Pre-Opening · 2 min read
What It Really Costs to Open a Restaurant in the UAE
Where the money goes when you open a restaurant in the UAE, and the costs that break first-time budgets.
There is no single answer to what it costs to open a restaurant here. It depends on the site, the concept and how much of the space already works for a kitchen. What we can tell you is where budgets go, and where they break.
Where the money goes
- Site: deposit, agent fees and the rent you pay through the fit-out.
- Licensing and approvals: trade licence, food safety, civil defence and municipality.
- Design and fit-out, including the extraction, gas and drainage a kitchen needs.
- Kitchen equipment, front of house, and all the smallwares nobody budgets for.
- People: recruitment, visas, uniforms and pre-opening salaries.
- Working capital for the months before the restaurant finds its trade.
Where budgets break
- Kitchen works priced separately from the fit-out quote.
- Pre-opening salaries that keep running when the opening date slips.
- No cash left for the slow first months.
These are the numbers we go through with owners before money is committed.
