Guides for UK restaurants and takeaways
Short, practical guides to the rules and decisions that come with running a restaurant, café or takeaway in the UK. Each one links to the official source it is based on and says when those sources were last checked. They are general information, not legal or tax advice: for your own business, ask your accountant or your local authority.
Tax and VAT
What your till records, the VAT you charge and what reaches HMRC.
Business rates for restaurants and takeaways
Business rates for restaurants, cafés and takeaways in England: rateable value, the 2026 revaluation, the hospitality multipliers, and the reliefs to ask about.
Takeaway VAT calculator: which rate, and meal deals
Free takeaway VAT calculator: check whether an item is 0% or 20% using HMRC’s own tests, and work out the VAT inside a meal deal price.
VAT on takeaway food: hot, cold and eat-in
When UK takeaway food is 0% or 20% VAT: eat-in versus takeaway, HMRC’s five tests for hot food, meal deals and what your till must record.
Making Tax Digital for restaurants and takeaways
Making Tax Digital for UK restaurants and takeaways: what VAT needs today, who joins MTD for Income Tax from 2026, and getting till figures to your accountant.
Hiring staff
Before you hire, right to work checks, the contract and a new starter’s first day.
A new starter: contract, payroll and the first day
Taking on a new starter at a UK restaurant or takeaway: the day-one written statement, P45 and payroll, payslips, sick pay and first-day training.
Before you hire: insurance, PAYE, fair recruitment
What UK restaurants, cafés and takeaways must do before hiring: employment status, liability insurance, PAYE, fair adverts, interviews and offers.
Hiring staff: a step-by-step restaurant checklist
Taking on staff at a UK restaurant, café, pub or takeaway, step by step: insurance, PAYE, fair recruitment, right to work, the first day, pay and hours.
Right to work checks for restaurants and takeaways
Right to work checks for UK restaurants and takeaways: the three ways to check, copies and records, students, and who is covered since 1 October 2026.
Pay, hours and pensions
The minimum wage, holiday and working hours, under-18s and workplace pensions.
Employing under-18s in restaurants: hours and rules
Employing under-18s in a UK restaurant, café, pub or takeaway: school-age children, young workers, hours, breaks, night work, safety and alcohol sales.
Holiday, hours and breaks for restaurant staff
Holiday entitlement and pay, 12.07% for irregular hours, the 48-hour week, night work, rest breaks and records for restaurant, café, pub and takeaway staff.
The minimum wage for restaurants and takeaways
The UK minimum wage for restaurants, cafés and takeaways: the rates from 1 April 2026, why tips never count, deductions, paid hours, records and penalties.
Workplace pensions for restaurants and takeaways
Workplace pensions for UK restaurants and takeaways: who to enrol, the 2026/27 thresholds, the 8% minimum, deadlines, opt-outs, re-enrolment and fines.
Tips and service charges
Tips, service charges and the rules for sharing them.
Service charge calculator: VAT, tips and tronc
Free service charge calculator for UK restaurants: the VAT on an optional or compulsory charge, what must reach staff, and when PAYE and NIC apply.
Service charge or tip: VAT, tax and your menu
Service charge or tip? How UK restaurants handle VAT, PAYE, National Insurance and troncs, and how to show a service charge on your menu under price rules.
The tipping law for restaurants: what you must do
The UK tipping law for restaurants, cafés and takeaways: passing on every tip, sharing fairly, the written policy, the three-year record and what changes next.
Food safety and opening
Registering, your hygiene rating and allergens.
Allergens in restaurants: the FSA’s 2025 advice
What the FSA’s 2025 best practice asks of restaurants, cafés and takeaways: written allergen information, asking every guest, and the kitchen hand-off.
Natasha’s Law: labelling food you pack yourself
Natasha’s Law for takeaways and cafés: which food packed on site needs a full label, what the label must show, and what changes for phone and online orders.
Opening a takeaway: registration, hygiene, licences
Opening a takeaway, café or restaurant: registering 28 days before you trade, your food hygiene rating, and the late night refreshment licence for 11pm to 5am.
Licences
Alcohol, tables on the pavement and music.
Alcohol licences: premises, personal and DPS
Selling alcohol in a restaurant, pub or takeaway in England and Wales: the premises licence, the personal licence, the DPS, age checks and mandatory conditions.
Music licence for restaurants and cafés
Playing music in a restaurant, café or takeaway: TheMusicLicence for copyright, when the council licence applies, and the radio, TV and streaming questions.
Pavement licences: tables and chairs outside
Putting tables and chairs on the pavement outside your café, restaurant or pub in England: who can apply, the fee caps, the 14-day timings and the conditions.
Safety, waste and data
Fire and gas safety, commercial waste and grease, CCTV and customer data.
Commercial waste, recycling and grease in kitchens
Waste from restaurants, cafés and takeaways in England: registered carriers, waste transfer notes, separating food waste and keeping grease out of drains.
Data protection: the ICO fee, CCTV, customer data
Data protection for UK restaurants and takeaways: who pays the ICO fee, running CCTV, customer details from orders and bookings, marketing texts and breaches.
Fire risk assessment and gas safety for kitchens
Fire and gas safety for restaurants, cafés and takeaways in England: your written fire risk assessment, fryers and extraction, Gas Safe work and interlocks.
Ordering, delivery and your EPOS
Delivery fees, ordering at the table and choosing a system.
Choosing a restaurant EPOS: questions to ask
The questions to ask before you sign for a restaurant, café or takeaway EPOS: outages, card payments, kitchen, VAT, staff tips, support and the contract.
Delivery app commission: the real cost per order
How to work out what Deliveroo, Just Eat or Uber Eats really cost a UK takeaway per order, and when moving regulars to your own ordering site pays.
QR order and pay at the table: when it works
Where QR ordering at the table helps a restaurant, café or pub, where it gets in the way, and how to set it up so guests, staff and the kitchen all benefit.