I am interested in opening a restaurant in Geneva. The business will be a quick service restaurant with some of the raw materials imported from another EU country. I am a swiss resident, holder of permis B, while my business partner is not a swiss resident.
I have done some research and have some questions:
- A restaurant requires a license, called patente in CH. In order to receive the license you need the signature of a trained chef (certificat de capacité de cafetier-restaurateur). How does that work exactly? You find someone to sign and pay him a fee? I cannot imagine that McDonald's and Starbucks have a chef supervising.
- Are there any restrictions for importing (frozen) food from another EU country, specific to Switzerland?
- I was told that I need to apply for an employment permit (autorisation de travail) from the employment office (office cantonal d'emploi). I am not sure if I will also be an employee in the company or simply a shareholder. Do I still need the employment permit? What about my business partner who is not living in Switzerland?
I'm really not being funny, but if you have to ask so many basic questions about your project, then you really should get good professional advise. On EF you will get well meaning advice from many armchair professionals, much of which will be contradictory.
But, to get you started. Ask at your local Commune for the address of the authority that issues food handling licenses and at your local customs office for details about importing food stuff. They are generally both very helpful and their advice is free.