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Pricing Blog Best Restaurant POS UAE Cafeteria Licence Cost Dubai Restaurant Loyalty Programs ADAFSA (Abu Dhabi Food Safety) Cafeteria Licence Cost Sharjah Cost to Open a Restaurant Dubai BrixPOS vs Foodics BrixPOS vs DineOpen BrixPOS vs Sapaad BrixPOS vs TajerGo Foodics Alternatives Book Free DemoLicence fees are the part everyone quotes — and the smallest part of the bill. Here's a plain-English breakdown of what it actually takes to get a Dubai restaurant open: licensing, fit-out, kitchen, rent, visas and the working capital that carries you through the first months.
Getting a mainland Dubai restaurant licensed — the DET trade licence plus the Dubai Municipality food permit — indicatively costs somewhere around AED 22,000 – 42,000. Getting it open is a different number entirely. Once fit-out, kitchen equipment, rent and deposits, staff visas and working capital are in the budget, a typical all-in project lands around AED 500,000 – 1.5M, with the wider observed range running from roughly AED 200,000 to AED 2M+ depending on size, location and concept.
That spread is not vagueness — it's the honest shape of the market. A 200 sqm full-service restaurant on a prime strip and a small counter-service unit in a secondary area are both "restaurants" on a licence, but almost nothing about their cost structure is comparable. Use the figures below as a planning frame, then get real quotations for your specific activity, premises and location.
One reported example worth keeping in mind: a lean, dry, fast-casual concept — small footprint, simple menu, no heavy cooking line — has been reported opening for around AED 287,000 by the time it served its first paying customer. Treat that as one reported example of what a stripped-back concept can look like, not a benchmark you should expect to hit.
Indicative ranges for the licensing and regulatory side of opening a restaurant on the Dubai mainland.
These are indicative ranges compiled from public UAE business-setup sources in July 2026, not official quotations. Government fees change and depend on your activity, premises and location. Always confirm current fees directly with Dubai's Department of Economy & Tourism (DET) and Dubai Municipality before budgeting.
| Item | Typical range (AED) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DET trade licence (restaurant activity) | 10,000 – 30,000 | First mainland year. Varies with activity, legal form and location. |
| Dubai Municipality food permit | 5,000 – 10,000 | The food-safety authorisation. Entirely separate from the trade licence. |
| Trade name reservation | 620 – 2,000 | Higher end for foreign or specially formatted names. |
| Initial approval | 100 – 200 | Early-stage DET step before you commit to premises. |
| Ejari registration | 220 + 5% market fee on annual rent | Ongoing — the market fee recurs with your tenancy, so it scales with rent. |
| Civil Defence NOC | 500 – 5,000 | Scales with kitchen size and seating. A large cooking line sits at the top end. |
| Staff occupational health cards | 300 – 600 per food handler | Renewed yearly. Multiply by your full kitchen and service headcount. |
| Pest control contract | 1,500 – 3,000 per year | An annual contract is expected of food establishments. |
| Combined licensing subtotal | roughly 22,000 – 42,000 | Trade licence + food permit and supporting approvals. Not enough to open. |
| Typical all-in project cost | roughly 500,000 – 1,500,000 | Adds fit-out, kitchen, rent and deposits, visas, signage and working capital. |
| Wider observed range | roughly 200,000 – 2,000,000+ | Small counter-service unit at one end, large prime-location concept at the other. |
Ranges are indicative planning figures, not quotations. Confirm all current fees with DET and Dubai Municipality.
Licensing is under AED 42,000. The project is often over AED 500,000. Almost all of the difference sits in these five lines — and they're the ones first-time operators consistently understate.
Flooring, wall finishes, extraction, drainage, MEP, seating, joinery, lighting and the approvals that come with construction work. Usually the largest single line after rent — and the one most exposed to overruns when an unapproved kitchen layout has to be reworked mid-build.
Cooking line, refrigeration, prep surfaces, storage, dishwashing and a hood and suppression system that clears inspection. The gap between a dry fast-casual kitchen and a full cooking line is one of the biggest swing factors in the whole budget.
Rent starts the day you sign, not the day you open. Budget the security deposit, any agency and Ejari costs, the 5% market fee on annual rent, and a full setup period — frequently two to four months — with zero revenue coming in.
Investor and employee visas, medicals and Emirates ID, plus occupational health cards at AED 300 – 600 per food handler renewed yearly. Add recruitment, accommodation or allowances, and salaries that begin well before your first cover.
Opening stock, utilities and deposits, POS and card terminals, marketing, delivery-platform onboarding — and a genuine buffer. A new restaurant rarely covers its own costs in the first months, and underfunding this stage closes more Dubai restaurants than licensing ever does.
Shop signage carries its own approval. Then menus, packaging, uniforms, photography, the website and delivery-platform listings. Individually small, collectively a line item people forget until the week before opening.
Several opening costs are not one-offs — they come back every year. These belong in your operating budget, not your setup budget.
AED 300 – 600 per food handler, renewed yearly. With staff turnover this is a recurring administrative cost, not a one-time setup item.
AED 1,500 – 3,000 per year on an annual contract. Expected of food establishments and checked at inspection.
Both the DET trade licence and the Dubai Municipality food permit renew annually, alongside the Ejari market fee of 5% of annual rent.
If you're registered with the FTA, 5% VAT on sales and periodic returns. Either an accountant's fee or your own time — but never zero.
On top of these sit the obvious ones: rent, salaries, utilities, food cost, card-processing fees and delivery platform commissions. The last of those catches people out — a delivery-heavy concept can look busy while margin quietly disappears into commission.
None of these are shortcuts around regulation — you still need the correct licence and food-safety approval. They are ways of changing the shape of the project so it costs less to start.
Every square metre costs you three times: rent, fit-out and Civil Defence scope. A smaller unit with a tighter menu is the single most effective lever on total project cost — and the reported AED 287,000 example was exactly that shape.
Delivery-only removes the customer-facing fit-out and prime-location rent, which takes a large slice out of the opening budget. You still need a food-preparation licence and Municipality approval. See how to start a cloud kitchen in Dubai.
A cafeteria or tea shop activity carries a lighter build and a lower regulatory bill than a full restaurant. The activity limits what you can prepare and sell, so check it fits your concept — see the cafeteria licence cost in Dubai.
Leasing or financing the cooking line and refrigeration moves capital out of month zero and into monthly cost. It's more expensive over the life of the asset, but it protects the working capital that keeps you trading through a slow opening quarter.
The opening budget gets all the attention, but the thing that decides whether a Dubai restaurant survives is how well it's run from day one. That starts with tax. If your taxable turnover crosses the UAE VAT registration threshold you must register with the Federal Tax Authority — and from your very first sale your invoices need to carry 5% VAT and your TRN correctly, with sales records that hold up if the FTA asks.
Reconstructing that after six months of trading is painful and expensive. Setting it up before you open costs almost nothing. If it's useful, we've written more on the parts that come next:
To be clear: BrixPOS is a restaurant POS and management platform. We don't provide licensing, PRO, fit-out or government-liaison services — for those, speak to DET, Dubai Municipality or a licensed business-setup consultant.
Indicatively, most restaurant projects in Dubai land between AED 500,000 and AED 1.5M all-in, with the wider observed range running from around AED 200,000 to AED 2M+ depending on size, location and concept. The licensing portion — DET trade licence plus Dubai Municipality food permit — typically falls around AED 22,000 – 42,000 for a mainland restaurant. These are indicative ranges from public sources, not quotations.
You need two approvals, not one. The DET trade licence indicatively runs AED 10,000 – 30,000 for a mainland restaurant, and the Dubai Municipality food permit that authorises food handling adds roughly AED 5,000 – 10,000. Combined with trade name reservation, initial approval, Ejari and Civil Defence, budget around AED 22,000 – 42,000. Fees vary with activity, legal form, premises and location — confirm with DET and Dubai Municipality.
It has been reported. One lean, dry, fast-casual concept was reported to have opened for around AED 287,000 by the time it served its first paying customer. That's one reported example rather than a promise — it reflects a small footprint, a simple menu with no heavy cooking line and a modest location. A full-service restaurant with a proper kitchen, seating and a prime address will cost several times that.
Fit-out and working capital. Fit-out is usually the largest line after rent and the most likely to overrun, especially if a kitchen layout has to be reworked. Working capital is the other: rent starts the day you sign, salaries and visas start before opening, and the first months rarely cover their own costs. Budgeting only as far as opening day is the most common way a Dubai restaurant runs out of money.
Annual trade licence and food permit renewals, the Ejari market fee of 5% of annual rent, occupational health cards at AED 300 – 600 per food handler renewed yearly, a pest control contract at roughly AED 1,500 – 3,000 per year, plus rent, salaries, utilities, delivery commissions and VAT filing if you're registered with the FTA — see the UAE restaurant VAT guide.
BrixPOS handles billing with 5% VAT and your TRN, inventory, staff and reporting from one platform — set up before you open, not after.