Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this activity cover?
It covers restaurants, cafeterias, fast-food outlets, take-out places, pizza delivery, ice cream trucks, mobile food carts, and food preparation in market stalls.
Is this for dine-in, take-out, or mobile food formats?
All three. The activity covers full-service dine-in, quick-service counters, take-out kitchens, cloud kitchens, and mobile food operations.
Who are the typical clients?
Weekend family diners, office lunch trade, mall food court crowds, beachgoers buying ice cream, event and festival attendees, across the UAE.
Does this include food trucks and cloud kitchens?
Yes. Food trucks, ice cream trucks, mobile carts, and take-out kitchens are all part of this restaurants and mobile food service 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 preparing and serving food to customers directly.
Topic Summary
Dubai's Food Market Is Massive and Growing
The UAE food service market is valued at USD 18.60 billion in 2025 and forecast to reach USD 56.09 billion by 2034 at an 11.71% CAGR. Dubai alone captures 38% of national food service revenue, making it the dominant market in the country.
Tourism Fuels Relentless Restaurant Demand
Dubai welcomed over 18 million international overnight visitors in 2024, with spending at restaurants and cafés among the top drivers of food service growth. A city of 200 nationalities also sustains year-round local demand across every neighbourhood.
Quick Service Dominates With 43% Market Share
Quick service restaurants hold a 43.6% share of the UAE food service market, making counter-service and fast-food formats the single largest segment. Mall food courts, drive-thrus and office lunch counters are core revenue channels in this category.
Dine-In Still Leads, But Delivery Is Surging
Dine-in accounts for 55.05% of full-service restaurant revenue in 2025, showing that sit-down dining remains the backbone of the sector. However, delivery is growing at an 18.65% CAGR, making a hybrid model increasingly important for operators.
One License Covers a Wide Range of Formats
The Restaurants and Mobile Food Service Activities license (ISIC 5610.00) covers everything from fine dining rooms and cloud kitchens to food trucks, ice cream carts and market stalls. Operators can serve customers through dine-in, takeaway or delivery under a single activity classification.
Mobile Food Is a Legitimate and Growing Format
Food trucks, ice cream trucks, mobile carts and market stalls are all included under this license, giving operators access to events, beaches, corporate parks and festivals. This format suits seasonal activations as well as year-round rotations across Dubai's outdoor venues.
Meydan Free Zone Offers a Practical Entry Point
Setting up through Meydan Free Zone gives food service entrepreneurs a structured licensing pathway into one of the world's fastest-growing hospitality markets. The free zone setup process is designed to get operators legally established and trading without unnecessary delays.
How to Start a Restaurants and Mobile Food Service Business in Dubai with Meydan Free Zone
A city of 200 nationalities eats out more than it eats in. Every Dubai neighbourhood, from JLT to Al Barsha to City Walk to Deira, runs a food scene of its own, and the country's F&B economy sits on top of a tourism engine that pulled 18 million international overnight visitors through Dubai in 2024 alone.
Restaurants and mobile food service activities cover the full breadth of that market, from full-service dining rooms to quick-service counters to ice cream trucks working the beach corniche, and the license itself is what puts an operator inside it.
IMARC Group1 values the UAE food service market at USD 18.60 billion in 2025, forecast to reach USD 56.09 billion by 2034 at 11.71% CAGR, with quick service restaurants holding a 43.6% share and Dubai leading revenue at 38% of the national market.
Mordor Intelligence2 projects UAE full-service restaurants at USD 9.92 billion in 2025 rising to USD 23.47 billion by 2030 at 18.79% CAGR, with dine-in accounting for 55.05% of 2025 revenue despite delivery growing at 18.65% CAGR.
Nexdigm3 reports Dubai welcomed over 18 million international overnight visitors in 2024, with tourist spending across hotels, restaurants and cafés a primary driver of food service transaction growth.
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Where the UAE Food Service Market Is HeadingA Dubai-licensed restaurant or mobile food business enters a UAE market forecast to reach USD 56.09 billion by 2034, growing at 11.71 percent a year, with Dubai capturing 38 percent of national revenue.
Sources: IMARC Group (2025), Mordor Intelligence (2026), Nexdigm (2025), IMARC Group (2025)
Whether you are running a full-service restaurant, a cafeteria, a quick-service outlet, a takeaway kitchen or a mobile ice cream unit, this activity covers the provision of food and beverages to customers across dine-in, takeout and delivery formats.
Who is this activity for?
- Full-service operators: You run a sit-down restaurant with waiter service, table-side dining and a curated menu across breakfast, lunch and dinner. You work across cuisines, service tiers and licensing formats and handle both regular walk-in trade and reservation-driven premium dining.
- Quick-service operators: You run a fast-food outlet, cafeteria or counter-service concept selling meals for immediate consumption on-premises, take-out and delivery. You handle mall food courts, transit locations, drive-thrus and dense residential and office lunch trade.
- Mobile food operators: You run a food truck, ice cream truck, mobile cart or market stall serving prepared food from a motorised or non-motorised setup. You work UAE events, beaches, corporate parks, festivals and school activations across seasonal and year-round rotations.
5610.00 - Restaurants And Mobile Food Service Activities
Under this activity, you can run a food service business providing meals and beverages to customers. The class covers the preparation and serving of food, whether consumed on-premises, taken away or delivered, and includes restaurants, cafeterias, fast-food outlets, take-out places, pizza delivery, ice cream trucks, mobile food carts and food preparation in market stalls.
This activity covers restaurants and mobile food service activities. It does not cover the concession operation of eating facilities, which falls under separate activity classification 5629.
In short: if you are preparing and serving food to customers directly, whether dine-in, take-out or mobile, this is your activity.
Third-party approval: Dubai Municipality (DM) approval is required after your business 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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Citations
¹ IMARC Group, "UAE Food Service Market Size, Growth & Forecast 2034," 2025.
² Mordor Intelligence, "United Arab Emirates Foodservice Market Forecasts 2031," January 2026.
³ Nexdigm, "UAE Foodservice Market Analysis," 2025.
