the cases (set menus, delivery, takeaway, filing schemes): restaurant VAT in France. To set menu prices from ingredient costs and the right VAT: food cost and menu pricing.

Hygiene and signs: what must be ready before opening?

Two topics need to be ready before the first service, because they can be checked in the first weeks.

Hygiene

Every restaurant must apply food hygiene rules: training for at least one person in the team, a food safety plan (your written procedures for cleaning, temperatures and traceability), temperature records and allergen management. In France, the results of health inspections are made public. Details in food hygiene and HACCP in a French restaurant.

Mandatory signs

A restaurant in France must display its prices outside during service and inside, with the required wording (service included, drinks, origin of beef…), plus other mandatory information (licence, protection of minors, no smoking, allergens). The full list, as a checklist: mandatory restaurant signs in France. For allergens, a template is in the restaurant allergen chart.

How do you prepare your first customers before opening?

Today, most customers discover a new restaurant on Google Maps, on Instagram or by word of mouth. That work starts a few weeks before opening, not on the day.

• Google listing: create it as soon as the address is certain, with the opening date, hours, and photos of the works and then the dining room. Our Google Business Profile guide covers every field.
• Website: a clear page with the menu, prices, hours, address and a booking button. See restaurant website examples.
• Online booking: open before the launch, it shows you the demand and fills the first services.
• Social media: tell the story of the project (works, team, dishes being tested) to build anticipation.
• Opening evening: neighbours, local shopkeepers, nearby companies. The detailed plan is in marketing a business opening.
• First reviews: ask for them in the first weeks, while the enthusiasm is there. A new restaurant with no reviews is not very reassuring.

The countdown: what to do, and when?

Timings vary from one project to another (works, loan, premises). This calendar is an indicative order to adapt: what matters is never committing money before the previous step is confirmed.

Once open, the job changes: you must keep costs, staff, quality and customers on track over time. That is the subject of running a restaurant.

The restaurant owner’s guide

Open, run, grow: each stage has its full guide and detailed guides, with their reading time.

This guide for your trade

• Restaurants
• Bars and cafés
• Restaurant website

Go further

• How to run a restaurant: the complete guide
• How to grow a restaurant: the complete guide
• Marketing a business opening
• Restaurant booking software with no commission
• The Voxtya Website service