Opening a restaurant or café in Finland: permits and set-up

Karma Accounts · Published 3 November 2026

To open a restaurant or café in Finland you need a registered business, premises whose permitted use covers a restaurant, and a notification of your food business to the municipal food control authority at least four weeks before you open. Staff who handle unpackaged perishable food need a hygiene passport. Serving alcohol needs a licence from the Finnish Supervisory Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto), which took over from the regional state administrative agencies (AVI) and Valvira on 1 January 2026; it costs 1 230 euros and is applied for at least a month ahead. Music licences, a rescue plan above 50 seats, the employer steps and the VAT and till set-up complete the list.

1. The business and the premises

Register the business first: the alcohol licence is applied for in an e-service that needs a business ID, and it cannot be granted to a limited company still being formed. Which form to choose is in toiminimi or Oy, residence and permits for founders moving here in starting a business in Finland as a foreigner, and we can handle the company formation.

Before you sign a lease, ask the municipality's building control (rakennusvalvonta) what use the building permits give the premises (käyttötarkoitus). If a restaurant is not among them, you need a building permit for the change of use, and the premises may not be taken into the new use before building control approves them at the final inspection. The housing company's articles of association can also restrict the use. The Finnish Food Authority (Ruokavirasto) advises talking to food control already at this stage.

2. The food business notification (elintarvikehuoneistoilmoitus)

Under the Food Act, a food business is notified at least four weeks before it starts, to the food control authority of the municipality where the premises are. The law calls it a notification of food business (ilmoitus elintarviketoiminnasta); many forms still say food premises notification. File it in the Ilppa e-service or on the municipality's form.

You need not wait. A registered food business needs no inspection before it starts. You get a written reply, and the inspector visits later, usually by appointment but possibly unannounced, to check that the premises suit what you do and that your own-check plan covers the risks.
Fees. The municipality charges for processing and inspections under its own tariff, plus an annual basic fee of 150 euros, charged at the start of the year but not for the year in which you are added.
The report goes on the door. The latest inspection report must be on display at the entrance and easily available, for example on your website.

Premises that handle food of animal origin before retail need an approval instead, decided within 60 days. Helsinki's own steps are in our article on starting a business in Helsinki.

3. Own-check plan and hygiene passports

Every food business needs an own-check system (omavalvonta) that identifies and controls its hazards, with the results recorded. Food control does not approve the plan, but you show it at the first inspection at the latest. A sector good-practice guide approved by the Food Authority can replace it in part or in full.

A hygiene passport (hygieniapassi) is required from anyone who handles unpackaged perishable food on food premises, owner included, at the latest three months after starting such work; earlier food jobs count towards the three months. The test is taken with an examiner approved by the Food Authority. Only the original passport counts, and the business keeps a record of its staff's hygiene competence.

4. Alcohol: the serving licence (anniskelulupa)

Serving drinks over 2.8 % alcohol needs a licence, per business and per location, granted before you serve. Since 1 January 2026 the Finnish Supervisory Agency licenses the whole country except Åland.

Apply in the Alcohol Trade Register e-service (Allu) no later than one month before opening, with signing rights or a Suomi.fi mandate. The agency may ask the police and the Tax Administration for statements, and tax debts without a valid payment plan can prevent a licence.
A written self-monitoring plan for serving (anniskelun omavalvontasuunnitelma) must be drawn up before the licence is granted, kept up to date and kept available to staff and inspectors. It is separate from the food plan.
Fees in 2026. 1 230 euros in the e-service, 20 % more otherwise. A retail licence to sell drinks to take away is 430 euros when applied for at the same time; it covers only drinks on your serving list, fermented ones up to 8 % and others up to 5.5 %. Adding an outdoor area later is also 430 euros.
Annual supervision fees. None for the first calendar year. After that, serving costs 105 to 790 euros a year by the previous year's purchases counted as pure alcohol, and a retail licence adds 200 euros a year.

A responsible manager or another person you appoint, aged at least 18, must be present whenever you are open and must hold an alcohol passport (anniskelupassi), earned by a test at a restaurant-sector school or a restaurant qualification covering the same ground. Serving staff must be at least 18; someone aged 16 or 17 may serve only under the direct supervision of that responsible manager or appointed person. Alcohol is bought only from licensed sellers. Twice a year you report the value of alcohol sales and your staff numbers: January–June by 31 July, July–December by 31 January. A period with no sales still needs a report saying so.

5. Music, terrace and the rescue plan

Music. Playing music needs licences from the copyright organisations: Teosto for music authors and publishers, Gramex for performers and producers of recordings. Teosto says recorded music also needs a Gramex licence, through their joint service Musiikkiluvat.fi.
Terrace. The Food Authority notes that a terrace may need the consent of the municipality and of the housing company; ask building control. Serving alcohol outside also needs the area in your licence.
Rescue plan. A restaurant with more than 50 customer seats needs a rescue plan (pelastussuunnitelma). It is drawn up by the holder of the building or site; where several businesses operate in a building, its holder draws it up together with them. A smaller café may still be part of the building's own plan, for example in a residential building with at least three flats.

6. If you hire staff

Employing people brings statutory insurances, occupational health care, written terms and reports to the Incomes Register. They are in our checklist for a first employee.

7. Accounting and VAT from day one

VAT registration is compulsory from the day turnover passes 20 000 euros in a calendar year; you stay outside only while turnover is at most 20 000 euros in both the current and the previous calendar year. Only a registered business can deduct the VAT on its purchases, so registering before you open lets you deduct the VAT on fit-out and equipment bought from the registration date (VAT registration limit).
Rates. Food and meals 13.5 %, alcohol 25.5 %, often on one bill; how each is booked is in restaurant accounting in Finland. For VAT, alcohol means drinks over 1.2 % (beer over 0.5 %), while the licence and the half-year report cover only drinks over 2.8 %, so a light beer can be 25.5 % VAT and still stay out of the report.
The till. Finnish law sets no technical requirements for the till, and no certified or tax-connected till is required. It does require a receipt to be offered for cash and card payments once turnover passes 10 000 euros a year, electronic if you like. Set the daily report to split sales by VAT rate and payment method and to keep alcohol on its own accounts: the alcohol licence requires sales recorded by account so the half-year report comes from the books.
Card terminal. Card sales reach the bank in batches, often with fees deducted, so they are booked from the till report and matched to each payout.

Checklist: from the lease to the first months

When	What	Where
Before the lease	Business registered; premises' use checked	PRH, building control
1 month before, latest	Serving licence application in, self-monitoring plan written	Allu
4 weeks before, latest	Food business notification	Municipal food control
Before opening	Food own-check plan, music licences, terrace, rescue plan, VAT, till, employer insurances	Various
Opening day	Manager with alcohol passport present	—
Within 3 months	Hygiene passports	Approved examiner
31 July and 31 January	Alcohol half-year report	Allu

Worked example: a café opening on 1 October 2027

Maya Oy opens a 40-seat café on Friday 1 October 2027, serving wine and beer and selling beer to take away.

Serving and retail licences applied for together by Wednesday 1 September 2027: 1 230 + 430 = 1 660 euros.
Food business notification filed by Friday 3 September 2027.
40 seats is under the 50-seat rescue-plan limit for restaurants, but the café takes part in the building's own plan if the building has one.
Her cook, with no earlier experience of food work, needs a hygiene passport by the end of December 2027.
Added to food control mid-2027, the café pays the 150-euro basic fee from 2028. No alcohol supervision fees for 2027; for 2028, with 2027 purchases between 100 and 2 000 litres of pure alcohol, serving costs 210 euros and the retail licence 200 euros.
The first half-year report, for July–December 2027, is due Monday 31 January 2028.

Fixed state and municipal fees: 1 660 euros in 2027 and 150 + 210 + 200 = 560 euros in 2028, plus the municipality's tariff fees and the music licences.

Frequently asked questions

What will I need to open a restaurant or cafe in Finland?

A registered business, premises approved for restaurant use, a food business notification four weeks ahead, an own-check plan and hygiene passports. Where they apply, add an alcohol licence, music licences, a rescue plan, the employer steps, VAT registration and a till. A café needs the same food steps as a restaurant.

Which permits does a restaurant need?

The food business notification to the municipality, a serving licence from the Finnish Supervisory Agency if you serve alcohol, music licences if you play music and, where needed, a terrace permit and a building permit for a change of use.

Starting a business in Finland as a foreigner: is a restaurant different?

The permits are the same for everyone. Your right to work for yourself here and signing in to e-services are in our guide for foreign founders.

Do I need an alcohol licence to serve beer with food?

Yes, for anything over 2.8 %. Apply at least a month before you start.

Restaurant bookkeeping: what has to be ready on opening day?

VAT registration, a till whose daily report splits sales by VAT rate, payment method and alcohol, and a way to match card and delivery payouts to it.

Does Finland require a certified cash register?

No. The law requires a receipt to be offered and the day's sales recorded, not a particular till.

What we do

We keep the books of restaurants and cafés from the first month: we set up the accounts so food, alcohol and each payment method stay apart, book the daily reports, match every payout and file the VAT returns. See limited company accounting or sole trader accounting, or request a quote.

Sources

Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.

VAT returns off your desk?

We keep the books, file the VAT return by its due date and tell you the amount before it is due. A sole trader pays from 69 € a month and a limited company from 199 €, plus VAT.

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