[With Sample Filled-In Form] How to Obtain a Restaurant Business License: Quickly Understand the Costs, Timeframe, and Application Process

• Procedure: Preliminary consultation → Interior construction → Submission of application form → Facility inspection → Issuance of business license
• Cost (new): Approximately 16,000–19,000 yen (varies by municipality / [confirmation required])
• Timeframe: From prior consultation to issuance, approximately 2–3 weeks (be sure to complete your application at least one month in advance to allow enough time).
• Key point: Always consult with the public health center in advance before starting interior construction work.

Obtaining a business license is a “minimum requirement” that you absolutely cannot skip when opening a restaurant. The process itself is not particularly difficult, but if you do things in the wrong order, you’ll end up having to redo a lot of work—that’s the main point to watch out for with this procedure. There’s one more thing that people often overlook when working backward from their planned schedule, and that is,a business license is required not only for the actual “opening day” but also for various applications you need to submit beforehand,which is a crucial point. You cannot proceed with the following procedures unless you already have the license.

• Application for payment terminals (cashless payments)
• Registering for a delivery service
• Listing on gourmet websites
• Enrollment in optional insurance for stores
• Documents to be submitted when opening a store in a commercial facility (such as a department store)
• Opening a corporate account

In particular, the screening for payment terminals and gourmet sites can takearound one monthfrom application to the start of use, and this is not unusual. Situations like “We got our business license in time for opening day, but we can’t accept cashless payments on our first day” actually happen quite often on the ground. Since this directly affects sales, if you want to be able to use these from day one of opening,it’s ideal to have obtained your permits themselves at least one month before opening.

However, to do that you’ll need to rent the property early and start the interior work ahead of schedule, which also means bearing the burden of a longer period of rent payments. Weigh this against your shop’s financial capacity and how fully you want everything in place on opening day, and decide accordingly.

The biggest stumbling block when obtaining a business license is that you actually need to start the process *before* beginning any interior construction work. Before construction? That might sound surprising, but the reason is simple.

A business license is a system used by the authorities to confirm whether a given establishment meets the facility and hygiene standards required to operate as a food and beverage business. The public health center, which oversees food sanitation, serves as the contact point and conducts the inspection. An inspector will actually visit the premises and check detailed facility standards such as “Does the sink have at least two basins?” and “Is the handwashing station in an appropriate location and of proper construction?”

In other words, what’s being inspected is the shop’s actual layout and facilities. That’s exactly why, if it turns out after the interior work is finished that the standards aren’t met, you may end up having to redo walls or piping.

To avoid this, you need to first consult with the public health center at the stage before starting interior construction (i.e., before commencement of work).

• STEP 1 Preliminary Consultation: Consult with the public health center before the interior layout drawings are completed. Align your understanding of the facility standards at this stage (most important).
  • You can also consult by phone. The facility standard guidelines are published on municipal websites, and public health centers will kindly explain them over the phone. If you want even more peace of mind, one option is to bring your plans and visit the counter in person.
• STEP 2 Interior ConstructionReflect the advice received during consultations in the design and proceed with construction in a way that meets the facility standards.
• STEP 3 Submission of application documents: After the construction is completed, submit the required documents and decide the date for the facility inspection. As a guideline, this should be doneat least 10 days beforethe planned opening date.
• STEP 4 Facility Inspection: A food sanitation inspector will conduct an on-site check to confirm that the facility meets the required standards
• STEP 5 IssuanceAfter passing the inspection, the business license will be issued in a few days to about a week. Post it in a clearly visible place inside the store and start operations.

Comment from the supervisor

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The biggest waste in this process is when you finalize the plans, start construction, and only then get pointed out issues by the public health center. If you have to change the number of sinks or the location of hand-washing stations afterward, you’ll end up having to open up walls and piping, which can lead to additional work costing hundreds of thousands of yen. You need to be especially careful with secondhand (inherited layout) properties. Even if you think, “It was a restaurant before, so it should be fine,” you may be told during inspection that it doesn’t meet current standards, resulting in extra construction work or, in the worst case, having to postpone your opening day.

As a rule, you should work out the schedule for obtaining your business license by counting backward from your planned opening date.

The reason is simple: you can’t operate until the permit is issued. It usually takes about 2–3 weeks to obtain, but if there are any mistakes in the documents or issues pointed out during the inspection, it will be delayed accordingly. To be safe, it’s best to complete the application at least one month before your opening date.

Comment from the supervisor

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From around June to October, when food poisoning alerts are more likely to be issued, health centers tend to be very busy with consultations and inspections. If you’re aiming to open during this period, it’s best to start the process about 2–3 weeks earlier than usual. Also, around Obon, New Year’s, and Golden Week, procedures can be delayed by several days to about a week due to health center holidays. If you plan to apply right before or after these long holiday periods, you’ll feel more at ease if you start earlier than you normally would.

ここまでで、営業許可の取り方・費用・期間・つまずきやすい順番という全体像はつかめたはずです。とりあえず申請の見通しだけ立てたい方は、ここまでの内容でも十分に動き出せます。ここからは、施設基準・必要書類・申請書の書き方・費用・更新まで、一歩踏み込んで解説します。

A restaurant business license is a permit required under the Food Sanitation Act for establishments that prepare food and serve it to customers. It is issued by the director of the local public health center with jurisdiction over the area.

There are four key points you should keep in mind.

• With the legal revision on June 1, 2021 (Reiwa 3), the “coffee shop business license” was consolidated and unified into the “restaurant business license.” At the same time, the number of business categories requiring a license was reviewed and reduced from 34 to 32. If you are opening a business from now on, even for a café or coffee shop, the license you need to obtain is the “restaurant business license.”
• Even for takeout, mobile sales (kitchen cars), or food stalls, you need a permit if you are cooking and serving food. It doesn’t matter whether the food is eaten on the premises or not.
• If you operate a business without obtaining permission, you will be in violation of the Food Sanitation Act and may face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 2 million yen. The excuse of “It’s a small shop, so I won’t get caught” does not work.
• The requirements for qualifications and personnel, such as food sanitation supervisors, are explained in detail in the preparation list for licenses, permits, and notifications.

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Checklist of Essential Licenses, Permits, and Notifications for Opening a Restaurant | Including Commonly Overlooked Points

This article explains all the qualifications, permits, and notifications required to open a restaurant in one place. Focusing on easy-to-miss points such as “a cook’s license is actually not required,” we整理 what is essential and what is not, including how to obtain a Food Sanitation Supervisor license, the process for applying for a business permit from the public health center, and a list of notifications that must be submitted.

A business license is granted on the condition that the store’s facilities meet the “facility standards” stipulated by the Food Sanitation Act and the ordinances of each local government. Inspections focus mainly on the kitchen’s water facilities and layout/partitioning.

The main checkpoints are as follows.

• There must be a sink with at least two basins, a dedicated hand-washing facility, and a hot water supply.
• The water faucets of handwashing facilities must be designed to “prevent re-contamination of hands after washing.” This is a new standard added in the 2021 revision. Twist-type handles operated by hand are not allowed; they must be lever-type, sensor-type, foot-pedal-type, push-type, or similar. However, this requirement applies only to handwashing facilities dedicated to use within the kitchen; toilets and sinks used for washing dishes or food ingredients are not covered.
• The kitchen and the customer seating area are separated by doors or a counter.
• There must be a refrigerator with a thermometer, a trash can with a lid, and insect control measures (such as screen doors or automatic doors).

The specific criteria vary in detail depending on the municipality. That’s exactly why prior consultation before starting construction work is essential.

It’s easier to organize the required documents if you divide them into two groups: those that everyone must prepare, and those that are needed depending on the situation of the shop.

If you have qualifications such as a dietitian, chef, or confectionery hygiene master, you are exempt from the food hygiene supervisor training course. If no one at your establishment has such qualifications, you can obtain the certification by taking a one-day course offered by the Food Sanitation Association of each prefecture (the approximate cost is around 10,000 yen / [subject to confirmation]). Because the courses can fill up depending on the time of year, it’s advisable to apply as soon as your schedule is decided.

Comment from the supervisor

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The Food Sanitation Supervisor course gets booked up more quickly during peak opening seasons. Even now, you often hear stories like, “My opening date was already set, but I couldn’t get into the course in time and had to go to the neighboring prefecture to take it.” There’s virtually no downside to taking it early, so once you’ve decided to open your business, I recommend making this your top priority and applying right away. Once your premises are decided, reserve your spot in the course in advance while you work on the interior in parallel.

This section explains the main fields of the application form, item by item.

① Addressee (name of the competent public health center)

At the top of the form, enter the name of the head of the public health center that has jurisdiction over your application. Be sure to check in advance which public health center has jurisdiction over the location of your store.

② Applicant

Enter your name, address, and contact information. In the case of a corporation, provide the corporate name, location, and representative’s name.

③ Type of Office / Type of Business

Enter the name of the establishment (trade name), its location, and the type of business. For a typical restaurant, the type of business is “Restaurant Business.”

④ Disqualification Criteria

This section is to confirm whether you have previously been penalized for violating the Food Sanitation Act, or whether a certain period has passed since your license was revoked. For new businesses, this usually does not apply. Be sure to accurately declare whether it applies to you or not.

⑤ Food Sanitation Supervisor

Enter the name of the designated food sanitation supervisor. At least one supervisor is required for each store, and the same person cannot serve in this role at multiple stores.

The names of forms and entry fields may differ depending on the municipality. Be sure to follow the forms and instructions specified by the municipality that has jurisdiction.

The cost isn’t just the application fee. The main breakdown is as follows.

※ The amount varies depending on the municipality and fiscal year. Please check with your local public health center for the latest amount.

For managing costs before and after opening and preventing tasks from being overlooked Getting a business license is only one part of preparing to open. If you want to centralize the management of figures such as funds, purchasing, and labor costs, and comprehensively support your store operations,Respo is also worth considering.Zero initial cost & core features are free to start with, so even during the opening phase when expenses tend to pile up, it’s easy to introduce thanks to the low barrier to adoption.

A business license is not permanent once obtained; it has an expiration date.

• The validity period is more than 5 years (typically 5 to 8 years). It is determined based on inspections that assess the robustness of the facility and the durability of its equipment, so it can vary depending on the municipality and the facility. The expiration date is written at the bottom of the permit.
• As a rule of thumb, you should complete the renewal procedures by about one month before the expiration date (no later than two weeks before). Since you may not receive a notice from the public health center, be sure to keep track of the deadline yourself.
• If the validity period expires, it will be treated not as a “renewal” but as a “new application,” and the required documents will increase. Furthermore, if you continue operating after it has expired, it will be regarded as operating without a license and you may be subject to penalties.

In addition to a restaurant business license, you may need separate permits or notifications depending on the items you handle and your business hours.

• Confectionery Manufacturing License / Side Dish Manufacturing License: As long as you are only serving or offering for takeout the sweets and prepared dishes made in your shop, this is covered by a restaurant business license. However, if you manufacture products for wholesale, or set up a separate line for full-scale production, you may need these additional licenses depending on the items you handle. If you are unsure how to classify your operation, confirm it in advance through a consultation with the authorities.
• Serving alcohol after midnight: If you mainly serve alcoholic beverages between midnight and 6:00 a.m. at a bar, izakaya, or similar establishment, you must submit a “Notification of Commencement of Late-Night Alcoholic Beverage Service Restaurant Business” to the police station (Public Safety Commission). This is a notification, not a license, and must be submitted at least 10 days before starting business (or 20 days before, depending on the region, for corporations). You must already have a restaurant business license as a prerequisite. You can check other required qualifications, licenses, and notifications in the preparation list for qualifications, licenses, and notifications.

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Q. Do I still need a business license if I only offer takeout?
A. Yes. Regardless of whether customers eat inside the store or not, if you prepare and serve food, you need a restaurant business license.

Q. What should I do if I lose my business license?

A. The response differs depending on the municipality. Some public health centers will issue a new permit when you apply for reissuance, while others do not reissue the permit itself and instead provide a “Business Permit Certificate” (the issuance fee is typically around 400–500 yen). First, contact the public health center that has jurisdiction over you and confirm the procedure.

Q. Do I still need to reapply even for a fitted (in-use) property?

A. As a rule, when the business operator changes, you must obtain a new license. You cannot simply continue using the previous owner’s license. However, if certain conditions are met—such as in the case of a business transfer agreement, inheritance, or a corporate merger—it may be possible to succeed to the license by filing a “Status Succession Notification.” If you think this might apply to your situation, consult your local public health center.

Q. What happens when it expires?

A. It will have to be reapplied for as a “new” application, and the required documents will increase. If you continue operating after it expires, you will be operating without a license, so be sure to manage the deadline with plenty of time to spare.

You can obtain a restaurant business license by following the process of applying to the public health center, undergoing a facility inspection, and then receiving the license. The cost for a new application is approximately 16,000 to 19,000 yen, and the standard processing time is about 2 to 3 weeks.

What determines success or failure is not so much the procedures themselves as the order in which you take action. Before finalizing the plans and starting construction, be sure to have a preliminary consultation with the public health center. Just by doing this, you can prevent major setbacks such as having to redo the interior work or delaying your opening.

If you would like to get an overview of all the procedures for opening a business, from finding a property to securing financing,

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Complete Guide to Restaurant Opening Procedures | Comprehensive Explanation of Notifications, Costs, and Schedule [Latest 2026 Edition]

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Please also take a look at our complete guide to opening a restaurant. In addition to obtaining a business license, there’s a mountain of tasks involved in preparing to open, such as securing funds, finding a property, hiring staff, and attracting customers. If you’d like to reduce the overall burden of running your establishment,Respo is also worth considering.

The information in this article is current as of July 2026. Fees, forms, facility standards, and validity periods may vary depending on the municipality and fiscal year. Be sure to check with your local public health center and the official websites for the latest information before applying.