How long does a restaurant licence take?

If acquiring premises with a live, transferable licence: 2–4 weeks. New 'Categoría III' (hot kitchen + alcohol + terrace + music) licence from scratch: 6–18 months, depending on municipality.

Is buying an existing restaurant cheaper than building?

Almost always — typical asset deals run 1.5–3× EBITDA, often less than the build cost of the kitchen and fit-out alone. Critical: verify the historical accounts via the gestor and validate the licence's transferability before agreeing a price.

What's a healthy table-turn?

1.8–2.4 turns lunch, 1.3–1.8 turns dinner for mid-market. Beach chiringuitos in July hit 3.5+ turns lunch but normalise outside peak.

Business

Restaurant Investment on the Costa Blanca

There are 9,800+ restaurants in Alicante province. The best deliver 14–18% net margins; the median delivers 4–7%; the worst close within 18 months. The difference is rarely the food — it's location, licence, lease and labour management.

Last updated 1 June 2026

Realistic unit economics

Format	Build cost	Annual revenue	Net margin	Sample location
Beach chiringuito (terrace-focused)	€120k–€280k	€350k–€900k	15–25%	Albir, Cabo Roig, Calpe
Mid-market restaurant (60 covers)	€180k–€450k	€450k–€1.1M	8–14%	Jávea, Moraira, Altea
Tourist-corridor café	€80k–€200k	€250k–€600k	10–16%	Benidorm, Torrevieja center
Premium / chef-led (40 covers)	€350k–€800k	€600k–€1.4M	10–18%	Dénia, Altea, Moraira
Take-away / dark kitchen	€40k–€110k	€180k–€420k	12–20%	Alicante, urban areas
Specialty (vegan, ramen, etc)	€100k–€250k	€220k–€550k	8–14%	Alicante, Albir

The licence is more valuable than the kitchen

Established 'Categoría III' restaurant licences in prime tourist zones trade for €40k–€150k as standalone assets when premises close. If you can buy a premises with a live licence covering hot kitchen + terrace + music, you've saved 6–18 months and €30k+ vs starting from scratch.

Costs to model honestly

✦Rent — typically 8–14% of revenue; over 16% kills the model.
✦Food cost — 28–34% target; 38%+ means the menu or supplier mix is wrong.
✦Labour — 30–38% all-in including social security; tighter in family-run units.
✦Energy — 4–7%, rising; LED + heat-pump retrofits payback in 2–3 years.
✦Marketing — 2–4% direct + the cost of Instagram / TheFork / TripAdvisor visibility.
✦Royalties / management fees — only if franchised or group-operated.
✦Replacement capex — budget 3–5% of revenue annually; under-budgeting here is the slowest-acting killer.

Where independents outperform franchises

Chef-led concepts in residential towns (Moraira, Altea, Jávea, Dénia) with a stable foreign-resident customer base routinely outperform formula concepts on margin. The pattern: 50–80 covers, set lunch menu €18–€25 driving weekday traffic, a-la-carte and tasting menu evenings, 65–75% repeat-customer share by year two.

These businesses sell well to lifestyle buyers later (€350k–€900k typical) on 3–4× EBITDA multiples.

The most common ways to fail

✦Signing a lease before verifying the activity licence covers your concept.
✦Underestimating winter cash burn in tourist-dependent locations.
✦Hiring a 'head chef' on the cheapest salary — talent retention is the moat.
✦Discounting via aggregators (TheFork, Glovo, Just Eat) too aggressively — destroys margin permanently.
✦Failing to register the brand and domain in Spain before opening — opportunistic squatters exist.
✦Ignoring noise complaints — three complaints can trigger licence suspension.

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