A good starting point is a Swiss Federal service called StartBiz designed to guide small businesses starting in Switzerland e.g. company types, registration rules, taxes, VAT, insurance etc. They have some content in English but more in French, German & Italian. It is free as far as I am aware. Link : https://www.startbiz.ch/en/home.html

Regards

Sam

Woodhouse Carpentry & Custom Furniture
www.wood-house.ch
[email protected]
079 763 58 97

Workshop address: Chemin Delay 3, 1214 Vernier
Postal & Office address: Rue de Saint Jean 23, 1203 Genève

first thing you must know is that in switzerland in order to open/own run a restaurant you are required to have a " patente"  :

licence d’établissement (anciennement appelée « licence »). En cas de réussite des examens, les candidats reçoivent un certificat cantonal d’aptitudes reconnu par l’Etat de Vaud.

http://www.gastrovaud.ch/formation/

however, a way around this is to hire a person who already has this and you avoid having to obtain this license. or you can look to "buy out" and existing restaurant and use their "patente" .

adding on to this thread as there may be interested parties reading in future,

a legitimately operating restaurant needs to have a hot kitchen.  if you find a great business location to rent but no kitchen, you need a vote or positive decision by the community that they accept your proposal to construct an exhaust fan and have cooking exhaust air pass by their windows, and your extra garbage int he community waste bins. remember this is Switzerland and the people, here pride themselves in making clocks - and not doing things quickly. 

It has been said recent months that Geneva Canton does not allow conversions from Kitchen-less to new-Kitchen businesses as there are "already too many restaurants in Geneva".  This is why owners of closed down restaurants want 5000chf or more a month for rent as they own the market.

There are other options such no-hot-kitchen and simply "warming-up food" like soups and sandwiches.

Businesses such as take-away "hot food" are regulated by annual controls to check on appropriate paperwork for selling hot foodstuffs, administrative paperwork (such as tax remittance, gastro certificate, cleaning-up logs, refrigerator temperatures, and food expiry dates marked on stored food), overall hygiene, food separation and never mind untaxed meats coming from foreign places such as France paid in Euro. You need to declare your purchases from a Swiss supplier unless the specific foodstuff cannot be purchased in Switzerland at all.

You can open a sandwich & soda takeaway with a simple lease and register your business the same day and you have not broken the law.

If you step up to selling any drinks with alcohol, you need to register with the Canton GE.
If you look to have table service, you need to register with the Canton GE and have a gastro certificate. Your admin paperwork will increase with hired employees.
If you look to have table outdoors on the sidewalk, you need to register with the Canton GE.

There has been conflicting information on the number of seats in your takeaway. Some say seven max, but how many times have you been to a kebap shop that has more than seven stools and another eight outdoors with tables?
Some persons say nine is the max. number of tables without registering with Canton GE. You experience may differ.

Signage is also an issue. Canton GE has rules on the measures size of your signage. On traditional businesses such as those over 50 years old, you will notice the signage is quite small to newer operations. I don't think the new persons arriving understand the rules. Huge stick-on letters go against rules, just be aware in case you get stung.
Hanging a big-big-sign just 10cm back from the front window may not be recognised as signage but decoration. 

Entertainment licenses, and disco or nightclub are also controlled.

Oh, and if you expect to arrive at the Canton offices to have a clerk speak to you in even a broken-English, forget it!

a bit more on the Patente topic,  here are the Swiss Gastro designations:

Patente A hotel

*Patente B establishment with alcohol

*Patente C establishment without alcohol
gives the right to serve food and drinks for consumption on the premises and sell them to take away.

Patente D nightclub or cabaret

Patente E complementary hotel bar

Patente F night restaurant
The patent F restaurant night gives the right to serve food and drinks for consumption on the premises and sell them to take away. A night restaurant can be open each day from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the morning.

*Patente G = food mainly sold to take away
The number of seats is limited to twelve. The operation of a terrace is prohibited.
If you wish to sell alcohol to take away at retail, he or she must first obtain a license for alcoholic beverages

Patente special H, the right to serve, as an adjunct to a sport, cultural or social non-permanent or seasonal, food and drinks for consumption on the premises

Patente I of establishment parahôtelier, the right to operate a lodging establishment parahôtelier such as house of collective accommodation, camp of tents, caravans, lodges or rural housing to accommodate more than five people.

Patente K short-term

Patente T = traiteur / catering
patent T gives the right to arrange meals in favour of third parties, at home or in other locations, by providing them with benefits equivalent to those of a cafetier-restaurateur, consisting inter alia in the preparation, delivery and service of food and beverages.

Patente U - for a bar dependent on a local prostitution, the right to serve drinks for consumption on the premises in a designated local area for the exercise of prostitution.

Patente V = cooking, travelling kitchen
it gives the right to sell take-out prepared meals or processed in a vehicle or a trailer whose equipment is adapted to cooking food

the more common ones, I marked with *. You apply for the Canton's patente/license once you have the training complete.
any course will set you back 3000 chf

Hey there, 

The thread is a little dated however I was wondering if I could reactivate it and pass on questions about the canton of Zurich. The above points were realted to the canton of Geneva, does anyone of you have any experience of information about the canton of Zug or Zurich by chance?

Thanks in advance!