Source: BUS Sachsen-Anhalt (Linie6PLus)

Applying for a temporary permit for a catering business

Description

For the operation of a restaurant with alcohol you need a permit.

If you want to take over the restaurant from another person, you can apply for a provisional permit under facilitated conditions in order to enable seamless continued operation. This provisional permit is usually granted for a maximum of three months and is later replaced by a final permit. For good cause, however, the period of validity of the provisional permit may exceptionally be extended. This is especially true if a final permit is not granted within the three-month period.

It is a catering business if you are commercially

administer drinks (pub) or
administer prepared food (catering industry), and
the establishment is accessible to everyone or a certain group of people.

Only if you offer alcoholic beverages, your catering business is subject to a permit. However, if you only offer soft drinks and prepared food, your catering business is not permitted.

Prerequisites

You can only apply for a temporary restaurant permit if you want to take over an existing restaurant unchanged (not in the case of a new establishment or expansion). This means that no changes may be made to the premises or to the operating mode (e.g. pub, restaurant, discotheque) as part of the continuation of the business.

You will only receive the provisional permit if you have already applied for the restaurant permit or are applying for it at the same time.

To obtain a permit, you must prove the following:

Your personal reliability
If applicable. Your professional aptitude

Required documents

To prove personal reliability, you must submit the following documents to the competent authority:

Copy of the identity card or passport with registration certificate, or presentation on site. Application for a certificate of good conduct for submission to an authority in accordance with § 30 paragraph 5 of the Federal Central Register Act
Application for an extract from the Central Trade Register for submission to an authority in accordance with § 150 paragraph 5 of the Trade Code (Leika key: 99052002109000)
Certificate in tax matters from the tax office of the place where you have lived or operated a business in the last three years
Residence permit if you are a foreigner and not a national of an EU or EEA country

The information must be requested from the municipality of residence for submission to an authority, which will be sent directly to the authority. You must therefore indicate in your application the exact address of the competent licensing authority and the intended use.

The information can also be requested in the online procedure provided by the Federal Office of Justice/ Citizen Services.

The information must not be older than 3 months.

You can prove your professional suitability by means of the following documents:

If applicable: Proof of information from a Chamber of Industry and Commerce in accordance with § 4 sec. 1 sentence 1 no. 4 of the Restaurant Act (the competent authority may waive this proof for the granting of a provisional permit) or
Proof of an exemption pursuant to No. 3.4 of the General Administrative Regulation on the Proof of Information in the Restaurant Act in conjunction with Annex 3 thereto

Please note that the competent authority requires further documents in individual cases. Inform yourself in good time before your application.

Fees (costs)

The fees depend on the administrative burden and the respective administrative fee schedule of the country.

Deadlines

The provisional restaurant permit is usually limited to up to 3 months.

You can request an extension if there are specific reasons. An important reason exists if you have not yet received the final permission by the time your provisional permit expires.

At the same time as the start of the activity, the trade must be notified to the authority responsible for commercial advertisements in accordance with § 14 GewO.