Food business permits in Luxembourg: the whole stack, in order

Opening a cafe, restaurant or bar in Luxembourg takes three national authorisations. The HoReCa business permit from the Ministry of the Economy costs €50 and is decided within 3 months. The food notification to the Administration luxembourgeoise vétérinaire et alimentaire (ALVA) has no waiting period: the operator can start the activity as soon as the notification is sent, without having to wait for the acknowledgement of receipt. Serving alcohol adds a cabaretage licence from customs, taxed at €24 to €74 a year by commune size.

The permit runs on the longest clock, so the work starts with checking the manager's qualification and preparing the HoReCa permit file for the Ministry.

See how the business permit application works

Terraces, opening hours and signage are decided by your commune, not nationally. Fee and clocks: the HoReCa page of guichet.public.lu and article 31 of the consolidated Loi du 2 septembre 2011. Both were read in August 2026.

The five national authorisations at a glance

Each row is a separate file with its own clock. Terraces, extended hours and signage are missing because the town hall sets their calendar and their tariff.

What does the HoReCa business permit require?

Under the 2011 law, the manager must hold a business permit in order to operate a drinking and catering establishment. The five conditions are professional integrity, professional qualification in line with the planned activity, establishment in Luxembourg, effective and permanent management of the business by the permit holder, and compliance with tax and business obligations. The chancellery fee is €50. Acknowledgement follows within 15 days, and the absence of a ministerial reply before the end of the 3-month period counts as a tacit authorisation.

The condition that gets tested in this sector is effective and permanent management. In the words of the law, the manager must ensure day-to-day management of the business effectively and permanently, through a physical presence at the establishment. It is written against an old habit: a qualified name on the file who never stands in the building.

The qualification is the HoReCa access course, not a cooking diploma, and one year of professional experience, evidenced by a Centre commun de la sécurité sociale affiliation certificate or an EC certificate from the country of origin, may exempt the applicant from the HoReCa access course. That experience is proved with papers, not memories.

Where a foreign qualification has to be recognised first, the decision window stretches by 1 month. Separately, the articles of association must be registered with the Trade and Companies Register before the permit is definitively granted, so an unregistered company is holding a file, not a permit.

The establishment condition is physical. The law asks for an appropriate physical installation, adapted to the nature and the scale of the activities carried on, and a kitchen has to pass that standard, not merely exist.

The lease comes after the feasibility check, not before. Zoning, extraction, water and waste, and any change-of-use question belong to the week before signature.

Is the ALVA food notification an approval?

No. It is a notification, and the duty attaches to each establishment under the operator's responsibility that carries out one of the stages of the production, processing or distribution of foodstuffs, so the test is the activity, not the address. ALVA replies within 15 working days, either with the acknowledgement carrying the national registration number or with a request to amend the file.

Registration brings food hygiene obligations that depend on the nature and size of production, and that include putting in place a self-monitoring system based on HACCP principles. A two-seat coffee counter and a production kitchen do not carry the same self-monitoring paperwork, and both carry some.

Kitchens handling products of animal origin can fall under an approval (agrément) instead of a notification, which changes the file and the fit-out. Put that question in writing to the Administration luxembourgeoise vétérinaire et alimentaire (ALVA), which is in charge of implementing food safety arrangements, before the plans are drawn.

Who needs the cabaretage alcohol licence?

By law, any natural or legal person intending to establish or operate a drinking establishment serving alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises must obtain a licence de cabaretage. Applications go to the Service cabaretage of the Administration des douanes et accises (ADA). The conditions include a business permit as operator of a drinking establishment (autorisation d'établissement en tant qu'exploitant d'un débit de boissons), so the licence sits on top of the permit. Third-country nationals also prove at least 5 years of residence in Luxembourg.

The cabaretage page carves out only drinks carrying a trace of alcohol. Beer, wine and spirits all fall inside the duty, so a wine list needs the same licence as a cocktail bar.

The licence does not travel: the licence is valid for the operation of a single establishment and only on the premises and at the locations set out in the application. It is renewed before 31 January each year, by paying the annual licensed-establishment tax, and the tax is €24, €49 or €74 by commune size.

Staffing follows from the licence too: the physical presence of the declared manager is mandatory to sell alcohol, although the manager may appoint a sous-gérant authorised to sell alcoholic beverages in their absence. Name the sous-gérant in the opening plan.

Where does the sequence break?

What costs months is the dependencies between the files, and the same three repeat.

• The inspection that waits for the equipment. Premises standards are assessed on an installed kitchen, so the inspection date sits behind the fit-out date, which sits behind the supplier's lead time.
• The licence filed against unsettled premises. The cabaretage licence names the premises and the locations, so moving the concept two streets means filing again.
• The permit that is granted but not displayed. Once issued, the 2D barcode assigned to each business permit must appear on letters, emails, websites, quotations, invoices and the shop front of every point of sale, as well as on the signs that must be installed at all construction sites. The shop front is the one an inspector checks.

What employment rules start with the first hire?

The vacant post is declared to ADEM before the job offer is published, and the employer registers with the CCSS within 8 days of the first employee's entry. Smaller HoReCa businesses also keep a register of every employee's daily and weekly schedule, set out in the ITM's guidance.

Pay starts at the statutory minimum, at the rates in force from 1 June 2026. An unskilled worker aged 18 and over earns at least €2,771.33 a month, a skilled one €3,325.59.

Normal working time is 8 hours a day and 40 a week, rising to 10 and 48 once overtime is worked. Overtime earns 1 hour 30 minutes of rest per overtime hour worked, or at least 140% of the hourly wage where it is paid instead.

Can a food truck or a takeover reuse the permits?

A food truck files the same notification and meets the same permit conditions as a fixed kitchen. Only the pitch changes: where it may stand, and on which days, is a commune decision.

Taking over a restaurant does not transfer its permits. The business permit is issued in the manager's name, and the alcohol licence is valid only for the establishment and locations in its own application. The incoming manager files new applications, and the qualification and integrity conditions are tested again. The previous tenant's terrace and late-hours permissions do not pass with the lease either.

In what order should you file?

The Ministry of the Economy takes up to 3 months to decide a complete file. Checking the manager's qualification and preparing the permit file therefore starts before any lease is discussed, so the rent clock runs behind the permit clock.

1. Qualification check. Does the experience exemption apply, or is the HoReCa access course needed?
2. Premises feasibility, then the lease. Zoning, technical standards and change-of-use questions come before signature.
3. Company registration, then the permit file. The permit is only definitively granted once the company is registered.
4. ALVA notification, with the agrément question answered in writing before the fit-out design is frozen.
5. Alcohol licence once the premises are fixed, since it names them, with the sous-gérant decided at the same time.
6. Employment rails before opening week. ADEM declaration, CCSS registration within 8 days, and the schedule register from the first shift.