Cafe Licences and Permits: The Nine-Step Set-Up Order

Step 1: Turn your concept into a document

The word cafe is not one thing in the rules. A place serving only drinks and a place sending out hot food are not assessed within the same scope.

So the first step is to write the menu. List what you will sell, what you will prepare on site and what you will buy in ready. That list determines the eight steps that follow.

Duration: 1-2 days. Needed: a draft menu and a note on preparation methods.

Step 2: Three checks before you take the premises

Does the building’s occupancy permit cover commercial use, does the zoning status of the address allow this activity, and if the building is residential, is the consent of the flat owners required.

A cafe brings a fourth check: the scope for a flue and ventilation. If your menu involves hot preparation, that item belongs inside the premises decision, not after it.

Duration: 2-4 days. Needed: zoning enquiry, occupancy permit, building management details.

Step 3: The lease and the right to alter

Have the right to alter the premises written into the lease. A cafe means services work, ventilation and, where needed, a flue; all of it depends on the landlord’s permission.

Writing in what happens if the licence is refused also protects you. Most new owners skip that clause; it earns its keep most often.

Duration: 1-3 days. Needed: lease, stamp duty payment.

Step 4: Commencement notice and tax certificate

The notice is filed through your accountant or the interactive tax office, a site visit follows and the certificate is issued. If you are incorporating, this step runs longer.

Duration: 3-7 days, longer if you are incorporating. Needed: lease, identity documents, accountant.

Step 5: Chamber registration

A sole trader registers with the chamber of tradesmen and craftsmen, a company with the trade chamber. The step is quick and it feeds the ones that follow.

Duration: 1-3 days. Needed: tax certificate, identity documents, company papers.

Step 6: Settle the food business registration question

A business serving food and drink falls within the scope of food legislation. That side runs through the provincial directorate of agriculture and forestry, where the food business registration certificate is asked about.

The menu you wrote in Step 1 earns its keep exactly here. Take the menu and the preparation methods along and ask for the scope in writing; the scope determines the premises conditions.

Duration: weeks, including application and assessment. Needed: menu, premises plan, details of the person responsible.

Step 7: Hygiene training and the staff regime

For staff in contact with food, a hygiene training certificate is typically requested. Plan this item alongside recruitment; at inspection, everyone working that day is assessed.

Duration: depends on the training calendar. Needed: staff list and training records.

Step 8: The workplace opening and operating licence

The application goes to the district municipality. The premises, the classification, the ventilation and any flue arrangement are assessed, and a site inspection follows.

The most debated question at this step is the establishment class. Drinks-only service and a hot kitchen may not be assessed in the same class; the best time to ask is before Step 2.

Duration: 2-4 weeks if the file is complete. Needed: all the documents from the earlier steps.

Step 9: Final checks before opening

1. The social security workplace declaration before the first employee starts
2. The licence and tax certificate displayed where they can be seen
3. If you will play music, the copyright side settled
4. Separate permission for outdoor or pavement use
5. Waste, oil and packaging removal in line with the municipality’s arrangements

The third and fourth points are peculiar to cafes. Both can be settled after opening, but settling them later costs more.

What changes once a kitchen goes in?

This table comes into play the moment you decide to add more than a toastie press to the menu. Take the decision at Step 1; taking it at Step 8 reopens the fit-out.

The timetable for the nine steps

Some steps can run in parallel, and that pulls the opening forward by weeks.

• Steps 1 and 2 together: make the address enquiry while you write the menu
• Steps 4 and 5 together: the tax and chamber side is the quick ring
• Start Step 6 before the fit-out: the premises conditions determine the fit-out
• Run Step 7 while the installation continues
• File Step 8 once the papers are complete; do not apply with an incomplete file

The third point is the most valuable here. Starting the fit-out before learning the premises conditions is the commonest cause of rework in a cafe.

The location sets the cafe’s model

In a cafe the customer either drops in on the way past or comes to sit. Those two behaviours build two different businesses.

In office districts demand concentrates in the morning and at lunch, people stay a short time and turnover moves fast. In residential neighbourhoods people stay longer, tables turn more slowly, but demand spreads across the whole day.

Build the menu to that decision. At a fast-turning spot a large kitchen ties up capital for nothing; at a long-stay spot drinks alone hold revenue per table down.

The items to confirm in writing

1. The scope of the food business registration certificate for your menu
2. Which establishment class the cafe will be assessed in
3. The flue and ventilation conditions
4. The permission regime for outdoor and pavement use
5. The fee and charge items; they follow the municipality’s tariff and are revised annually

Get these five confirmed in writing by the district municipality and the provincial directorate of agriculture and forestry. Do not build a budget around a single fixed fee; tariffs change during the year.

For the order authority by authority see the business licence roadmap, and for capital and cost bands our herbalist and food sector page. If you are considering a dessert counter, see our patisserie and dessert shop article; for a smaller start, our snack bar and toastie shop article.

In Short

• In a cafe what decides the outcome is not the document list but the order of the steps
• The first step is writing the menu; the menu determines all eight steps that follow
• Check the occupancy permit, zoning, consent and flue scope before you take the premises
• Have the right to alter and the consequence of a refused licence written into the lease
• The tax and chamber side is the quickest ring and the input for the others
• The food business registration certificate runs through the provincial directorate of agriculture and forestry
• For staff in contact with food a hygiene training certificate is typically requested
• Building a kitchen changes the classification, the flue, the division and the scope
• Take the kitchen decision at the first step; taking it at the last reopens the fit-out
• Music copyright and outdoor permission are two items peculiar to cafes
• Fees and charges follow the municipality’s own tariff and are revised annually

Quick Glossary

Workplace opening and operating licence: the municipal document permitting business activity at an address. Sanitary establishment: the class of workplace with no heavy health effect on its surroundings. Local extraction: a ventilation arrangement drawing smells and steam away right at the source. Table turn: how many times a table is opened to a new customer during the day.

Next Step

Let’s build your menu and your nine-step timetable together: consultation request form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated: September 2026