BUSINESS GUIDE
How to start a restaurant in 2026
The permits and licenses by named state and city with their fees, the liquor license and its clock, what it really costs to open a counter-service spot or a dining room, the food and labor medians a menu price has to carry, the insurance — and how to fill the first Friday. Written for the owner signing the lease, not a designer.
Free to build · Pay when you publish · No credit card
32.0%of sales went on food at the median full-service restaurant in 2024, and 36.5% on wages and benefits (National Restaurant Association)
$258–$773the Texas state health permit by annual food sales (DSHS); Los Angeles County charges $319 to $1,438 by seats and risk
42%of operators said their restaurant was not profitable in 2025 (National Restaurant Association, February 2026)
No codeto get online
See it in action
See what your restaurant website could look like
This is a real Zarla template for a neighborhood farm-to-table restaurant. Describe yours — the cuisine, the neighborhood, whether you take reservations — and you'll have a site like this, with your menu, your hours and a booking form, in about a minute.
- Professional design — not a generic template
- Looks great on desktop and mobile
- Content written for your industry
Build the website
Start your restaurant website now
Add your town and your restaurant's name to the sentence, and Zarla builds the site: a call button at the top, your menu and hours, and a booking form. Add your dishes, your photos and your opening date in chat, then publish.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
Is a restaurant worth starting — and where does the money go?
Nobody opens a restaurant for the margin. You open it for the room, the food and the neighborhood — and the business lives or dies on three ratios and a lease. This guide is about opening one sit-down or counter-service restaurant; the truck has its own guide, and so do the bar and catering.
Where the money goes, in the industry's own numbers. The National Restaurant Association's survey of operators puts food and non-alcohol beverage costs at a median of 32.0% of sales at full-service restaurants in 2024 and 32.4% at limited-service ones (National Restaurant Association, September 2025); salaries, wages and benefits at a median of 36.5% of sales at full-service and 31.7% at limited-service (National Restaurant Association, August 2025); and occupancy at 5.7% and 5.2% (National Restaurant Association, September 2025). Add utilities, insurance, card fees and the loan, and what is left is low single digits — which is why "42 percent of operators reported their restaurant was not profitable" in 2025, and 60 percent saw softer traffic (National Restaurant Association, State of the Restaurant Industry 2026, February 2026). Those medians are the whole pricing lesson: every dish has to carry its food cost, a third of its price in labor and the rent before you earn anything.
The catch, and the folklore. You will read that most restaurants fail in year one. The one named study that tested the claim — published in the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly in 2005 — found "a relatively modest 26.16 percent of independent restaurants failed during the first year of operation," about 30 percent rounded, with 57.2 percent of franchise and 61.4 percent of independent restaurants gone within three years, and called the 90 percent figure a myth (Parsa, Self, Njite and King, 2005). It is a 2005 study; the pattern it found was under-capitalization and management, not the food.
What the trade pays. As employees, a food service manager earned a 2025 median of $33.36 an hour, $69,390 a year (O*NET); a chef or head cook $62,470 (O*NET); a restaurant cook $17.98 an hour, $37,390 (O*NET); a server $16.94 an hour, $35,230, before tips in states with a tip credit (O*NET). No public survey of independent owners' take-home pay opened for this guide, so none is printed; the owners below describe the first year instead.
How to start a restaurant, in plain English
Who permits you depends on where you are — and the fee is on their page. In the US, food safety is state and local: the FDA's Food Code is a model, and as of its last count 46 state agencies in 36 states had adopted one of its three most recent versions (FDA). So the permit comes from your state agency, your county or your city:
- Texas. The state health department permits you unless you are "Inspected and permitted by a City, County or Public Health District," and its fee is by annual food sales — $258 under $50,000, $515 to $149,999, $773 at $150,000 or more (Texas DSHS); "You must have a sales tax ID number before you submit a permit application" (DSHS, starting a new retail food establishment). Dallas uses the same three tiers with a $150 re-inspection fee (City of Dallas, 2025); Austin charges $309, $618 and $927, plus a $178 pre-opening inspection and a $312 plan review for new construction (City of Austin, FY 2025–26); a 2025 state law caps local fees relative to the state's, so San Antonio planned $284, $567 and $850 (San Antonio Report, September 2025). Someone with a certified food manager certificate "may be required" at an establishment serving exposed foods that need temperature control (DSHS), and "all food employees shall successfully complete an accredited food handler training course, within 30 days of employment" (DSHS).
- California. The county permits you: Los Angeles County's 2026–27 restaurant permit runs from $319 for a low-risk room under 30 seats to $1,438 for a high-risk room over 150, with a plan check of $1,044 to $2,723 by square footage — $1,309 for a high-risk room of 31 to 60 seats and $1,865 to check plans for 2,000 to 3,999 square feet (LA County Public Health, FY 2026–27). By statute, "A food handler who is hired on or after June 1, 2011, shall obtain a food handler card within 30 days after the date of hire," valid three years, from a course that "shall cost no more than fifteen dollars ($15)" (Health and Safety Code §113948); and a facility serving unpackaged food needs an owner or employee who has passed a food safety certification exam, with "60 days to comply" after opening and recertification "every five years" (§113947.1).
- Florida. "Each public lodging establishment and public food service establishment shall obtain a license from the division," renewed yearly (Florida Statutes §509.241); the fee is by seats, $262 under 50 to $357 at 500 or more, plus $50 on a first application (Rule 61C-1.008). "All managers employed by a food service establishment must have passed an approved test," and "Managers have a period of 30 days after employment to pass the required test" (§509.039).
- New York City. The food service establishment permit is $280 a year, you may begin operating 22 days after applying while the inspection is pending, and "A supervising manager must pass a Food Protection Course and be on-site at all times" (NYC Business); the course is free online and the exam is $24 (NYC Health).
- Washington. Seattle and King County's 2026 permit runs from $441 for a low-risk room to $1,386 for a high-risk room over 250 seats, with plan review from a $1,008 base (Public Health – Seattle & King County, 2026); every worker needs a $10 food worker card, valid two years, within 14 days if the employer trains them (Washington Department of Health).
- Chicago. The retail food establishment license is $660 for a room under 1,000 square feet and up to $1,650 over 10,000, for a two-year term, and someone with a City of Chicago Food Service Sanitation Certificate must be "on the premises at all times" (City of Chicago).
The liquor license is separate, slower and sometimes a market. Texas: a mixed beverage permit is $5,300 for two years ($2,650 to renew), a wine and malt beverage retailer's permit $1,900 and the food and beverage certificate $1,100 (TABC, two-year fees) — and a mixed beverage permittee owes a 6.7% gross receipts tax that the permittee, "not the customer," pays (Texas Comptroller) plus an 8.25% mixed beverage sales tax it can pass on (Texas Comptroller); one San Antonio owner puts her two-yearly TABC bill at $4,500 to $5,000 (San Antonio Report, September 2025). California: a Type 41 beer-and-wine eating place license is a $1,135 application and $565 a year, while a new Type 47 full liquor license is "Available only to priority drawing winners" at $19,840 and otherwise bought from an existing licensee at a private price, with an annual fee of $985 to $1,545 by city size (California ABC, application fees, 2026; annual fees). New York: an on-premises license is $2,176 a year in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, down to $896 elsewhere in the state (Alcoholic Beverage Control Law §66). Washington: beer and wine $600 a year, spirits $1,400 to $2,700 depending on the dining area (Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board). Florida: quota licenses are limited to "one such license to each 7,500 residents within such county," unless the restaurant has at least 2,000 square feet, 120 seats and 51 percent of revenue from food (Florida Statutes §561.20), with a yearly state tax of up to $1,820 (§565.02). Apply on the first day; the owners below say this clock is the long one.
Sales tax on meals, and the tipped wage. Texas: "Ready-to-eat food is typically taxable even when it is sold 'to go,'" bakery items without utensils are not, and "No tax is due on any voluntary gratuity" (Texas Comptroller, publication 94-117), at 6.25% state plus up to 2% local (Texas Comptroller). California: "To-go sales of hot prepared food products are taxable," cold food to go is not, and a new business should test the 80-80 rule (CDTFA, publication 22, January 2025). New York: "When food or drink is sold for on-premises consumption, it is taxable, whether it is sold hot or cold" (New York Tax Department, TB-ST-806). Florida taxes food "served, prepared, or sold in or by restaurants" (§212.08); Washington taxes prepared food, and a retailer whose food sales are more than 75% prepared food collects tax on all of it (Washington Department of Revenue). The tipped wage: federal law fixes the cash wage for tipped employees at the amount required on August 20, 1996 — $2.13 an hour (29 U.S.C. §203) — which Texas adopts (Texas Labor Code §62.052); Florida's direct wage is $10.98 from September 30, 2025 (FloridaCommerce); New York City's is $11.35 cash plus a $5.65 tip allowance (New York Department of Labor); California ($16.90) and Washington ($17.13) allow no tip credit at all (California DIR, 2026; Washington L&I, 2026). Restaurants are public accommodations under the ADA, so barriers come out of an existing room "when it is 'readily achievable'" and new construction follows the 2010 Standards (ADA.gov).
The lease and the build-out are the swing items. Two contractors' own guides put substantial construction at $200 to $350 a square foot for quick-service and $250 to $400 for full-service casual dining, plus 12 to 20 percent in soft costs (Timeless Construction, August 2026), or $100 to $800 a square foot with most projects between $150 and $750 (EB3 Construction, September 2025) — ranges for building a restaurant, not refreshing one. A Texas tenant-rep brokerage says the deposit "will typically be equal to 1-2 months of rent," more for a start-up (Austin Tenant Advisors, 2023). A second-generation space — one that was already a restaurant — is the way around most of it: one San Antonio owner's room "came with the rent. It was pretty much ready to go" (San Antonio Report, December 2025). The permit clock is real too: a report on Austin found restaurant permitting "can cost nearly $9,000 and require up to 105 steps" (The Texas Tribune, March 2026), and a Fairfax County audit found a median of 315 days to open a new establishment (FFXnow, October 2026).
The kitchen, the tables and the POS, at a vendor's listed prices. On one restaurant-supply vendor's pages in October 2026: a six-burner gas range with oven $1,299 (WebstaurantStore), a 40-pound gas fryer $819 (WebstaurantStore), a two-door reach-in refrigerator $1,839 (WebstaurantStore), a three-compartment sink $268.99 to $1,699 — $669 with two drainboards (WebstaurantStore), an eight-foot hood package $4,799 with fire suppression as a $4,239 or $5,919 add-on, before ductwork and installation (WebstaurantStore), a six-by-six walk-in cooler $10,396 (WebstaurantStore), metal chairs $69.99 each (WebstaurantStore) and a 30-by-48 laminated table top $60.49 (WebstaurantStore); in Texas, kitchen equipment used to prepare food for sale is not taxable (Texas Comptroller). A furniture vendor's guide puts seating for 75 at $6,000 to $15,000 (Superior Seating, 2026). Square's food-and-beverage plans are $0, $49 and $149 a month per location, processing 2.6% plus 15¢ in person on the free plan, hardware from $59 (Square, 2026).
Insurance. Insureon's averages for restaurants are $337 a month for a business owner's policy, $192 for general liability alone, $118 for workers' compensation, $45 for liquor liability and $222 for commercial auto (Insureon, September 2026); NEXT says 69% of its restaurant customers pay $74 a month on average for general liability, with a workers' comp median of $160 (NEXT, October 2026). Workers' comp is required for employers in most states once you hire — check yours; your landlord and your liquor regulator may ask for certificates.
How to register the business. In the US it's the same four steps in each state we checked, with different fees. Form the business — an LLC is $40 in Kentucky (Kentucky SOS), $300 in Texas (Texas SOS) and $70 in California plus a $20 statement of information (California SOS), where every LLC also owes an $800 yearly tax (California FTB) — get the free EIN (IRS), register for sales tax, open a business bank account, and get the city business license where your city wants one: Seattle's is $73 a year under $20,000 of revenue in the city and $147 from $20,000 to $499,999 in 2026 (City of Seattle). Our guide to whether you need an LLC walks through the choice. An SBA 7(a) loan runs to $5 million and can pay for equipment, furniture, working capital or buying an existing restaurant (SBA).
Starting small: cottage food, pop-ups, food halls, a commissary. A home kitchen is not a restaurant: the Texas cottage food law lets you sell shelf-stable foods — no meat, no seafood, no low-acid canned goods — directly to consumers up to $150,000 a year with a food handler course and no permit (Texas DSHS, September 2025); other states' rules differ. Chicago licenses a pop-up user in a host's licensed kitchen for $25 for five days to $150 a year (City of Chicago); a food-hall stall is "a fraction of the capital commitment" of a strip-center room, in one operator's words (San Antonio Report, July 2023); one commissary rents hot stations from $35 an hour and a full ghost-kitchen station for $3,500 a month (24 Hour Kitchens, Sacramento).
Buy, franchise or build? A restaurant broker's advice is that buying an existing restaurant saves time and money because "the equipment is already in place" (We Sell Restaurants, 2023). A franchise directory's reading of the 2024 disclosure documents puts Subway at a $15,000 fee and $238,600 to $536,700 all in, with an 8% royalty (Franzy), and Jersey Mike's at $18,500 and $203,600 to $1.32 million with 6.5% (Franzy) — read the disclosure document before you sign anything. Every owner quoted in the next section opened an independent room.
Outside the US. In the UK, "You are required to register at least 28 days before trading," and registration is free (GOV.UK); selling alcohol needs a premises license from the council (GOV.UK) with application fees of £100 to £1,905 by rateable-value band (GOV.UK fee levels), and VAT on restaurant meals is the standard 20% (GOV.UK). In Australia, New South Wales cafes and restaurants notify their council and must appoint a Food Safety Supervisor whose certificate is renewed every five years (NSW Food Authority; Food Safety Supervisors), and liquor licenses are fee-scheduled by Liquor & Gaming NSW (NSW Government, 2026); in Victoria the council registers the premises each year and class 1, most class 2 and class 3A premises need a food safety supervisor (Safe Food Victoria; Safe Food Victoria). Check your own council's rules before you sign a lease.
The business, and the calendar. Cost the menu, walk second-generation rooms, apply for everything on day one, open softly and read the numbers every night. For one 30-to-60-seat restaurant, our free restaurant business plan puts the start at $96,261–$968,892: registration, the health permit and plan check, the food-safety certificates, the kitchen at listed prices, the tables, the POS, a year of insurance, the build-out from a second-generation room taken as-is to a contractor's full-service range, the deposit, opening inventory, signage, hiring, the website, and two months of running costs — with the liquor license on top. The restaurant website templates show what a good restaurant's site looks like, Zarla's restaurant website builder is how a guest searching for dinner near them finds yours, and the best website builders for restaurants compares the tools; how to make a restaurant website covers the menu page.
What restaurant owners actually say
None of this is our opinion about the trade. It comes from people who opened and ran restaurants, talking about the work in two city newsrooms, a state newspaper, a trade magazine, public radio and a payments company's podcast between 2022 and 2026. Read each as theirs at the time; the dollar figures in older pages are that year's. Five things come up again and again.
The permits and the build take longer than the contract says. Justin Shugrue of Shug's Bagels in Austin: “We're on day 410 or 420 of a 140-day proposed contract with the general contractor.” And: “The biggest thing is the lost revenue … I know we would have been busy” (The Texas Tribune, March 2026). JoJo Soprano, who runs operations for a Virginia group of more than twenty venues, on a payments company's podcast: “You've got to make sure that your ABC license is intact. A lot of that stuff is what takes up the majority of the time.” And: “You definitely want to be patient. It's not going to happen overnight” (Square's podcast, May 2022). Jacare Thomas of Park Manor 75 in Chicago, after a change of contractor and the city's inspections: “it's important to seek out the advice of people who have done it before you” (Block Club Chicago, October 2025).
“We were making enough money to pay bills at the restaurant. But we had no money coming home.” — Joshua Paprocki, Revolutionary Wings, San Antonio, in the San Antonio Report, March 2025
The building and the lease decide more than the menu. Javier Zirko of El Bar in Essex Junction, Vermont, on the space he walked away from: “contractors and inspectors kept finding issues with the building structure and systems.” And: “After receiving no response from the landlord, we decided to pull out of the deal” (Seven Days, October 2026). Regina González of Tu Asador in San Antonio, on the room she took: “It came with the rent. It was pretty much ready to go. And when they told us the price, we were like, 'This is a steal'” (San Antonio Report, December 2025). Stephen Starr, whose group runs more than forty restaurants: “I can't open restaurants any longer if I don't get a significant contribution from the landlord” (Restaurant Business, April 2025). Dick Jones of Katerina in San Antonio, on a space where several restaurants had failed: “Every time I walked in there after Reggiano's closed, I still saw Reggiano's. Nobody changed the finish out” (San Antonio Report, January 2026).
Every dish has to pay for everything. Stephanie Rich of Verdine in Houston, on the same podcast: “It's the internet, it's the phone, it's the workers. Workman's comp, it's the business insurance…” And: “Everything on your menu needs to be able to pay for that. Because that's the only way you make money.” And: “We try to keep that food cost magic number in between 30 and 35%, which has been incredibly hard” (Square's podcast, June 2022). Blanca Aldaco of Aldaco's Mexican Cuisine in San Antonio: “You have to navigate through food costs, labor, credit card fees. Property taxes are crazy. That's what drove me out of business at the Dominion” (San Antonio Report, March 2025). Michael Milazzo of Fat Chris's Pizza And Such in Chicago, closing after nine years: “We can't keep raising our prices, because at some point people aren't going to be coming at all.” And: “we're always one disaster, one broken water heater, away from nothing” (Block Club Chicago, May 2026). Fiore Tedesco of L'Oca d'Oro in Austin, on resisting another increase: “There's a way in which it seems like we should raise prices right now because everything's more expensive” (NPR, May 2026).
The staff is the business, and the numbers are nightly. Devin Osborne of Fatback's BBQ in Quincy, Illinois: “Your staff is the face of your business…you definitely have to have a staff that's friendly, that's kind.” And: “Our employees are multitaskers…this helps keep labor costs down” (Square's podcast, June 2022). Soprano again: “Every night we have a report that comes out…if you're looking at that on a weekly basis, how do you react? You've already lost your money” (Square's podcast, May 2022). Jones: “the best way to run a business is to get really good people, empower them and get out of their way” (San Antonio Report, January 2026). Jennie Plasterer of Kitchen 17 in Chicago, closing: “most of the people are sweethearts, but it's that 1 percent that sticks in your brain” (Block Club Chicago, November 2025).
The first guests are the neighbors who watched you build. Aldo Gonzalez of Casa Tulum in Chicago: “People want to know the person behind the brand. They want to see the process so they feel more connected. There would be times I was out there by the window cleaning and people would pass by telling me they'd seen my videos” (Block Club Chicago, February 2025). Letita Rogers of Spot Bistro in Englewood, Chicago: “We have a lot of elders in the community, and they don't want to travel too far. It was important for me to bring this experience to them” (Block Club Chicago, May 2025). González, on the first months: “I was bartending 24/7. My brother was in the kitchen 24/7. My mom was in the kitchen 24/7” (San Antonio Report, December 2025). Zach Garza of Make Ready Market in San Antonio, on starting in a food hall: “I'm spending a fraction of the capital commitment that I would need for a free-standing [restaurant] in a strip center” (San Antonio Report, July 2023).
The through-line: the restaurants that last cost the menu before the lease, take a room that was already a kitchen, apply for the liquor license on day one, price every dish to carry a third in labor and a third in food, read the report every night, and open to the neighbors who watched them build.
THE STARTER KIT
What you need to start a restaurant
A menu that is costed before the lease
Twelve to twenty dishes a small kitchen can execute every night, each one costed against the Association's food-cost medians — the menu decides the kitchen, the hood and the walk-in, not the other way round.
The health permit, and the people certificates
The permit from the authority that actually has jurisdiction — a state agency in some places, the city or county in others — with its plan check, plus the certified manager and the food-handler cards whose clocks start the day you hire; the table below has five states' fees.
The liquor license, applied for first
A separate license from a separate regulator with the longest clock of all — a two-year permit in Texas, a priority drawing or a private purchase in California, a quota in Florida — and the mixed-beverage taxes that come with it.
A second-generation space, if you can find one
A room that was already a restaurant — hood, grease trap, drains and often the tables — because the build-out is the swing item, and the contractors' per-square-foot ranges below are for construction, not a refresh.
The kitchen, the POS and the insurance
A range, a fryer, a reach-in, a three-compartment sink and a hood with suppression at a vendor's listed prices; a POS on a plan you can leave; and a business owner's policy, workers' comp and liquor liability before the first delivery arrives.
Three months of running costs, and a way to be found
Cash for the food, the payroll and the rent of the slow opening months, a Google Business Profile with real photos, and a website with the menu as text, your hours and a booking form.
THE PAPERWORK
Permits, licenses, certificates and insurance for a restaurant
| Typical cost | Time to get | Legally required? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business registration (LLC) and EIN | e.g. $40 (KY), $300 (TX), $70 + $20 + $800/yr tax (CA); EIN free | Days | Depends on your structure; the EIN before you hire |
| Sales tax permit | Free in most states | Days | Before the health permit in Texas; meals are taxable in TX, CA, NY, FL, WA |
| Texas health permit (state or city) | $258 / $515 / $773 by food sales (DSHS); Austin $309–$927 | Weeks + plan review | In Texas, from the agency with jurisdiction |
| Los Angeles County health permit | $319–$1,438 by seats and risk + $1,044–$2,723 plan check | Weeks + plan check | In LA County; your county's schedule differs |
| Florida food service license | $262–$357 by seats + $50 application | Weeks | In Florida, from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants |
| New York City food service permit | $280/yr; food protection exam $24 | Operate 22 days after applying | In NYC; a certified supervisor on site at all times |
| Seattle–King County food permit | $441–$1,386 by seats and risk + plan review from $1,008 | Weeks | In King County; Chicago's license is $660–$1,650 per two years |
| Food manager certificate and handler cards | Exams vendor-priced; CA handler course capped at $15; WA card $10 | Days; clocks of 30–60 days from hire | In TX, CA, FL, NYC, WA and Chicago, by rule |
| Liquor license | TX $1,900 (beer and wine) or $5,300 (mixed, 2 yrs); CA $1,135 or $19,840; NY up to $2,176/yr; WA $600–$2,700 | Months; quota or drawing in FL and CA | Only to serve alcohol; apply first |
| Business owner's policy (liability + property) | $337/month average (Insureon); general liability alone $192 | Same day | Landlords and liquor regulators expect the certificate |
| Workers' compensation | $118/month average (Insureon); NEXT's median $160 | Days | In most states once you hire — check yours |
| Liquor liability | $45/month average (Insureon) | Same day | Where you serve alcohol; insurers and landlords expect it |
THE STEPS
How to start a restaurant (step by step)
Eight steps from a costed menu to a permitted kitchen, a soft opening for the neighbors and a Friday that fills itself.
01
Write the menu, then cost every dish
Decide the concept and the service style — counter or table — and write the twelve to twenty dishes first. Cost each one against a food target in the Association's 32% range and a labor plan in its 32% to 36% range; the menu decides the equipment, the hood and the space you need.
Before anything else02
Find out who permits you, and what it costs
Your state agency or your city or county health department — read its fee schedule, its plan-check rule and its food-safety certificate rules before you sign a lease. The table below prints five states' pages; yours will differ.
03
Walk second-generation spaces first
A room that was already a restaurant saves the hood, the grease trap and the drains. Read the lease for who pays the build-out, the deposit (one to two months' rent is common), and the exit; one owner below walked away when the building kept failing inspection.
04
Register, insure and apply for everything on the same day
Form the LLC, get the free EIN and the sales tax permit, buy the business owner's policy and workers' comp, then file the health permit, the plan check and the liquor license together — the liquor license has the longest clock.
05
Buy the kitchen, the tables and the POS
A range, a fryer, a reach-in, a three-compartment sink and a hood with suppression at listed prices, chairs and table tops, and a POS on a monthly plan you can leave — used where you can, new where the inspector will look.
06
Hire, certify and train before opening day
The certified food manager and every food handler's card inside your state's clock, the tipped-wage rule for your state printed on the schedule, and a week of dry runs — the owners below say the staff is the face of the business.
07
Get found before the doors open
Put the website live with the menu as text, your hours and a booking form, claim the Google Business Profile with real photos, and tell the neighborhood — one owner below filled the room with people who'd watched the build on video.
08
Open softly, read the numbers nightly, ask for the review
Friends, neighbors and nearby offices first; the nightly report, not the weekly one; and the review request while the plates are still on the table. Hire the second cook when Friday is full.
THE COSTS
How much does it cost to open a restaurant?
The total is our free restaurant business plan's itemized US ranges for one 30-to-60-seat restaurant: registration, the health permit and plan check, the food-safety certificates, the kitchen at a vendor's listed prices, the tables, the POS, a year of insurance, the build-out — from a second-generation room taken as-is to a contractor's $250-a-square-foot full-service range — the deposit, opening inventory, signage, hiring, the website, and two months of running costs on the Association's medians. The liquor license comes on top. Fees from the agencies' own schedules, prices from the vendor's pages, insurance from the insurers; checked October 2026.
$96,261–$968,892to open one restaurant — the low end is a second-generation room taken as-is, the Texas $258 permit, a $13,664 kitchen and two months of a $40,000-a-month counter-service operation; the high end builds a 2,500-square-foot dining room
$13,664a starter kitchen at one vendor's October 2026 prices — a $1,299 range, an $819 fryer, a $1,839 reach-in, a $669 sink, a $4,799 hood and $4,239 suppression — before installation; a walk-in adds $10,396
$375,500the median cost to open in a survey of more than 350 owners, as reported by a furniture vendor — which puts full service and fine dining at $500,000 to $2 million and up
$5,300the Texas two-year mixed beverage permit (TABC) — beer and wine is $1,900; a new California full liquor license is $19,840 by drawing, otherwise a private purchase
WHAT WE'VE LEARNED
What actually makes a guest choose a restaurant
Thousands of local business websites in, the pattern for restaurants is plain: the guest wants to see the menu with prices, know you're open right now, and see that someone like them had a good night. Three things on a page decide who gets the table.
The menu as text, with prices
Not a PDF — the dishes and prices written on the page so a phone can read them, with the specials and the allergens, and a call button at the top of every page.
Hours that are true, and a way to book
Today's hours, holiday hours, and a booking or order button on every page — the guest who can't tell whether you're open tonight picks the place that says so.
Photos of the food, and reviews that name the dish
Real photos of the plates and the room, and reviews that mention the dish and the neighborhood — so the next guest sees someone like them, and books.
THE UPSIDE
What a restaurant can earn
Cost medians from the National Restaurant Association's survey of operators (2024 data, published 2025) and its 2026 State of the Industry report; pay from O*NET; the failure rate from the one named study that tested it (2005). Medians, not a promise — your lease, your menu math and your Friday decide it. No public survey of independent owners' take-home pay opened for this guide.
32.0%of sales on food at the median full-service restaurant in 2024, 32.4% at limited-service — the number every menu price is built on
36.5%of sales on wages and benefits at the median full-service restaurant, 31.7% at limited-service — labor is the bigger line now
26.16%of independent restaurants closed in their first year in the 2005 Cornell-published study that tested the 90 percent myth; 61.4% within three years
$69,390a year: the 2025 US median for employed food service managers (O*NET); a restaurant cook earns $37,390
SEE IT WORK
Restaurant website designs you can start from
All four are real Zarla templates. Open the one closest to your room — an Italian dining room, a brunch cafe, a pizzeria or a barbecue smokehouse — swap in your menu, your hours and your own photos, and publish.
GET FOUND
Get found by the couple deciding where to eat tonight
Most first-time guests find a restaurant on Google Maps in the ten minutes before they leave the house, and they pick the one whose menu, hours and photos they can see. Zarla builds the website with a call button at the top, your menu and hours, and a booking form. Add your dishes, your photos and your specials in chat, and once you connect your Google Business Profile, your Google rating and reviews show on the site.
“Restaurants near me”
Searched by a couple on a Friday, an office ordering lunch, and a family with visitors in town. Your menu as text with prices, your hours and a phone number at the top of the page answer it.
Google Business Profile
Your address, your hours, photos of the food and the room, and your reviews inside Google Maps — the listing a guest taps before they read a word of your site. Free, and an afternoon to set up.
Reviews that name the dish
Ask the happy table while the plates are still on it — and send the link that night. Reviews that mention the dish, the server and the neighborhood sell the next booking.
Google Search
Hharborvine.com
Harbor & Vine — Trusted restaurant in Your AreaNeighborhood bistro. Short seasonal menu, full bar, open Tuesday to Sunday. Book a table or call.← Your Zarla siteCcityrestaurantservices.com
City restaurant ServicesGoogle Maps
1
Harbor & Vine
← You2
Metro restaurant Co.
3
Quick restaurant Services
AI assistants (ChatGPT / Perplexity)
For a neighborhood restaurant for dinner tonight with a short seasonal menu in your area: Harbor & Vine — a nearby restaurant whose menu and prices are on the page, whose hours are current, with recent photos of the food and reviews that mention the dishes, and a way to book a table without calling.
An example with a made-up business and illustrative figures. Yours will show your real details and reviews.
YOUR LAUNCH PLAN
Your restaurant launch checklist
The whole guide as things to check off. Work through them in order and you'll be permitted, insured, stocked and findable before the first guest sits down.
- Write and cost the menu — food near the Association's 32% median, labor planned at 32% to 36%.
- Read your health authority's fee schedule — the permit, the plan check, the certificates and their clocks.
- Walk second-generation spaces — and read the lease for the build-out, the deposit and the exit.
- Register the business and get the EIN and sales tax permit — then insure the room.
- Apply for the health permit and the liquor license together — the liquor clock is the long one.
- Buy the kitchen, the tables and the POS — at listed prices, used where you can.
- Certify and train the team — the manager certificate and every handler card inside the clock.
- Get found and open softly — menu as text, hours, a booking form, real photos, the neighbors first, the review before they leave.
REAL CUSTOMERS
Small business owners who got online with Zarla
Verified reviews from real Zarla customers.
“Quickly built my website from scratch. No hiccups. Would highly recommend Zarla for someone with no experience who wants to start a polished business website.”
“Great professional website in less than a minute, with the use of AI and a few descriptive prompts. This has saved me bundles of time and research on web developers.”
“I had no idea how to set up a website for my business. Thanks to Zarla, they've helped me a lot.”
“Very reliable, professional, and fast results. I was able to get my business online in no time, and the ease of access made it so simple.”
Be the restaurant the neighborhood books on a Tuesday
Add your town and your restaurant's name, and Zarla builds the website from that one line — a call button at the top, your menu and hours, and a booking form. Add your dishes, your photos and your opening date in chat. Free to build; you pay when you publish.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
Frequently asked questions
How much money do I need to start a restaurant?
In the US, about $96,261 to $968,892 for one 30-to-60-seat restaurant, in our restaurant business plan's itemized ranges — registration ($40 in Kentucky to $890 in California), the health permit and plan check ($258 for the lowest Texas tier to $3,174 in Los Angeles County), the food-safety certificates, a starter kitchen at one vendor's listed prices ($13,664 to $26,770 with a walk-in), the tables, the POS, a year of insurance ($2,808 to $6,000), the build-out (zero for a second-generation room taken as-is, up to $625,000 for 2,500 square feet at a contractor's $250-a-square-foot full-service rate), the deposit, opening inventory, signage, hiring, the website, and two months of running costs on the Association's medians. The liquor license comes on top: $1,900 to $5,300 for two years in Texas, $1,135 or $19,840 in California. A survey of more than 350 owners, as reported by a furniture vendor, puts the median at $375,500 and full service at $500,000 to $2 million and up.
What licenses do I need to open a restaurant?
In the US: a business registration and EIN, a sales tax permit, the health permit from whichever agency has jurisdiction — the Texas state health department unless your city permits you ($258 to $773), Los Angeles County ($319 to $1,438 plus a plan check), Florida's Division of Hotels and Restaurants ($262 to $357), New York City's health department ($280 a year), Seattle–King County ($441 to $1,386), Chicago ($660 to $1,650 per two years) — a certified food manager or supervisor and food handler cards on your state's clock, a liquor license if you serve alcohol, building and sign permits for any build-out, and a city business license where your city wants one. The fees above are each agency's own; check your state, county and city before you sign a lease.
Do I need a liquor license, and what does it cost?
In the US, only if you serve alcohol — and it is a separate license from a separate regulator with the longest clock in the file. The Texas mixed beverage permit is $5,300 for two years and its wine and malt beverage permit $1,900, plus a 6.7% gross receipts tax the permittee pays. California's Type 41 beer-and-wine license is a $1,135 application and $565 a year; a new Type 47 full liquor license is $19,840 by priority drawing, otherwise bought from an existing licensee at a private price. New York's on-premises license is $2,176 a year in the four big boroughs; Washington's beer and wine $600 and spirits $1,400 to $2,700; Florida limits quota licenses to one per 7,500 residents unless you have 2,000 square feet, 120 seats and 51 percent food revenue. Apply on day one.
Can I cook meals to sell from home?
In the US it depends on your state's cottage food law, and a restaurant is not cottage food. Texas lets a home kitchen sell shelf-stable foods — no meat, no seafood, no low-acid canned goods — directly to consumers up to $150,000 a year with a food handler course and no permit. Hot meals served on site, delivered dinners and anything needing refrigeration need the health permit and a commercial kitchen; a commissary rents hot stations by the hour, and Chicago licenses pop-ups in a host's kitchen from $25. Check your state's cottage food page before you sell a single plate.
Which type of restaurant is most profitable?
No openable source ranks concepts by profit, so the honest answer is the Association's own medians: limited-service restaurants spent 31.7% of sales on wages and benefits in 2024 against 36.5% at full-service, with food costs nearly equal at 32.4% and 32.0% — so a counter-service room runs lighter on labor, and a bar program and private events are where full-service owners say the margin lives. Whatever the concept, 42% of operators said they were not profitable in 2025.
Are restaurants struggling in 2026?
The National Restaurant Association's 2026 State of the Industry report says 42 percent of operators were not profitable in 2025, 60 percent saw softer traffic, and more than nine in ten name food, labor, insurance, energy and card fees as significant challenges — while still forecasting modest real sales growth and more than 100,000 jobs added. The owners quoted here say the same: it's the hardest it's been, and the ones who last control the lease and the menu math.
What are the most common reasons restaurants fail?
The one named study that tested the folklore — published in the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly in 2005 — found 26.16 percent of independent restaurants closed in their first year, about 30 percent rounded, and 61.4 percent within three years, and called the 90 percent figure a myth. Its reasons were under-capitalization and poor financial management, the owner's own circumstances and quality control, not the food. The owners quoted here add the lease, the permit clock and a menu that can't carry the labor.
How long does it take to open a restaurant?
Longer than the contract. New York City lets you operate 22 days after applying for the permit, pending inspection; Los Angeles and King County review the plans before the build; a Fairfax County audit found a median of 315 days to open a new establishment; one Austin owner was on day 410 of a 140-day build contract; and the liquor license — a quota in Florida, a drawing or a private purchase in California — has the longest clock of all. Apply for everything on the first day and plan for months, not weeks.
Do I need an LLC to open a restaurant?
In the US, no law requires it — a sole proprietorship can hold the permits — but almost every restaurant forms an LLC or a corporation before signing the lease, because the lease, the loan, the liquor license and a slip on a wet floor all carry liability. It's $40 in Kentucky, $300 in Texas and $70 in California, where every LLC also owes $800 a year. Our guide to whether you need an LLC walks through the choice; talk to an accountant about the tax election once the room is open.
What insurance does a restaurant need?
In the US: a business owner's policy that bundles general liability and property — Insureon's average for restaurants is $337 a month, general liability alone $192, or $74 a month on average for most of NEXT's customers — workers' compensation once you hire ($118 a month on Insureon's average; required for employers in most states), liquor liability where you serve alcohol ($45 a month), commercial auto if you deliver, and cyber cover for card data. Your landlord and your liquor regulator may require certificates; check your state's workers' comp rule.
What should my food and labor costs be?
Price to the industry's own medians, not to a rule of thumb: in the National Restaurant Association's survey of operators, food and non-alcohol beverage costs were a median 32.0% of sales at full-service restaurants and 32.4% at limited-service in 2024, wages and benefits 36.5% and 31.7%, and occupancy 5.7% and 5.2%. Together that is roughly three quarters of every dollar before utilities, insurance, card fees and the loan — so every dish is costed against those lines, and one Houston owner's target of 30 to 35 percent food cost is the discipline, not a guarantee.
Can I start a restaurant with no money?
Not a dining room — but there are on-ramps. The Texas cottage food law lets a home kitchen sell shelf-stable food up to $150,000 a year without a permit; Chicago licenses a pop-up in a host's kitchen for $25 for five days; a commissary rents hot stations from $35 an hour; a food-hall stall is a fraction of a strip-center build; and one San Antonio owner went from a pandemic ghost kitchen to a second-generation room that came ready to go. An SBA 7(a) loan can fund equipment, furniture and working capital. Whatever the route, the priced lines of a real opening run near six figures before rent.
How do I get my first customers?
The owners quoted here opened to the neighborhood: friends, neighbors and nearby offices first, the build shared on video so people felt they knew the person behind it, and the review asked for while the plates were still on the table. Then answer what guests search for — the menu as text with prices, today's hours, real photos and a way to book — on your website and Google Business Profile. Zarla builds the website from one sentence, with a call button at the top, your menu and hours, and a booking form, and once you connect your Google profile, your Google rating and reviews show on the site.