How much does it cost to open a restaurant in Nepal?

These are the amounts owners and companies told Nepali reporters they spent. Each is one business, so read them as examples of scale rather than prices.

The National Statistics Office's hotel and restaurant survey, published in January 2025, counted about 142,000 hotels and restaurants in Nepal, 88% of them restaurants. 67,521 of them were opened with less than Rs 2 lakh, while 8,732 hold Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore in fixed assets.

Most owners used their own money: 71.6% of these businesses were started on the promoters' capital, and 28.4% with loans from banks or financial institutions.

Rent is the cost that never stops. In Kathmandu, a shop in a prime commercial area rents for at least Rs 40,000 a month, and a decent-sized shop in Thamel for Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh (Kathmandu Post, 2023). Business federations say rents rise about 10% a year, with no fixed rate.

Landlords also ask for an advance. The Civil Code sets no maximum; a Kathmandu law firm describes one to three months' rent as typical, with some commercial leases asking for six. In busy bazaars there may be key money (salami) on top: in Lalitpur's Mangal Bazaar it fell from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 5 lakh in 2023, when business slowed.

Get it in writing. In Kathmandu Metropolitan City a written rental agreement is mandatory, and the landlord must file it with the ward office within seven days. Check, too, that the space may be used as a restaurant: when restaurants were banned from basements, some outlets had to shut.

Few Nepali sources publish fit-out rates, so this is where your own quotes matter most. The kitchen is usually the biggest part: in 2018, a restaurant association leader put kitchen equipment for a 50- to 100-seat restaurant at Rs 50 lakh or more.

For a smaller kitchen or a café, some retail prices seen in 2026:

The paperwork is spread over several offices, but the fees are small next to rent and equipment. Sources list the steps in different orders, so ask your municipality what it needs first.

Since 2026 the government has told local governments that restaurants and eateries need their permission before they open, while some law firms still list a food licence from the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control as well. Ask your municipality which applies to you.

Nepal's minimum wage is Rs 19,550 a month: a basic salary of Rs 12,170 plus a dearness allowance of Rs 7,380. It has applied since July 2025 and was set for two years.

On top of salary, employers pay 20% of each worker's basic salary into the Social Security Fund and the worker pays 11%, deposited within 15 days.

Experienced cooks, chefs and baristas usually cost more than the minimum, so get local quotes for your key people early, before you sign a lease you can only afford without them.

Cooking gas comes in the same 14.2 kg cylinder households buy, at Rs 2,060 since July 2026. The restaurant association says a restaurant typically uses five to six cylinders a day in the tourist season and two to three off-season: about Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.9 lakh a month off-season and Rs 3.1 lakh to Rs 3.7 lakh in season at that price.

Gas prices and supply move. A cylinder cost about Rs 1,910 in March 2026 and Rs 2,160 in May, and during the 2026 shortage kitchens had to cut their menus. A cheap electric stove as a backup keeps the kitchen going.

For electricity, the Hotel Association Nepal says hotels pay around Rs 15 a unit (2026). Overall, Kathmandu restaurateurs reported operating costs up 25% to 30% in 2026, while rent and wages stayed due even when sales fell.

A new restaurant rarely pays its way from the first month, so set money aside for rent, wages and gas until it does. Nepali sources give no standard rule; one Kathmandu business-services firm's checklist suggests a reserve of six months' running costs.

If you borrow, remember that rates move: by 2023, business lending rates had risen from about 8% to 16%, and a loan that was affordable when you signed can stop being so.

Nepali reporters and owners point to the same few reasons. None is unusual, and each can be planned for: