How to Open a Restaurant in Dubai: a Step-by-Step Guide

Decide the concept, the menu and the covers

Cuisine, style of service and how many guests you will seat. The menu decides the kitchen: a grill house, a pasta kitchen and a cloud kitchen need very different cooking lines, refrigeration and staff. Estimate your covers at the busiest service and how much will go out for delivery.

Send us your draft menu and covers and we turn them into a first kitchen equipment list. See restaurant setup.

Choose the location and the unit

Beyond footfall and parking, check the unit can be a kitchen:

• a route for the extraction duct and permission to install it;
• gas availability, or enough power for an all-electric line;
• water, drainage and space for a grease trap;
• delivery access for stock and riders;
• the landlord's fit-out rules and any rent-free fit-out period.

Get the trade licence

A restaurant needs a trade licence with the right food and beverage activity. In Dubai mainland this is issued by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET); in a free zone, by that free zone authority. Sharjah and Abu Dhabi have their own economic departments.

Activities and requirements change, so confirm them with the authority or a business-setup consultant before you sign the lease.

Design the kitchen and the dining room together

The kitchen should flow in one direction: receiving, cold and dry storage, prep, cooking, the pass, then dishwashing. Keep raw and ready-to-eat apart and plan hand-wash sinks at each station. The dining room, bar and service stations are designed around the same pass.

We design restaurant kitchens and interiors with you. Restaurant design and fit-out.

Get the drawings and approvals

Before fit-out you will usually need the landlord's approval of your drawings, plus the food-safety and civil defence approvals for a food business, including the extraction and gas design. Your designer or fit-out contractor normally submits these.

Fit out the unit and the kitchen services

Extraction and fresh air, gas, power, water, drainage and the grease trap, then floors, walls, joinery, lighting and signage. Order cold rooms, combi ovens and other long-lead equipment at the start of fit-out.

A restaurant fit-out typically takes about six to twelve weeks.

Choose the kitchen equipment

The cooking line (range, griddle or chargrill, fryers, ovens), prep tables and sinks, reach-in and walk-in refrigeration, a blast chiller, an ice machine, hot holding and a dishwasher. Size each one to the menu you are actually cooking, not to a generic list.

See the restaurant kitchen equipment checklist and kitchen equipment.

Buy the smallwares, tableware and packaging

GN containers, pots and pans, knives, boards, utensils and food storage for the kitchen; plates, glassware, cutlery and serveware for the dining room; containers, bags and labels for delivery.

Browse GN containers, tabletop and takeaway containers.

Set up the POS, kitchen printers and CCTV

A POS system with your menu and modifiers, kitchen order printers or screens, a cash drawer, card payments and the delivery platforms. CCTV covering the kitchen, the till and the entrances.

We set up the POS and CCTV as part of a complete restaurant setup.

Hire and train the team

Chefs, kitchen staff, servers and a manager, with visas and contracts arranged in time. Staff who handle food need food-safety training, and the kitchen should cook the full menu on the real line before opening.

Order the opening stock and cleaning supplies

Food and drink from your suppliers; from us, the consumables: packaging, gloves, hairnets, kitchen degreaser, sanitiser, mops, microfiber, bins and a first-aid kit.

See cleaning and hygiene supplies.

Soft opening, opening night and restocking

Run soft-opening services to find the bottlenecks on the line and the floor. Then open, and set up regular deliveries for the consumables you use every week.

We restock our restaurant customers on a regular delivery across the UAE.