There are many options for foreign investors for starting up a business in Dubai. Dubai has been growing in every other sector be it industrial or professional or be its e-commerce business. Dubai has been considered as the most preferred destination for starting a business by many foreign investors as well as new and young entrepreneurs. Among these businesses, starting a restaurant business is one of the most common choices of businessmen's due to high profits and better geographical conditions therein.
Opening a restaurant or a cafeteria business in Dubai can be a beneficial investment opportunity for majorly foreign businessmen. For such purpose, there are certain legal requirements which are to be fulfilled on time. One of such important legal requirement is obtaining a proper license for the business which is being set up.
Restaurant License
Step one:
Obtaining Licenses
Your restaurant business setup in Dubai will only be considered legal only after obtaining a license for all the activities that you are carrying out. For the purpose of opening a restaurant business in Dubai mainly two licenses are required. These are:
- Trade License
- Food license
The trade license is provided by the Department of Economic Development (DED) and also with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). The business owner is required to pay a fee of AED 30,000-40,000
Whereas, in case of a food license, the said license is issued by The Foods Safety Department. For obtaining the said license, a copy of the Trade license is required to be produced along with the interior decoration plan. On successful submission of such copy, you can then move ahead to the next step in relation to the approval of various plans.
Step two:
No Objection Certificate
Wherein the business owner wants to set up a new space for the restaurant in such case before the purpose of construction of such restaurant space it is mandatory to get a No Objection letter from the Dubai Municipality Public Health Department. For obtaining such NOC it is required that:
- The site for the said restaurant should be suitable for the restaurant business.
- Proper storage space should be provided for keeping the food materials and for processing the food materials.
- Adequate ventilation and proper lighting in the restaurant.
- The sanitary spaces such as washroom and toilet should be separated from the kitchen space.
Step Three:
Approvals for Construction plans
The third step is of receiving the approval for the various construction plans. Such plans should be in proper specifications and such specifications are to be made by the Food Control Department in Dubai. For obtaining a food license, approval from The Foods Control Department will be required by submitting the blueprint of the said restaurant. The blueprint shall comprise the following mentioned details:
- The entry and exit passages
- Proper space for food processing
- Food storage space
- Windows and ventilation system
- Proper food processing equipment
- Proper space and location of the Washing machine and other supportive and similar equipment’s.
- The sanitary spaces such as restrooms.
Other important points to be noted are:
- One of the important things is that the restaurant should be placed at a minimum of 30 meters from a waste disposal place.
- And at least some 10 meters of the space around the said restaurant should always be kept clean at all the time.
- In case the restaurant is situated outside a shopping centre, then approval will be required from the planning department.
Step four:
Food Safety Requirement:
For the purpose of keeping in pace with the food safety requirement, the respective restaurants are required to appoint qualified personnel who will be the person in charge of training and will be required to undergo training. Apart from this one of the main food safety legal requirement is to obtain the respective license which is mentioned below:
- Food consignment release license;
- Ramadan permit wherein the restaurant wants to sell food during daylight at the time of Ramadan;
- Pork permit in case the restaurant is planning to serve pork;
- Vehicle permit for the purpose of transportation of food products.
Conclusion
For the purpose of getting every requirement done and to carry out the said process in a smooth and easy manner, it is better than the business investors or the entrepreneurs to join hands with a professional business consultant who is experienced experts and is well versed with the whole process. We at Commitbiz helps business investors and entrepreneurs who want to set up a restaurant business or any other business in Dubai. If you have any queries regarding the business setup or the like fact you can Contact Us. We would be happy to help you. Our experts work 24/7 in providing you with support services.