Mandatory signs and notices for a restaurant in France

Which signs must a restaurant in France display?

These rules mainly come from the French order of 27 March 1987 on price display, the Public Health Code (alcohol, tobacco) and the Consumer Code (fait maison). We checked them against Service Public Entreprendre and the Paris Île-de-France chamber of commerce.

This guide is part of our file on opening a restaurant in France.

How must prices be displayed outside and inside?

The order of 27 March 1987 sets the price display rules for places serving meals in France.

Outside

• the menus or daily menus you serve;
• the prices of at least five wines (or all wines served if fewer than five);
• if you serve no wine: the type and price of five drinks commonly served;
• visible throughout service, and at least from 11:30 am at lunch and 6 pm in the evening;
• if a menu is served only at certain times (weekday lunch, for example), say so.

Inside

The same menus must be available to customers.

On menus

• prices are net: taxes and service included;
• if a service charge is collected, add “prix service compris” followed by the rate, in brackets;
• for each set menu: “boisson comprise” (drink included) or “boisson non comprise” (not included);
• for each drink: its type and volume (25 cl, 50 cl, 75 cl…).

A QR code menu or online menu is handy, but it does not replace the outside display. To build a clear menu, see our guide to restaurant menu design.

How do you show where your meat comes from?

The origin of beef (cuts and minced beef) must be shown in France since a decree of 17 December 2002. Two possible wordings:

• “Origine : France” (or another country), if the animal was born, reared and slaughtered in the same country;
• “Né et élevé : … ; abattu : …” (born and reared in…, slaughtered in…), if the countries differ.

The information can be on a poster, the menu, a board or any other medium, as long as customers can read and see it.

Service Public Entreprendre, in its July 2026 page on opening a restaurant, lists more broadly the origin of all meats among the required information. The safest approach is to show the origin of every meat you serve: beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry.

• ask suppliers for the origin on every delivery note;
• keep those notes: they are your proof during an inspection;
• update the board or menu when you change supplier;
• add the origin to your online menu too, so everything matches.

When and how should you display “fait maison”?

The French “fait maison” (homemade) wording marks a dish cooked on site from raw ingredients (fresh or raw on delivery). Some prepared products are allowed in the recipe: cured meats, cheese, bread, pasta, flour, condiments, chocolate, stocks (if the customer is told in writing), among others. A dish made only from such products cannot carry the wording.

The official logo shows a saucepan topped by a roof with a chimney. It is black on a light background or white on a dark one, and at least 5 × 6 mm. It can appear on menus, boards, the window and your website.

Which notices are required for alcohol, smoking and the licence?

Protection of minors and public drunkenness

If you serve alcohol, a notice stating the ban on selling alcohol to under-18s and the rules on public drunkenness must be displayed very visibly, near the entrance or the bar (articles L.3342-1 and following of the French Public Health Code). The Paris police prefecture offers a downloadable template.

No smoking

No-smoking signs must be visible at the entrance and inside. If you have a closed, compliant smoking room, a warning at its entrance states that under-16s may not enter.

Licence type

The type of licence you hold must be shown outside. To know which one you need, see our guide to the restaurant alcohol licence in France.

Meal vouchers

If you accept meal vouchers (titres-restaurant), show it clearly on the shopfront.

What about allergens?

Customers must be able to find out which allergens each dish contains. The 14 regulated allergens and a matrix template are in our dedicated guide: allergen matrix template (written for the UK and Ireland, the 14 allergens are the same EU list used in France).

In practice, keep an up-to-date matrix based on your recipe cards, and tell front-of-house staff about every recipe change. Recipe cards are explained in our guide to food cost and menu pricing.

How do you keep your notices up to date day to day?

Mistakes rarely happen at opening: they creep in a few months later, when prices change and the window display has not followed. A few simple habits prevent most of them.

• one source for prices: when a price changes, update the dining room menu, the window, the board, the till and the online menu at the same time;
• a dated document for each menu change, filed with the delivery notes that prove meat origin;
• one person in charge of the window, who checks every morning that the daily menu is up before 11:30 am;
• a photo of the window and notices with each new menu, as a record;
• front-of-house staff who know where the allergen matrix is and can answer customers.

On inspection day, stay calm and show your menus, delivery notes and documents. If something is missing, fix it straight away and note the date of the fix.

The checklist to print before opening

Walk around your restaurant with this list the day before opening, then each time the menu changes.

Shopfront and window

• menus and daily menu visible from the street, from 11:30 am and 6 pm;
• prices of at least five wines, or five common drinks;
• licence type;
• meal vouchers accepted, if so;
• no-smoking sign at the entrance.

Dining room and bar

• protection of minors and public drunkenness notice;
• no-smoking signs;
• menus identical to those outside.

Menus

• prices including taxes and service, “prix service compris (x%)” if a service charge applies;
• “drink included” or “not included” for each set menu;
• volume of each drink;
• meat origin;
• “fait maison” only next to dishes that qualify;
• allergen information available.

The other formalities (registration, food safety office, safety) are in our guide to permits to open a restaurant in France.

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

Go further

• How to open a restaurant in France
• Allergen matrix template
• Restaurant alcohol licence in France
• Permits to open a restaurant in France
• Restaurant menu design