Cafeteria license in Dubai: cost, approvals and steps

What a cafeteria license covers in Dubai

On the Dubai mainland, DET issues the trade license, and the activity on it decides what you can sell. Dubai Municipality's guide to food establishment requirements lists cafeteria as activity 5610003: preparing and selling snacks, sandwiches, hot and cold drinks and juice to customers.

Choose the activity that matches your menu. Dubai Municipality's Food Code says a food establishment can't carry out any activity beyond those on its trade license, so a menu of full meals points to the restaurant activity. Our business ideas guide maps other food concepts to their licenses.

How much a cafeteria license costs in Dubai

No authority publishes one all-in price for a cafeteria. Your total is the sum of the fees below, and the largest depend on your activity, legal form and premises.

For online Ejari, the app needs both tenant and landlord to be individuals, and the website route is for licensed property managers and owners managing their own property. Under Dubai Chambers Resolution No. 4 of 2023, a business becomes a member when DET issues its commercial or professional license. Micro and small enterprises and elementary manual trades are exempt.

u.ae says you must pay the trade license fee within 30 days of receiving the payment voucher, or the application is cancelled. Our guide to trade license cost in Dubai lists the fixed DET fees it found published, such as the trade name fee. Budget separately for fit-out, equipment, visas and renewal.

Approvals a cafeteria needs before it opens

• Layout assessment. Dubai Municipality's Food Safety Department must review and approve your layout before construction or renovation. The plan shows food handling, storage, seating, washing areas, equipment, ventilation and exits.
• Other departments and Civil Defence. Dubai Municipality's activity guide says building licensing, planning, drainage and Civil Defence may also need to approve the outlet, where it applies.
• Ejari. In Dubai, your lease must be registered with Ejari.
• A certified Person in Charge (PIC). At least one full-time, on-site PIC certified in food safety. For a cafeteria or café, Dubai Municipality's training guideline requires one PIC per shift, present in the kitchen, holding Advanced PIC Certification. The certificate lasts five years.
• Trained, medically fit food handlers. Formal food safety training from a Municipality-approved trainer, refresher training every three years, or sooner if food safety competency slips, medical fitness tests and occupational health cards.

These rules come from Dubai Municipality's Food Code (a 2013 edition still on its website) and its training guideline DM-FSD-GU64 (2023, published February 2024), so confirm the current versions before you fit out.

Steps to get a cafeteria license in Dubai

• 1. Confirm the activity and legal form. Check that cafeteria (5610003) covers your menu; u.ae says the legal form must match the activity.
• 2. Reserve a trade name and get DET initial approval. It confirms there's no objection, but doesn't let you start trading.
• 3. Lease premises with enough food area. Sign the lease and register it in Ejari.
• 4. Get the Municipality layout assessment before fit-out, plus Civil Defence and other approvals where they apply.
• 5. Pay the DET license fee and collect the license. u.ae lists the initial approval receipt, an attested lease, an attested memorandum of association and any other approvals.
• 6. Prepare to operate. Certify your PIC and train your food handlers, with health cards.

The Food Code also lists records to keep on site, including the trade license, the approved layout, health cards, training certificates, the PIC certificate and a pest control contract.

We prepare the documents, submit the DET, Ejari and Municipality applications and follow them up; each authority makes its own decision. See our mainland company formation service.

Cafeteria license cost in Sharjah

In Sharjah, the Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD) issues mainland licenses, and in Sharjah city the municipality's Food Control section approves the food establishment. It publishes these fees:

For the final approval, it asks for the initial approval, the trade name or license, a municipality-attested lease, approvals from bodies such as Civil Defence, SEDD's technical site evaluation and the plan its Food Control Department has signed off. SEDD's trade name and license fees are separate, and SEDD shows them when you apply. See business setup in Sharjah for the wider process.