Opening an Eatery

Business Entrepreneurship
1

I’ve been running a night market stand in Taipei for a bit an am looking to turn it into a permanent small eatery. Any advice from people, specifically legal advice involving zoning and restaurant codes, from people who have been through this process before?

I am also hoping to give myself an ARC through this business. I am aware of the financial requirements for this, i.e. 500k investment and 3000k annual earnings, but other than that I’m pretty much in the dark. Who should I talk to or where should I look for more info on this topic? Any info is much appreciated, cheers.

2

[quote=“qrudolph, post:1, topic:158318, full:true”]
I’ve been running a night market stand in Taipei for a bit an am looking to turn it into a permanent small eatery. Any advice from people, specifically legal advice involving zoning and restaurant codes, from people who have been through this process before?[/quote]

Zoning is not overly complicated. As long as the place you rent is zoned for retail, you can do food & beverage sales. You do need approval from the Fire Department, which takes a few months, but in practice this is often done after opening.

There is an extensive post on how to open a limited liability company somewhere on Forumosa, which walks you through the process. It’s not super-complicated, but I recommend hiring an accountant for this, since you’re bound to make mistakes, which will extend the whole process.

What kind of eatery are you planning to open? If you are willing to consider operating outside of Taipei, I can connect you to some real estate people in Zhubei for retail space.

3

Thanks for the advice. I sell some new snacks/ desserts at my stand such as apple fries, dessert dumplings, and what not, but I plan on introducing some mains and beverages before I open up shop. Only looking in the Taipei area, but thanks for the offer.

4

Hi qrudolph,
I’m having some ARC and working issues, and considering open some sort of business as well.
From your post it seems that you were running a night market stall without ARC, really?
cheers!

5

My guess is OP’s spouse is a citizen of ROC, so OP is on a spousal ARC, and hoping an independent ARC.

6

Thanks tando… I don’t know what’s the difference in the “capabilities” of two ARCs, but that’s all right, just curious :slight_smile: