How to open a restaurant in Lahore: the costs to plan for

This is general information for planning. It is not a quote, and it is not tax or legal advice. Every figure on this page names its source, so you can check it yourself.

The costs to plan for

These are the lines of an opening budget. Most of them depend on your own location and size, so they come from quotes, not from a table.

• Deposit and rent. What the landlord asks for before you get the keys, and the rent each month after. If you own the premises, neither applies.
• Fit-out and interior. Flooring, counter, lighting, signage, washrooms and any building work. Get a written quote for your own space.
• Kitchen equipment. Cooking, refrigeration and preparation equipment. Decide what you will buy new and what you will buy used, and ask suppliers to quote for that.
• Furniture and fixtures. Tables, chairs and fittings for the dining room. A cloud kitchen has no dining room, so this line does not apply to it.
• Licences and registrations. The food authority's licence fee, and any other registration fees for your kind of business.
• First stock. Ingredients and packaging for the first weeks, before sales pay for the next order.
• Utility connections. What the electricity and gas companies charge to connect a commercial kitchen.
• Staff. The number of people you need, times what you pay each of them. The legal minimum wage is the floor, not the average.
• POS and software. The system that takes orders, prints kitchen tickets and keeps your accounts from the first day.
• Launch marketing. What you plan to spend on telling people you are open.
• Working capital. Cash kept aside to pay rent, staff and suppliers until sales cover them.

Figures with a published source

These are the costs in Lahore for which we found a published source. Each is a fee or a legal minimum, not an average of what restaurants pay.

• The legal minimum wage for adult workers in commercial establishments in Punjab is Rs 40,000 a month for 26 working days, with effect from 1 July 2025. Government of the Punjab, Labour and Human Resource Department: Notification No. SO(L&P) MW/2024 dated 8 September 2025, Punjab Gazette (Extraordinary) of 9 September 2025, checked 29 September 2026.
• A Punjab Food Authority licence for a single-branch restaurant costs between Rs 1,500 and Rs 150,000, depending on the category the authority's own calculator assigns from investment, sales, rent, staff, seats, location, menu and utility bills. Punjab Food Authority: Calculate License Category, Restaurants (Single Branch): lowest and highest answers, checked 29 September 2026.

The food authority licence

Restaurants in Lahore are licensed by the Punjab Food Authority. The authority assigns a licence category from your answers about investment, daily sales, rent, staff, seating, location, menu and utility bills, and the fee follows the category. Confirm the fee for your own business with the authority before you budget for it.

For tax registration, see the restaurant tax starter pack. This guide covers cost only.

Figures you need quotes for

We found no reliable published source for rent, deposit, fit-out, kitchen equipment, furniture, first stock, utility connections or marketing in Lahore. We do not print a figure we cannot source. For these lines, collect written quotes for your own location and enter them in the calculator.

Add it up

The opening cost calculator adds your quotes to the published figures, shows the total as a range, and works out how many months your working capital covers. For the order of the steps, from lease to opening day, see how to open a restaurant in Pakistan.