Opening a restaurant in Iceland: the permits, in the right order

Most of the work of opening a restaurant is the food, the room and the people. The permits are a smaller part, but they have a fixed order, and some steps wait for others. This guide sets out that order for a restaurant, café, bar or food truck in Iceland, as the rules stood in October 2026.

First, which class is your restaurant?

The law on restaurants puts every restaurant into one of three classes.¹ The class decides which permits you need.

A place that sells food to take away also counts as a restaurant, when that is its main business.¹ So a food truck or a pizza takeaway without alcohol is in class I. A café that serves a glass of wine with lunch is in class II.

Every class needs the food and hygiene approvals in the steps below. Only classes II and III also need the operating licence (rekstrarleyfi).¹

Step 1: Set up the company and register with Skatturinn

Before anything else, decide who will run the business, as a person or as a company, and register it with Skatturinn. The operating licence requires the business to be registered with the tax authority.¹

Register for VAT at the same time. The VAT act says you must register no later than eight days before you start trading.⁷ The only exception is a business whose taxable sales are 2.000.000 kr. or less in each 12-month period from the start.⁷ A restaurant is above that limit in its first weeks, so plan to register. Your accountant can do this with you and set up your accounting system, whether that is dk, Regla, Payday or another.

Step 2: Make sure the premises are approved for a restaurant

The premises must be approved for the use you plan. This is the step that most often takes longer than expected, so start it early, ideally before you sign the lease.

In Reykjavík, you need a confirmation from the building commissioner (byggingarfulltrúi) that the premises and the planned use match the zoning plan and the building regulation. You get this confirmation before you apply for the food permit.³ You must also check that the premises match the most recent approved drawings.³

If you will serve alcohol, the municipality also confirms these points for the operating licence:¹

• the use matches the building permit and the zoning terms
• a final inspection (lokaúttekt) of the premises has taken place
• the opening hours and the location are within the municipality’s rules
• the fire safety requirements are met, as assessed by the fire service
• the main drawings show the premises in use class 4 under the building regulation

Step 3: Apply for the food permit and register under the hygiene rules

A restaurant in Iceland needs two approvals for its food and its premises:³

1. An operating permit under food law (starfsleyfi). The food act says that a food business must have a permit from its inspection authority before it starts.² For a restaurant, this is the municipal health inspectorate (heilbrigðiseftirlit).⁸
2. A registration under the hygiene rules (skráning). Since June 2025, restaurants register under the hygiene and pollution rules instead of applying for a second permit.⁵ You register on island.is.⁴

Reykjavík describes its process like this. You send the application with information about the operator, a description of the business and its size, your internal control system and the building commissioner’s confirmation. Processing starts only when all the documents have arrived.³ A health inspector then visits the premises and goes over the food safety system, the food information, the equipment and more. The decision is made at a weekly meeting on Thursdays.³ The permit takes effect when you pay the invoice for it, and you may not start before that.³

For the registration, you declare that you meet the general requirements and that the premises are approved for this use. The authority normally tells you within five working days if the registration does not meet the conditions.⁴

Other municipalities have their own health inspectorate and their own forms. Call them early. They are usually glad to look at your plans before you build.

Your internal control plan

The food act makes the manager responsible for an internal control system based on hazard analysis.² This is what most people call HACCP.⁸ In practice, it is a short written plan for your kitchen: where the risks are (cooling, reheating, allergens, cleaning), what you check, how often, and who writes it down. The act also says that staff who handle food must know how to handle it safely, and that the manager is responsible for their training.²

Write the plan before the inspection. The inspector asks about it as part of the permit.³

Step 4: If you serve alcohol, apply for the operating licence

For class II or III, you apply to the sýslumaður in the district of the restaurant.¹ In October 2026, the licence for class II costs 86.000 kr., paid with the application.⁶

You can apply before the food permit is ready. The law says the sýslumaður sends a complete application out for opinions at once, even if the health permit is not yet issued.¹ So you can run steps 3 and 4 at the same time.

The sýslumaður asks for opinions from:¹

• the municipality, on the points listed in step 2, and on hygiene, food law and the effect on the neighbours, including noise
• the Administration of Occupational Safety and Health (Vinnueftirlitið), on the conditions for your staff
• the police, who decide among other things whether you need door staff

If any of them opposes the licence, the sýslumaður may not issue it. The licence also carries the conditions that the opinions set, such as opening hours, the number of guests, outdoor serving and door staff.¹

The applicant must meet some personal conditions. These include living in Iceland or in the EEA or EFTA, being at least 20 years old for a licence with alcohol, and owing no more than 1.000.000 kr. in taxes, public charges and pension contributions together.¹ The law lists the other conditions, such as having no convictions under certain laws in the last five years.¹

Once you have the licence:

• It has no end date.¹
• It belongs to you and to the address. You cannot sell or transfer it. A new owner must apply for a new licence.¹
• You must show the licence where guests can see it.¹
• You must use the licence number in all your marketing, such as ads, your website and booking sites.¹

A worked example: a small café with wine, in Reykjavík

Anna plans a café with lunch and a glass of wine, so she is in class II. Here is her order of work.

1. Before she signs the lease, she checks with the building commissioner that the space can be a restaurant.
2. She registers her company with Skatturinn, including VAT, at least eight days before her opening day.
3. She applies for the building commissioner’s confirmation.
4. She writes her internal control plan: fridge temperatures, cooling of soup, allergen list, cleaning schedule.
5. She sends the food permit application to the Reykjavík health inspectorate and registers the restaurant on island.is.
6. On the same day, she applies to the sýslumaður for the class II licence.
7. She fixes what the inspector notes at the visit, pays the permit invoice and gets the permit letter.
8. When the class II licence arrives, she hangs it by the door and adds the licence number to her website.

Her opening date depends on the slowest of these, which is usually the premises. Anna sets her date only after the building commissioner has confirmed the use.

From 1 January 2027, the inspection moves to the state

Two new laws change who inspects restaurants. From 1 January 2027, a new state agency, Stofnun atvinnuveganna, takes over the work of MAST. The food act then names this agency, in place of the municipal health committees, as the one that issues the food permit and inspects food businesses.¹⁰ The hygiene inspection moves to the Environment and Energy Agency (Umhverfis- og orkustofnun).⁹ The restaurant law then names these two agencies in place of the municipal health committees.⁹

The class system, the operating licence and the opinions stay the same. What will change is where you send the food permit application and who visits you. If you open around the turn of the year, ask your health inspectorate which agency will finish your application.

A short checklist

• Decide your class: I, II or III.
• Register the business and VAT with Skatturinn.
• Confirm that the premises are approved for a restaurant.
• Write your internal control plan.
• Apply for the food permit and register under the hygiene rules.
• For alcohol, apply to the sýslumaður at the same time.
• Display the licence and use its number in your marketing.

Once the permits are in hand, the last weeks are about the menu, the staff and the equipment. If you are choosing a POS, set it up early enough for your staff to practise a few orders before the first guests arrive.