Café licences and permits in Australia: what you need, state by state

Opening a café means dealing with three levels of government at once. The federal government handles your ABN, tax and super. Your state or territory sets the food safety rules, workers compensation, liquor licensing and much of the planning system. Your council applies most of it on the ground, and adds rules of its own for zoning, footpaths and signs.

This guide covers what every café needs, then what changes by state. It's general information, and two councils in the same city can treat the same café differently, so use it as the list of questions to ask, then confirm each one with the source linked at the end.

#The national registrations every café needs

These are the same in every state, and most can be done online in a day.

Choose a business structure. Sole trader, partnership, company or trust. It changes how you're taxed and how exposed your personal assets are if the café fails, so it's worth an hour with an accountant before you sign a lease. Registering a company with ASIC costs $636 from 1 July 2026.

Apply for an ABN. Free through the Australian Business Register. You'll need it for nearly everything else on this page.

Register a business name. Needed if you trade under any name other than your own (or the company's exact name). From 1 July 2026 it costs $47 for one year or $108 for three. A business name is not a trade mark, so if the name matters to you, search the trade mark register too.

Register for GST. You must register within 21 days of your GST turnover reaching $75,000 a year, measured over the past 12 months or projected over the next 12. $75,000 is under $1,450 a week, which most cafés will pass, so most register from the start.

Once you hire anyone: register for PAYG withholding before the first pay, report pay through Single Touch Payroll software, pay super with every pay run under Payday Super (from 1 July 2026), and take out workers compensation insurance. Those are covered properly in hiring and paying café staff.

Then run a search on ABLIS, the government's Australian Business Licence and Information Service. Put in "café" and your location and it lists the federal, state and local licences that apply. It won't know everything about your council, but it's the best single starting point.

#Food business registration, state by state

Every café has to tell its food regulator it exists before it trades. What that's called, and who you deal with, depends on where you are.

A few details that catch people out:

• Queensland: cafés selling unpackaged food need a licence, but a business that only sells drinks such as tea and coffee doesn't. A coffee cart owner should still ask the council, because adding cakes with cream or a toastie can change the answer.
• Victoria: the council sets your class from your riskiest food activity. A café preparing food that needs refrigeration is class 2. Serving coffee and other low-risk drinks only is a lower class.
• Tasmania, the ACT and the NT: an inspection is part of registration, so build it into your timeline. In Tasmania, a registration can't be transferred, so a buyer of an existing café applies for their own.
• Fees are set locally and depend on the risk of what you do. The NT and ACT, for example, set the fee once the business's risk classification is known.

Talk to the council's environmental health team before you build. Most councils, and ACT Health, want to see kitchen and bar plans before construction, to check them against the national food premises and equipment standard. A sink in the wrong place costs a few minutes to fix on a drawing and thousands to fix in a finished fit-out.

#Food safety supervisors and Standard 3.2.2A

Since 8 December 2023, a national standard has applied to food businesses that handle unpackaged, potentially hazardous food, which is food that needs to be kept cold or hot to stay safe. It's Standard 3.2.2A of the Food Standards Code, and it sorts businesses into two categories.

Category one businesses make that kind of food into something ready to eat and serve it: cafés, restaurants, takeaways, caterers and bakeries. If your café makes sandwiches, cooks eggs or plates up salads, you're category one.

Category two businesses sell it without making it, apart from slicing, weighing, reheating or hot-holding: some delis, service stations and convenience stores.

Category one cafés have to use all three of the standard's tools. Category two businesses need the first two.

1. A certified food safety supervisor. Someone who knows the food safety risks in your café, has the authority to direct staff, and holds a food safety supervisor certificate from a registered training organisation, obtained in the last five years. They have to be reasonably available, which in practice means someone who works on site most days, often the owner or the head chef. WA Health puts a typical online course at about 9 to 10 hours.

2. Trained food handlers. Everyone who handles that food must be trained in safe food handling, contamination, cleaning and sanitising, and personal hygiene, or be able to show they already know it. Free online courses such as DoFoodSafely count, and NSW has its own free Food Handler Basics course. Keep a record of who did what.

3. Evidence that your food is safe. Category one only. You must be able to show you're controlling the key risks: temperatures when food arrives and while it's stored and displayed, cooking, cooling, reheating, and cleaning and sanitising. You can do that by keeping records, which must be kept for at least three months, or by demonstrating the practices to an inspector. Most cafés keep a simple daily log, because it's the easiest way to prove it.

#How the food safety rules differ between states

New South Wales. Food safety supervisors need a NSW Food Authority certificate, issued by an approved training organisation, valid for five years. Keep a copy on the premises, because inspectors ask for it. If your supervisor leaves, you have 30 operational days to appoint a new one. Councils do most of the inspecting under an arrangement with the Food Authority.

Victoria. Class 1, most class 2 and class 3A premises need a food safety supervisor with a Statement of Attainment for the right food sector, and the owner can be the supervisor. A class 2 café also needs a documented food safety program if it does certain higher-risk processes: sous vide, preparing food with raw (unpasteurised) egg, raw or rare meat, fermented foods that rely on acidity, or off-site catering. Safe Food Victoria's free FoodSmart template suits most cafés that need one. Your council confirms whether you do.

Queensland. Every licensed food business needs a food safety supervisor. Councils ask for the supervisor's name and contact details within 30 days of the licence being issued, and for changes within 14 days. Queensland Health's guidance says reasonably available generally means the supervisor works on site.

Western Australia. WA follows the national standard closely, and its food safety management tools page is one of the clearest explanations of it. Local governments do the registering and inspecting.

South Australia. SA follows the national standard. Councils handle notification and inspections, and some offer an inspection before you open.

Tasmania. Councils register and inspect, and the risk classification sets the fee. Registration generally runs for the financial year, with renewals sent before it expires.

ACT. All registered food businesses must have a food safety supervisor who has completed approved training. If you don't have their details when you register, you have 30 days after registering to tell the Health Protection Service.

Northern Territory. NT Health registers and inspects food businesses, and you can start trading once the inspections are done. The registration application asks for your proposed menu, among other things.

#Planning, building and fit-out approvals

This is where cafés lose the most time and money, so do it before you sign the lease, or make the lease conditional on it.

Planning (development) approval. If the site isn't already approved for a café or food use, you'll probably need approval for a change of use, and possibly for your seating numbers, trading hours, outdoor area or exhaust. It goes by different names: a development application or complying development certificate in NSW, a planning permit in Victoria, development approval with planning consent through the PlanSA portal in South Australia. The ACT has no local councils, so the ACT Government handles it. In the NT, a development permit comes from the Development Consent Authority.

Building approval. Most fit-outs need a building permit or certificate from a private certifier or building surveyor, and a change of use can bring new fire safety requirements even if you're barely touching the walls. In the NT, a building's use can't change without a registered building certifier's approval and a new occupancy permit.

Trade waste. If you cook or serve hot food, your water utility will probably want an approved grease trap and an agreement to discharge trade wastewater before the plumber starts. Sydney Water, for example, requires an authorised grease trap for food businesses that cook or serve hot food, and approval before equipment goes in. Each utility sets its own rules, so ask yours.

The lease. Have a lawyer read it. The items that hurt cafés are rent reviews, outgoings, make-good clauses, and who pays for grease traps, exhaust, fire services and approvals. Retail lease laws differ by state.

The café startup costs guide covers what these approvals and fit-out items cost.

#Outdoor dining, signs and music

Footpath and outdoor dining. Tables on council land need a permit from the council, usually with a layout plan, a fee and proof of public liability insurance. In the ACT, Access Canberra issues outdoor dining permits for up to three years, requires at least $20 million of public liability cover, and needs a development application only if you build permanent fixtures. Fees and rules elsewhere vary by council.

Signs. Many councils need an application for signs on the building, projecting over the footpath or on an A-frame, and heritage areas are stricter. Ask before you order them.

Music. Playing recorded music to customers, whether it's a playlist, streaming service or radio, is a public performance under copyright law. A OneMusic Australia licence covers both the songwriters' and the recording rights in one. Fees depend on how you use music and the size of the venue, and the licence is needed whatever the source, streaming included.

Seafood labelling. Since 1 July 2026, cafés that serve seafood must tell customers whether it's Australian, imported or of mixed origin, for example on the menu.

#When you need a liquor licence

You need a liquor licence if you sell alcohol, including when it's bundled into the price of a meal. Licences come from the state or territory regulator, take weeks to months, usually need council planning approval first, and require responsible service of alcohol (RSA) training. Café-style licences generally require food to stay the main business.

Some specifics worth knowing. In Victoria, apply at least 11 weeks before you need the licence; the fee is $518.10 for up to 200 customers, and you need a planning permit and training first. In the ACT, the application notice must be displayed at the premises for 30 days. In the NT, a decision can take around four months. In WA, a standard restaurant licence lets you serve alcohol with a meal to seated customers. In Tasmania, decisions usually take four to six weeks.

BYO is treated differently in each state. In NSW, a BYO restaurant doesn't need a liquor licence, though it still needs the usual council approvals. In Queensland, it's an offence to let customers bring alcohol into some licensed premises, cafés among them. Check your state's rules before you put "BYO" on the door.

#Staff registrations and obligations

The day you take on your first employee, a second set of obligations starts: the right award and pay rates, PAYG withholding, Single Touch Payroll, Payday Super, workers compensation through your state scheme, the Fair Work Information Statement, payslips within one working day of payday, and seven years of employee records. They're covered in detail in hiring and paying café staff.

#A sensible order to do it in

For the whole journey, from the first idea to opening day, see how to start a café in Australia.