How much does it cost to open a restaurant?
You will often see price ranges for “opening a restaurant”. Be wary of them: between premises with a working kitchen and an old shop to convert, the budget can differ many times over. The only reliable method is your own: one line, one quote.
This guide is part of our guide to opening a restaurant in France. The budget feeds straight into the financing plan of your business plan.
What are the costs of opening a restaurant?
Here are the lines to plan before opening. Tick them off one by one and get at least two quotes for the biggest ones.
The premises
- Price of the business (if you buy an existing restaurant) or lease premium (if you only take over the lease).
- Rent deposit and rent paid in advance under the lease.
- Agency, lawyer or notary fees for the deed.
- Registration duties when buying a business in France (see our guide to buying a restaurant in France).
The works
- Kitchen fit-out: extraction, ventilation, washable surfaces, water points.
- Bringing the premises up to the rules for places open to the public: fire safety, accessibility.
- Electrics, plumbing, heating and air conditioning.
- Decoration, sign, terrace.
Equipment
- Kitchen: range, oven, cold room or fridges, dishwasher, hood, stainless worktops.
- Dining room: tables, chairs, counter, lighting.
- Crockery, glassware, cutlery, small kitchen equipment, linen.
- Till, card terminal, kitchen printer.
Getting started
- Opening stock: food, drink, cleaning products, packaging.
- Compulsory training: in France, the operating permit needed to sell alcohol is issued after paid training (see the restaurant alcohol licence).
- Company set-up costs and accountant’s fees.
- Insurance: business multi-risk, public liability.
- Opening marketing: website, Google listing, sign, printing.
- Hiring: job ads, wages for training days before opening.
The licence itself costs nothing: according to Service Public Entreprendre, French restaurant licences are free. It is the operating permit training that you pay for.
Free tool, no sign-up
Google listing description generator
Before opening, prepare the description for your restaurant’s Google listing: free, no sign-up.
An opening budget sheet to fill in (example)
Here is a sheet filled in for a fictional example: a 40-seat bistro in rented premises with a kitchen that partly needs redoing. The amounts only show the method: replace them with your own quotes.
| Line | Example (fictional) | Your amount |
|---|---|---|
| Rent deposit and rent in advance | €15,000 | |
| Fees (lawyer, accountant) and set-up costs | €4,000 | |
| Works and compliance | €45,000 | |
| Kitchen equipment | €40,000 | |
| Dining room furniture and decoration | €12,000 | |
| Crockery, glassware, small equipment | €4,000 | |
| Till and card terminal | €3,000 | |
| Opening stock | €5,000 | |
| Training | €1,000 | |
| Sign, website, opening marketing | €3,500 | |
| Contingency (10% of works and equipment) | €8,500 | |
| Starting cash (2 months of fixed costs) | €30,000 | |
| Total needs | €171,000 |
In this example, contingency is 10% of works and kitchen equipment (€85,000). That margin is not a rule: make it bigger if the premises are old or the quotes are still vague.
How much starting cash should you keep?
Starting cash is the money left in the account on opening day. It pays the costs of the first months, before the dining room fills up. It is the line most often underestimated.
How to work it out
- Add up your monthly fixed costs: rent, wages and contributions, loan repayments, insurance, energy, subscriptions.
- Check in your cash flow plan how many months it will take to reach break-even.
- Keep at least enough to cover those start-up months, plus known payments (VAT to pay over, first supplier invoices).
In our example, fixed costs are €180,000 a year, so €15,000 a month. Two months come to €30,000. That is an example assumption: if your area is seasonal, or you open just before a quiet month, plan more.
Classic traps
- Works that drag on: every week of delay is rent paid with no takings.
- Stock and suppliers paid upfront at first, before you get credit terms.
- Staff wages during the training week before opening.
- Forgotten opening costs: small tools, cleaning products, uniforms.
- A soft opening for friends and neighbours: food and staff time you pay for before the first real takings.
How do you fund the opening of a restaurant?
Funding usually combines several sources. A bank lends more readily when you put in a significant share yourself.
| Source | What it is | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Own funds | Your savings, your partners’, your family’s | The foundation: the bank looks at what you are risking yourself |
| Personal loan (“prêt d’honneur”, France) | Interest-free personal loan with no guarantee from a network (Initiative France, Réseau Entreprendre, Adie) | It adds to your own funds. Bpifrance’s Création-Reprise loan ranges from €1,000 to €80,000, on top of a loan from one of these networks |
| Bank loan | Business loan for works and equipment | Bring a complete business plan and a cautious scenario |
| Equipment leasing or rental | You rent some equipment instead of buying it | Less to spend upfront, but a monthly cost to include in your expenses |
| Suppliers | Some brewers or suppliers help with equipment in return for a purchase contract | Read the term and exit conditions carefully |
Continuing the example (fictional)
| Resource | Amount |
|---|---|
| Partners’ own funds | €40,000 |
| Personal loans (put into the company) | €20,000 |
| Bank loan | €111,000 |
| Total resources | €171,000 |
Resources must equal needs. If they do not, cut a line, find extra funding or rethink the project.
The Acre scheme: what help for a restaurant founder in France?
Acre (aid for business founders and buyers) does not give you money: it reduces your personal social contributions at the start. That eases cash flow in the first year. Here is what Service Public Entreprendre states (page checked on 1 July 2026) for a restaurant owner who is not a micro-entrepreneur:
- partial exemption from personal social contributions for 12 months;
- a 25% exemption if your annual business income does not exceed €36,045; it then decreases and disappears from €48,060;
- if you set up a company, you must actually control it, and keep control for at least 2 years;
- since 1 January 2026, Acre is no longer automatic: you apply to Urssaf within 60 days of starting the business.
The rules differ for micro-entrepreneurs (eligibility depends on your situation, reduced contributions for a few quarters). Check your case on the official page linked at the bottom of this guide, or with your accountant.
Which budgeting mistakes should you avoid?
- Starting from an “average price” found online instead of your own quotes: every unit is different.
- Forgetting starting cash and putting everything into the works: a beautiful restaurant with no cash closes fast.
- No contingency: old premises nearly always hold surprises.
- Buying everything new: serviced second-hand equipment, or rental, can be enough for some items.
- Signing the lease before the funding: ask for a condition that the loan is granted, if you can.
- Leaving out your own pay from the first months’ costs.
- Putting off marketing: the Google listing, website and opening announcement are prepared before day one (see promoting your opening).
Next step: the permits, with the formalities for opening 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.
Full guide · 11 min · 13 detailed guides
- Restaurant business plan: a step-by-step template with a worked example 10 min
- Restaurant startup costs: what to budget for and how to fund it 7 min
- Restaurant market research: a step-by-step method with sheets to fill in 7 min
- Which legal structure for a restaurant in France? 8 min
- How to choose a restaurant name: the method and the checks 7 min
- Permits and formalities to open a restaurant in France, in order 8 min
- Restaurant alcohol licence in France: which one you need 8 min
- Restaurant VAT in France: which rate applies, with examples 8 min
- Restaurant terrace permits in France: the process and the rules 7 min
- Mandatory signs and notices for a restaurant in France 7 min
- Buying a restaurant in France: the checks, the steps and the costs 7 min
- How to promote a new business opening: a plan from 60 days before to 30 days after 11 min
- Restaurant website examples: 9 layouts for every kind of venue 8 min
Full guide · 11 min · 14 detailed guides
- Restaurant profitability: find your break-even point and improve it 9 min
- Food cost and menu pricing: how to price a dish 13 min
- Restaurant menu design: method, mandatory information and layout 8 min
- How to choose and negotiate your restaurant suppliers 8 min
- Restaurant inventory management: stock counts, rotation and ordering 7 min
- Reduce restaurant food waste: rules, measurement and practical steps 7 min
- Food hygiene and HACCP in a French restaurant: the rules and the daily routine 8 min
- Allergen matrix template for restaurants and cafés (UK and Ireland) 9 min
- How to hire restaurant staff in France: find, choose and keep the right person 9 min
- Restaurant staff scheduling: a simple rota that follows the rules 7 min
- Restaurant till and POS in France: rules, features and choice 8 min
- Restaurant customer loyalty: 12 ideas that bring guests back 7 min
- Booking cancellation policy: what to write and how to enforce it 11 min
- How to get more Google reviews for your restaurant 14 min
Full guide · 10 min · 11 detailed guides
- How to get more customers to your restaurant: find the cause, then fill the room 9 min
- How to increase your restaurant’s average spend without pushy selling 8 min
- The lunch set menu: build it to fill tables and pay 8 min
- How to make your restaurant stand out: find what makes it unique 8 min
- Restaurant marketing plan: the method and a 12-month template 8 min
- Restaurant takeaway and click and collect: how to set it up 8 min
- Extra revenue for your restaurant: 8 ideas and the rules to know 8 min
- Restaurant digital tools: where to start, and in what order 10 min
- AI for restaurants: what it really does for you 8 min
- Valentine’s Day restaurant ideas: menus, bookings and promotion 8 min
- Christmas marketing for shops and restaurants: the week-by-week plan 8 min
This guide for your trade
Go further
Sources
The rules quoted in this guide come from these official pages, checked on October 28, 2026.