How to Start a Cafe in Australia in 2026: Licences, Food Safety, Costs and Staff

A cafe looks simple from the customer's side of the counter: good coffee, a short menu, a friendly room. Behind it sit a lease, a council approval, a food business registration, a certified Food Safety Supervisor, award wages with weekend penalty rates, and a fit-out that can easily run into six figures. This guide is for anyone planning to open a cafe in Australia in 2026 — a first-timer buying an existing business or an experienced barista building from scratch. It explains the approvals state by state, the national food safety rules under Standard 3.2.2A, realistic start-up costs in A$, staffing and the mistakes that sink new cafes in their first year.

Quick answer

To start a cafe in Australia: choose a structure and get an ABN, check the premises is approved for a cafe with the council before signing the lease, then register, notify or license your food business with the council (ACT Health in the ACT). Appoint a certified Food Safety Supervisor and train food handlers under Standard 3.2.2A, arrange insurance and workers compensation, and pay staff under the Hospitality Award.

• Typical fit-out for a 40–80 sqm cafe: A$100,000–A$350,000 (industry estimate)

• Cafés are usually category one under Standard 3.2.2A — all three food safety tools apply

• Hospitality Award Level 1: A$26.44 an hour from 1 July 2026

• No card surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard or Visa from 1 October 2026

• Alcohol needs a separate state liquor licence

Start with the concept, the numbers and the site

Before any paperwork, work out what kind of cafe you're opening, because it drives the fit-out, the approvals and the staffing. A takeaway coffee kiosk with packaged food is a very different business — and a different food safety category — from a 60-seat brunch cafe with a full kitchen. Write down the menu, the opening hours, the seat count, and whether you'll serve alcohol, because the council and the food regulator will ask about all of them.

Then test the numbers. A cafe's margin lives in three ratios: food cost (often targeted around 28–35% of food sales), wages (frequently the largest cost line), and rent. If rent is more than about 10–15% of the turnover you can realistically expect, the lease will be a constant drag — these are common industry rules of thumb, not legal limits. Use our break-even calculator to see how many coffees and meals a day you need to cover fixed costs, and the food cost calculator to price each dish.

The site matters more than the fit-out. Foot traffic at the times you'll be open, nearby offices or schools, parking, competition within walking distance and whether the space already has a grease trap, exhaust and enough power are what decide whether a cafe survives.

Opening a cafe, in order

Step 1

Concept + numbers

Step 2

Site + council check

before the lease

Step 3

Company, ABN, GST

national

Step 4

Fit-out approval + build

Step 5

Food registration

council / ACT Health

Step 6

FSS, staff, insurance

Step 7

Open

Step 1: Structure and national registrations

Most cafes are run through a company, because a lease with personal guarantees, staff and equipment finance create real liability. A company costs A$636 to register and A$342 a year for the ASIC annual review; directors need a director ID first. Some owners start as a sole trader or partnership for a small kiosk. Our guide to starting a business in Australia compares the structures.

Apply for an ABN (free) and register a business name if the cafe will trade under anything other than the company's exact name (A$47 for one year). Register for GST from the start if you expect turnover of A$75,000 or more — most cafes with seating will pass it in their first year. Note that the GST treatment of food is mixed: many basic foods are GST-free when sold in a shop, but food and drinks consumed on the premises, hot food and coffee are generally taxable, so set your point-of-sale system up properly from day one.

Step 2: Lease and council approval for the premises

Never sign a lease until you know the council will let you run a cafe there. Councils control the land use (is a "food and drink premises" allowed in that zone, and is the existing approval for a cafe or for retail?), the fit-out (building and plumbing approvals), signage, outdoor dining on the footpath, trading hours and trade waste. A change of use from a shop to a cafe can need a development application; a site that already operated as a cafe may only need approval for the new fit-out.

Get the lease reviewed. Retail leases are governed by state retail leasing laws, which typically require a disclosure statement from the landlord before you sign, and the lessor's standard terms can include make-good obligations (returning the shell to bare concrete at the end), demolition clauses and personal guarantees. Ask for a rent-free fit-out period, and make the lease conditional on council approvals where you can. Small businesses also have some protection against unfair terms in standard form contracts if they have fewer than 100 employees or turnover under A$10 million.

Step 3: Food business registration — how it works in each state

Every food business in Australia must comply with the Food Standards Code, but registering it is done under state and territory Food Acts, and the rules differ. In most places your local council is the contact; the exceptions are the ACT, where ACT Health registers food businesses, and businesses supplying other businesses in NSW, which notify the NSW Food Authority.

Councils set their own registration and inspection fees, so ask yours early. Most will want to inspect the finished fit-out before you open, and many will review your plans before construction starts — which is far cheaper than ripping out a non-compliant bench later.

Step 4: Food safety — Standard 3.2.2A in a cafe

Since December 2023, food service, catering and related retail businesses that handle unpackaged, potentially hazardous food that is ready to eat have had to use extra food safety management tools under Standard 3.2.2A. FSANZ names cafés specifically as businesses in scope.

A cafe that takes raw ingredients and makes them into ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food — a toasted sandwich, smashed avocado with poached eggs, a salad with chicken — is a category one business and must use all three tools:

Standard 3.2.2A — what a category one cafe needs

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• A certified Food Safety Supervisor, appointed before you start, with a certificate obtained in the last 5 years
• The FSS 'reasonably available' — working on site and overseeing food handling, or easily contacted
• Every food handler trained in safe handling, contamination, cleaning and sanitising, and personal hygiene before they handle high-risk food
• Records (or another way to show an officer) that receiving, storage, processing, display, transport, cleaning and sanitising are under control
• Temperature logs for fridges, hot-holding and cooling

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A category two business sells potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food that was handled unpackaged but not made on site — slicing, weighing, reheating or hot-holding only — and needs a Food Safety Supervisor and trained handlers but not the record-keeping tool. A coffee kiosk that only sells packaged snacks may fall outside the standard's extra tools altogether, but it still has to meet Standards 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 on food handling, premises and equipment.

The basics apply to everyone: keep potentially hazardous food at 5°C or colder or 60°C or hotter, provide hand-wash basins with warm running water, soap and single-use towels, keep pests out, and make sure staff don't work with food when they're sick.

Allergens on the menu

Cafe food usually doesn't need a label, but the allergen rules still reach you. Under the Food Standards Code, for food not required to bear a label — FSANZ gives a café or takeaway as the example — allergen declarations must be displayed with the food or provided to the customer on request, using the required names such as milk, egg, wheat, soy, sesame, peanut and each individual tree nut. Train staff to check ingredients rather than guess, and keep the ingredient lists for your suppliers' products at the counter.

Step 5: Equipment, fit-out and start-up costs

Fit-out is where budgets blow out. A 2026 supplier buying guide from HospitalityHub puts a standard 40–80 square metre cafe at A$100,000–A$350,000, a kiosk or small takeaway of up to 40 square metres at about A$60,000 to A$150,000, and a larger cafe with a full kitchen at A$350,000 or more. It estimates build rates of A$1,500 to A$3,000 per square metre for a light refit and A$3,000 to A$5,000 for a standard build, says equipment is usually 40–60% of the total, and warns that imported coffee machines and fridges can take 8 to 16 weeks to arrive. These are a supplier's estimates, not official figures — get at least three written quotes for your site.

Indicative cafe start-up budget (estimates, October 2026)

Item	Small takeaway kiosk	40–80 sqm sit-down cafe
Fit-out incl. equipment	A$60,000–A$150,000	A$100,000–A$350,000
Lease bond + rent in advance	A$5,000–A$15,000	A$15,000–A$40,000
Opening stock, smallwares, uniforms	A$3,000–A$8,000	A$8,000–A$20,000
Legal, lease review, approvals	A$3,000–A$8,000	A$5,000–A$20,000
Insurance (first year)	A$1,500–A$4,000	A$3,000–A$8,000
Working capital (3 months)	A$20,000–A$40,000	A$50,000–A$120,000
Company + ABN + business name	A$636 + free + A$47	Same

Fit-out incl. equipment

Small takeaway kiosk

A$60,000–A$150,000

40–80 sqm sit-down cafe

A$100,000–A$350,000

Lease bond + rent in advance

Small takeaway kiosk

A$5,000–A$15,000

40–80 sqm sit-down cafe

A$15,000–A$40,000

Opening stock, smallwares, uniforms

Small takeaway kiosk

A$3,000–A$8,000

40–80 sqm sit-down cafe

A$8,000–A$20,000

Legal, lease review, approvals

Small takeaway kiosk

A$3,000–A$8,000

40–80 sqm sit-down cafe

A$5,000–A$20,000

Insurance (first year)

Small takeaway kiosk

A$1,500–A$4,000

40–80 sqm sit-down cafe

A$3,000–A$8,000

Working capital (3 months)

Small takeaway kiosk

A$20,000–A$40,000

40–80 sqm sit-down cafe

A$50,000–A$120,000

Company + ABN + business name

Small takeaway kiosk

A$636 + free + A$47

40–80 sqm sit-down cafe

Same

Fit-out figures come from the 2026 supplier guide above; the other lines are our estimates from typical commercial lease terms and broker pricing, and will vary widely by city and site. Taking over an existing cafe can halve the up-front cost, but check that the equipment works, the approvals transfer, the lease has enough years left, and the sales figures are backed by BAS lodgements — not just the vendor's word. You'll need to notify or register the food business afresh in your name; notifications don't transfer to a new owner in NSW, for example.

Step 6: Staff, wages and rosters

Most cafe staff — baristas, wait staff, kitchen hands and cooks — are covered by the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020. From 1 July 2026, the Level 1 rate is A$26.44 an hour for full-time and part-time employees after the 4.75% Annual Wage Review increase. Casuals get a 25% loading, and weekend, public holiday, late-night and overtime work attract penalty rates. Higher classifications apply to qualified cooks and supervisors. Our award wages guide and casual employees guide explain classifications and loadings.

Wages are usually the largest cost line in a cafe, so build the roster around the trade: two or three people for the breakfast and lunch peaks, fewer in between, and the owner covering gaps in the early months. Before your first employee starts, register for PAYG withholding, set up Single Touch Payroll, pay super guarantee of 12% with each pay cycle under Payday Super, and take out workers compensation in your state. Give each new employee the Fair Work Information Statement, and casuals the Casual Employment Information Statement.

Worked example: a 50-seat suburban cafe

Lena's cafe opens 7am to 3pm, seven days. She plans 28 coffees an hour across the morning and expects average daily sales of A$3,200 (excluding GST) — about A$1.17 million a year. Her targets: food and beverage cost 30% (A$350,000), wages including super 33% (A$385,000), rent A$95,000 (8%), and other overheads A$120,000. That leaves about A$220,000 before her own pay, loan repayments and tax. If sales come in 20% lower, at A$2,560 a day, cost of goods falls but wages and rent barely move, and the profit before her pay drops to about A$55,000 — a fall of three-quarters from a one-fifth drop in sales. That sensitivity is why most cafe failures are about lease and wages, not coffee quality.

How long it takes to open a cafe

Plan on four to nine months from finding a site to the first coffee, and longer if you need a development application or a new grease trap. The sequence matters more than the speed: approvals and long-lead equipment orders sit on the critical path, so start them first and leave branding and menu tweaks until the build is under way.

A typical path to opening (indicative)

Month 1

Concept, budget and site search; talk to the council planner and environmental health officer

Months 2–3

Lease negotiation and legal review; company, ABN and GST registration; development or fit-out approval lodged

Months 3–5

Order the coffee machine and refrigeration (8–16 week lead times); fit-out builds; Food Safety Supervisor course

Months 5–6

Food business registration or notification, council inspection, insurance, staff hiring and training

Opening

Soft launch to test workflow, then full trading; review sales by hour after the first fortnight

Budget for rent during the fit-out unless you negotiate a rent-free period, and keep the opening soft: a few days of limited menu and invited guests will expose workflow problems before paying customers do.

Step 7: Insurance, payments and alcohol

Workers compensation is compulsory once you employ. Public liability and contents insurance will almost certainly be required by your lease. Consider business interruption cover and "deterioration of stock" cover, which pays out when a fridge fails overnight.

On payments, card surcharging on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa ended on 1 October 2026. You can no longer add a percentage at the register for those cards, so build merchant fees into your prices or offer a cash discount. Our business bank account guide covers merchant facilities and the new fee caps. Customers can also ask for a receipt for purchases over A$75.

If you want to serve alcohol — a glass of wine with lunch, or espresso martinis at night — you'll need a licence from your state or territory liquor regulator. Most states offer licence types for restaurants and cafes where alcohol is served with meals, which are usually cheaper and quicker than a full hotel or bar licence. Staff serving alcohol need responsible service of alcohol (RSA) training, and the licence will come with conditions on trading hours and noise. Playing music in the cafe also generally needs a music licence.

Common mistakes when opening a cafe

Signing the lease before checking council approval. Fix: talk to the council's duty planner and environmental health officer first, and make the lease conditional on approvals.

Under-budgeting the fit-out and working capital. Fix: get fixed-price quotes, add a 10–15% contingency, and hold at least three months of costs in reserve.

No Food Safety Supervisor on opening day. Fix: complete the FSS course before the fit-out finishes and keep the certificate on site.

Rostering by habit, not by trade. Fix: track sales by hour from week one and adjust shifts; weekend penalty rates make overstaffing expensive.

Pricing the menu without costing it. Fix: cost every dish with current supplier prices and review quarterly with our menu profitability checker.

Keeping the old surcharge sign. Fix: remove card surcharges for eftpos, Mastercard and Visa and update your prices instead.

Official links

• FSANZ — Standard 3.2.2A food safety management toolsCategory one and two, FSS, training, records
• FSANZ — Allergen labelling for food businessesAllergen information for unlabelled food
• Queensland — Do I need a food business licence?Council licences for cafés
• Victoria — Food business classificationsClasses 1, 2, 3, 3A and 4
• WA Health — Registration of a food businessRegister with local government
• SA Health — Starting a food businessNotify the council
• ACT — Fees to register a food businessFees by risk level
• ABLIS — licences for your cafeFederal, state and council requirements

What to do next

Cost your concept with the startup cost calculator, book a meeting with your council's environmental health team before you commit to a lease, and enrol in a Food Safety Supervisor course. If you're testing recipes from home first, read our guide to starting a home-based food business, and see our state guides for NSW and Victoria.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

What licences do I need to open a cafe in Australia?

At minimum: an ABN, a business name if you trade under one, and food business registration, licence or notification with your local council (in the ACT, with ACT Health). Most cafes also need a certified Food Safety Supervisor, trained food handlers, council approval for the use of the premises and fit-out, and permits for outdoor dining, signage and trade waste. Serving alcohol needs a state liquor licence.

How much does it cost to open a cafe in Australia?

A 2026 industry buying guide puts a typical fit-out for a 40–80 square metre cafe at A$100,000–A$350,000, with equipment making up 40–60% of the spend. Add the lease bond and rent in advance, stock, insurance, marketing and at least three months of working capital. Taking over an existing cafe can cost less, but check its approvals and equipment carefully.

Does my cafe need a Food Safety Supervisor?

Almost certainly. Under Standard 3.2.2A, which started in December 2023, a cafe that makes unpackaged, potentially hazardous food ready to eat is a category one business. It must appoint a certified Food Safety Supervisor before it starts, make sure food handlers are trained, and keep records showing its critical food safety controls are working.

What do I have to pay cafe staff?

Most cafe staff are covered by the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020. From 1 July 2026 the Level 1 rate is A$26.44 an hour for full-time and part-time staff, with a 25% loading for casuals and penalty rates on weekends and public holidays. Super guarantee is 12%, paid with each pay cycle.

Can my cafe still add a card surcharge?

Not on eftpos, Mastercard or Visa. Surcharging on those debit, prepaid and credit cards ended on 1 October 2026. Build card fees into your menu prices or offer a cash discount. American Express and buy now, pay later services are outside the new rule.

Do I need a liquor licence to serve alcohol in a cafe?

Yes. Selling or supplying alcohol needs a licence from your state or territory liquor regulator, such as Liquor & Gaming NSW or Liquor Control Victoria. Many states have cheaper licence types for small venues or for alcohol served with meals. Allow several weeks for the application, community notice and any objections.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 13 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Standard 3.2.2A – Food safety management tools — Food Standards Australia New Zealand · accessed 13 October 2026
2. 2.Food safety supervisor — Food Standards Australia New Zealand · accessed 13 October 2026
3. 3.Allergen labelling for food businesses — Food Standards Australia New Zealand · accessed 13 October 2026
4. 4.Do I need a food business licence? — Queensland Government · accessed 13 October 2026
5. 5.Changes to food business classifications and regulations — Victorian Department of Health (Wayback capture 17 May 2026) · accessed 13 October 2026
6. 6.Registration of a food business — WA Department of Health · accessed 13 October 2026
7. 7.Starting a food business — SA Health · accessed 13 October 2026
8. 8.Fees to register a food business — ACT Government (Wayback capture 19 July 2026) · accessed 13 October 2026
9. 9.Cafe fitout buying guide Australia 2026: costs, equipment and compliance — HospitalityHub (supplier guide — secondary source) · accessed 13 October 2026