Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this activity cover?
It covers sit-down restaurants with waiter service, table-side dining, and a full menu of prepared meals for consumption on-premises.
Is this for fine dining, casual, or specialty cuisine?
All three. The activity covers fine dining, casual and family dining, specialty cuisine restaurants, and hotel restaurant operations.
Who are the typical clients?
Weekend family diners, business lunches, tourists booking Michelin-tier experiences, expatriates loyal to specialty cuisine, and reservation-driven premium dining, across the UAE.
Does this include hotel restaurants and mall food court dining?
Yes. Hotel restaurants, standalone dining rooms, and mall food court sit-down formats are all part of this restaurant activity.
Does this include the concession operation of eating facilities?
No. The concession operation of eating facilities is a separate activity under classification 5629. This activity covers sit-down restaurants with waiter service.
How to Start a Restaurants Business in Dubai with Meydan Free Zone
Dubai's restaurant scene is one of the densest and most competitive on Earth. Over 13,000 restaurants and cafes serve a population of 200 nationalities and a tourism inflow that pulled 18 million overnight visitors through the city in 2024 alone.
On any given evening, an Emirati family in Al Barsha is booking a Lebanese grill in Downtown, a South Korean family in JLT is queuing at a Japanese omakase, and a British expat couple in Marina is walking into a Michelin-starred Italian on Palm Jumeirah. A restaurant license is the entry point to that market.
Mordor Intelligence1 values the UAE full-service restaurants segment at USD 9.92 billion in 2025, forecast to reach USD 23.47 billion by 2030 at 18.79% CAGR, with full-service holding 41.55% revenue share and Middle Eastern cuisine registering 17.94% CAGR through 2030.
Restroworks2 reports Dubai has over 13,000 restaurants and cafes serving one of the world's most diverse populations, with rising disposable incomes and government-led tourism bringing millions of international visitors annually. Nexdigm3 reports Dubai welcomed more than 18 million international overnight visitors in 2024, driving foodservice transaction growth across hotels, restaurants and cafés.
Mordor Intelligence4 notes UAE hosts over 3.5 million Indians as of 2024, with Asian cuisine registering 18.94% CAGR through 2030, reflecting the depth of expatriate-driven restaurant demand across cuisines.
Dubai Trade License from AED 12,500
Get Your LicenseThe UAE Full-Service Restaurants Market on a Decade of GrowthA Dubai-licensed sit-down restaurant enters a UAE market forecast to more than double from USD 9.92 billion in 2025 to USD 23.47 billion by 2030, at 18.79 percent CAGR.
Sources: Mordor Intelligence via Research and Markets (2025), Restroworks (2026), Nexdigm (2025), Mordor Intelligence (2026)
Whether you are running an independent fine dining restaurant on Sheikh Zayed Road, a family-run casual dining outlet in Deira, a hotel restaurant operation or a specialty cuisine restaurant in a mall food court, this activity covers the operation of sit-down restaurants serving prepared meals to customers.
Who is this activity for?
- FINE DINING OPERATORS: You run a premium sit-down restaurant with curated tasting menus, sommelier-led service and destination dining experiences. You work with hospitality-grade specifications, target special-occasion and business dining, and manage reservation-heavy operations across dinner service.
- CASUAL & FAMILY DINING OPERATORS: You run a mid-tier casual restaurant serving lunch and dinner across regular menus, family dining, business lunch bookings and community neighbourhood trade. You work across international and regional cuisines and handle both walk-in and reservation flows.
- SPECIALTY CUISINE OPERATORS: You run a specialty restaurant focused on a specific cuisine such as Japanese, Italian, Lebanese, Indian, Thai, Chinese or fusion. You cater to expatriate community loyalty, tourist curiosity and mainstream dining across malls, hospitality strips and residential neighbourhoods.
5610.01 - Restaurants
Under this activity, you can run a sit-down restaurant with waiter service, table-side dining and a full menu of prepared meals for consumption on-premises. Product range covers international and regional cuisines, fine dining and casual dining service tiers, hotel restaurants, standalone dining rooms, mall food court sit-down dining and specialty cuisine restaurant formats.
| Fine Dining | Casual & Family Dining | Specialty Cuisine |
|---|---|---|
| Premium sit-down restaurants with tasting menus, sommelier service and destination dining experiences. | Mid-tier restaurants across international and regional cuisines with regular menus and family dining service. | Specialty restaurants focused on Japanese, Italian, Lebanese, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Arabic and fusion cuisines. |
| Business dinners, wedding rehearsals, special occasion dining, tourist Michelin-tier experiences, corporate hosting. | Weekend family dining, weeknight dinners, business lunches, hotel restaurant operations, community neighbourhood dining. | Expatriate community loyalty, tourist cuisine discovery, cultural celebration dining, specialty dietary and cuisine specification. |
| UAE CONTEXT | UAE CONTEXT | UAE CONTEXT |
| UAE full-service restaurants at USD 9.92 billion in 2025 growing to USD 23.47 billion by 2030 at 18.79% CAGR. | Dubai has 13,000-plus restaurants and cafes, one of the densest F&B markets globally, per Restroworks. | Middle Eastern cuisine at 17.94% CAGR and Asian cuisine at 18.94% CAGR through 2030 reflect expatriate-driven demand. |
This activity covers the operation of sit-down restaurants. It does not cover the concession operation of eating facilities, which falls under separate activity classification 5629.
In short: if you are running a sit-down restaurant serving prepared meals to customers, this is your activity.
Third-party approval: Dubai Municipality (DM) approval is required after the license is issued. The license is granted first, and DM approval follows as part of the post-licensing setup process before commercial operations begin.
Anti-money laundering compliance: This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
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¹ Mordor Intelligence via Research and Markets, "United Arab Emirates Full Service Restaurants Market Size", 2025.
² Restroworks, "Dubai Restaurants Statistics – Key Market Trends & Data Insights", January 2026.
³ Nexdigm, "UAE Foodservice Market and Tourism Analysis", 2025.
⁴ Mordor Intelligence, "United Arab Emirates Foodservice Market Forecasts 2031", January 2026, citing Ministry of External Affairs data.
