Opening a restaurant in Austria: the roadmap from idea to first guest

Concept and location: the decision that shapes everything else

Before you sign a lease, your concept should be settled: What do you serve, to whom, at what times and at what price? A lunch spot in an office district needs different floor space, opening hours and staff planning than a cocktail bar or a breakfast café. The concept determines your type of business (restaurant, café, bar, street food, accommodation), your kitchen equipment and therefore the effort involved in getting permits.

When choosing a location, footfall and rent are not the only factors. Check in advance whether the premises are zoned for hospitality and structurally suitable: ventilation and grease trap, toilets for guests and staff, escape routes, accessibility, noise protection towards the neighbours. A former shop without an exhaust duct can turn into an expensive surprise. Ask the municipality (building authority) and the trade authority before you commit, and have the lease include a right to withdraw in case the premises approval is refused.

The trade licence for hospitality

Anyone who accommodates guests or serves food and drinks needs a trade licence for the Gastgewerbe (hospitality trade) under § 111 Abs 1 GewO. It is a regulated trade: you must prove your qualification, for example through relevant training (tourism school, apprenticeship with work experience) under the Gastgewerbe-Verordnung (hospitality qualification ordinance) or by passing the Befähigungsprüfung (qualification exam). If you lack the proof, you can appoint a gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer under § 39 GewO who has it and works in the business for at least half of the normal weekly working hours.

For certain small formats there are freie Gastgewerbe that need no proof of qualification (§ 111 Abs 2 GewO), for example simple dishes with non-alcoholic drinks and bottled beer at no more than eight seats, or accommodation with no more than ten guest beds including breakfast. You still have to register these, though. All the details, the routes to the proof of qualification and the types of business are explained in our post Hospitality licence in Austria.

Premises approval, building and zoning

A venue is a commercial facility (Betriebsanlage) within the meaning of § 74 GewO. Because the kitchen, ventilation, music and guests can disturb or endanger neighbours, it generally needs approval from the Bezirkshauptmannschaft (district authority) or the Magistrat (city authority). For smaller facilities (up to 800 m² of floor space and 300 kW connected load) there is a simplified procedure under § 359b GewO, in which the authority must decide within two months. Larger projects or objections from neighbours take longer.

You can register your trade before the premises approval is granted, but you may only open once you have it. If you take over a venue that is already approved for the same type of business, you usually do not need a new approval, but changes (new kitchen, more seats, longer hours) must be notified or approved. In parallel, the municipal building authority reviews conversions, change of use and fire safety under the building code of the federal state. Under § 76a GewO, a guest garden on public ground with no more than 75 seats, open between 8 am and 11 pm, only has to be notified rather than approved, but you also need the municipality's permission to use the pavement.

Food law, hygiene and allergens

As a restaurateur, you are a food business operator. The EU Hygiene Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 852/2004) and the Lebensmittelsicherheits- und Verbraucherschutzgesetz (LMSVG), Austria's Food Safety and Consumer Protection Act, apply. You must register your business with the food authority, run a self-monitoring system based on HACCP principles (temperatures, cleaning, incoming goods, pest control) and train your staff in hygiene. The food inspectorate of the federal state carries out unannounced checks. The hygiene guidelines for hospitality and the fact sheets of the Wirtschaftskammer are the practical template for your self-monitoring manual.

For the 14 major allergens, the Allergeninformationsverordnung (Allergen Information Ordinance) requires that guests are informed even for unpackaged food, either in writing on the menu or verbally by trained staff with written documentation in the background. How to implement this properly is shown in the post Allergen labelling in Austria. For your menu, our allergen legend tool helps.

Cash register, tax and social insurance

Under § 131b BAO (Federal Fiscal Code), the Registrierkassenpflicht (cash register obligation) applies from an annual turnover of 15,000 euros per business if cash turnover exceeds 7,500 euros. Card and debit card payments count as cash turnover. The register must have a security device (signature card) and be registered with FinanzOnline, and every guest is entitled to a receipt. When exactly the obligation starts and which exceptions exist is explained in the post Cash register in Austria.

With the trade licence you become a member of the Wirtschaftskammer and, as a sole trader, you are compulsorily insured with the SVS (social insurance for the self-employed) under the GSVG (health, pension and accident insurance). You notify the tax office that you have started your business and apply for a VAT number (UID-Nummer). In hospitality, food and drinks are subject to different VAT rates, so have your till set up correctly from day one. A tax adviser with hospitality experience almost always pays off in the first few years.

Staff: collective agreement, registration and protective rules

You register employees with the Österreichische Gesundheitskasse (ÖGK), the Austrian health insurance fund, before they start work. Wages, supplements, working hours and tip arrangements are governed by the Kollektivvertrag für das Hotel- und Gastgewerbe (collective agreement for hotels and hospitality), which the trade associations negotiate with the union every year. On top of that come working time records, employee protection (workplaces, risk assessment) and, if you train apprentices, the authorisation to train. Looking for staff? A careers page on your website with real photos from the kitchen and front of house often works better than any job board.

Funding and insurance

The Neugründungs-Förderungsgesetz (NeuFöG), the New Business Promotion Act, exempts genuine start-ups from stamp duties and federal administrative fees for the official procedures related to founding, and from certain payroll costs (employer contribution to the FLAF family fund, housing subsidy contribution, accident insurance) for employees: in the month of the first hire and the following eleven months, then until the end of the third year for the first three employees. The prerequisite is the official form, which you submit before the official procedures after receiving advice from the Wirtschaftskammer (§ 4 NeuFöG). On top of that come funding programmes of the federal states, of the Österreichische Hotel- und Tourismusbank (ÖHT) for tourism businesses, and start-up loans from banks.

• Business liability insurance: personal injury and property damage to guests, for example from broken glass or spoiled food
• Contents and business interruption insurance: fire, water, burglary, refrigeration failure
• Glass insurance for shop windows and glass fronts
• Legal expenses insurance for disputes with landlords, suppliers or staff

Timeline: 12 months to opening day

Website and Google before you open

Most guests look up a new venue on Google Maps or Instagram first. Create your Google Business Profile as soon as the address and opening date are fixed, and put a website online that shows your menu, opening hours, directions and reservations. A legal notice (Impressum) under the ECG and the Mediengesetz (Media Act) is required from the start; our legal notice generator and the post Legal notice for hospitality websites in Austria help you with it. What a hospitality website costs is compared in the post Website costs.