Setup guide
How to open a restaurant in the UAE
Food and beverage is a mainland activity in nearly every case, requiring premises with a registered Ejari, municipality food safety approval, civil defence sign-off and — where relevant — a separate alcohol licence that is not available in every emirate.
What it costs
The cost drivers for this trade.
The UAE foodservice market is around USD 12.8bn in 2026, forecast to roughly USD 23bn by 2035. Dubai issued over 1,200 new restaurant licences in 2024, and online delivery is forecast to pass USD 2.8bn in 2026 with about 5.5m active users.
Figures on this page
UAE foodservice market valued around USD 12.8bn in 2026, forecast to roughly USD 23bn by 2035 (6.7% CAGR); UAE cloud kitchen market USD 430m in 2025, forecast USD 1.08bn by 2032 (14.1% CAGR); Dubai issued over 1,200 new restaurant licences in 2024; UAE online food delivery forecast to pass USD 2.8bn in 2026 with around 5.5m active users.
Market research aggregates, 2025–26
How the business makes money here
Rent, staff and food cost decide survival, and rent is what kills concepts in Dubai. Delivery adds volume and hands 25–35% to the aggregator. The operators who last negotiate rent-free fit-out periods and turnover-linked components rather than accepting headline terms.
What it costs to start
Published "from" prices compare licence fees and ignore everything that actually moves the total. These are the variables that decide what a food & beverage business pays in year one.
- Premises and Ejari
- Dominates the budget. The tenancy comes before the licence and drives everything after it.
- Fit-out and approvals
- Kitchen layout, extraction and food safety requirements are prescribed. Civil defence approval is required before opening.
- Food handler certification
- Per staff member, with training and testing.
- Alcohol licence
- A separate licence granted to the venue. Sharjah does not grant one, which decides the emirate for some concepts.
We quote a single all-in figure with every government fee itemised beside our own, before you commit. Ranges published anywhere — including here — are indicative.
Why here
Regional advantages
Large market with a tourist top-up
19.59 million visitors to Dubai in 2025 layered on top of resident spending.
Excellent ingredient supply
Almost anything is importable and the wholesale supply chain is deep.
Delivery infrastructure is built
Aggregator reach is effectively universal in the urban areas.
And the other side
Regional disadvantages
Brutally competitive
1,200 new licences in one emirate in one year. Copycat concepts appear within months.
Rent and service charges
Prime locations price in the footfall they deliver, which is why concepts needing prime frontage cannot afford it.
Severe seasonality
Summer and Ramadan reshape trade while fixed costs continue.
Approvals
Beyond the trade licence.
- Food safety
- Municipality approval of the premises, kitchen layout, extraction and food handlers — before opening, and inspected after.
- Civil defence
- Fire safety approval for the fit-out.
- Signage and outdoor seating
- Separate municipality permits.
- Alcohol
- A separate licence, granted to the venue, and not available in every emirate.
The sequence
How the setup runs.
Confirm the activity and the licence category
Map what you actually do onto the authority's activity schedule and identify any external approval it triggers, before a name is reserved or a fee is paid.
Choose the jurisdiction
Free zone or mainland, decided by who receives your invoices — then narrowed by visa quota, premises need and cost.
Reserve the trade name and obtain initial approval
Three candidate names checked against the register and the naming rules, then initial approval confirming no objection to you owning this business.
Prepare and notarise the incorporation documents
Memorandum of association, shareholder resolutions, attestations where required, and a power of attorney if you are not in the country.
Take the licence, establishment card and immigration file
The company now exists, can contract and can sponsor residence visas.
Complete residence, banking and registrations
Medical and Emirates ID, corporate bank account, corporate tax registration and any VAT, ESR or UBO obligation the structure carries.
Shortlist
Where to license it.
Four worth looking at for this activity, and why each one is on the list. All 6 are in the finder.
Questions
Only serving that zone's own occupants. A restaurant open to the general public is a mainland activity, and there is no structure that avoids that.
The licence is a small part of it. Tenancy, fit-out, kitchen equipment and approvals dominate, and vary so widely by location and concept that any single figure would mislead. We cost it per site.
Yes — a separate licence granted to the venue, on top of the trade licence. It is not available in Sharjah, and in other emirates it carries its own conditions.
One question
Who will be paying your invoices?
Unusual for food. Most F&B revenue is domestic by nature — people eat where they are — so if you genuinely sell abroad you are probably manufacturing or exporting product rather than serving customers, and that changes the licence entirely.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usAlmost certainly mainland. Anything the public eats or drinks on premises requires a mainland licence, municipality food approval and civil defence sign-off, and no structure avoids that. Free zone F&B serves only that zone's own occupants.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usWorth separating properly. A production kitchen supplying wholesale and a venue serving the public are different licences with different premises requirements, and running both on one is the mismatch that surfaces during inspection.
Answer five questions insteadOr just ask us