Opening a snack bar, sausage stand or food truck in Austria

Free or regulated hospitality trade?

The crucial question for every snack bar is: do I fit into the freies Gastgewerbe under § 111 Abs 2 Z 3 GewO? It allows serving simple food and pouring non-alcoholic drinks and beer in standard sealed containers if no more than eight seats or standing places are provided. Every place intended for eating and drinking counts, including standing places at a counter or bar stools. Typical examples are a sausage stand, a small kebab shop or a sandwich bar.

As soon as you set up more places, offer draught beer, wine or Spritzer (wine with soda), or run a kitchen with set menus, you need the regulated hospitality trade with a proof of qualification or a managing director under trade law. The routes are explained in the post Hospitality licence in Austria. You must register the freies Gastgewerbe too, and the rules on premises, hygiene and allergens apply just the same. If you sell exclusively to take away with no way to eat on site, or only deliver as a caterer, a different trade may fit. Clarify the classification in advance with the trade authority or the Gründerservice (start-up service). The other steps are summarised in the roadmap for opening a venue in Austria.

Pitch: private ground, public ground or market

The simplest option is a pitch on private ground, for example in the car park of a supermarket or petrol station, with a written contract with the owner. Even there, a permit under the Straßenverkehrsordnung (StVO, road traffic regulations) may be needed if waiting guests obstruct the pavement or access road. On public ground you need the municipality's permission, often with a usage fee (Gebrauchsabgabe) and a permit under the StVO. Permanent sausage stands and kiosks usually also need building permission.

At markets, the municipality allocates pitches under its market regulations; in Vienna this is done by the Marktamt (market office). Separate rules apply there for opening hours, product range and the ratio of retail to food stalls. The rules differ considerably from city to city, so ask your municipality early. Whether a pitch needs a Betriebsanlagengenehmigung (premises approval) depends on cooking equipment, exhaust, noise and opening hours.

Food truck: main location, additional premises and events

Contrary to what many assume, a food truck in Austria does not travel from place to place as an itinerant trade. When registering your trade, you state a main business location, which can also be your office or production kitchen. Every additional pitch where you sell regularly must be notified to the authority as additional business premises, at the latest on the day you start selling there (§ 46 Abs 2 GewO). For every pitch you also need the consent of the landowner or the municipality's permission.

For individual special occasions such as fairs, markets, sports events or larger construction sites, hospitality businesses may temporarily serve food and drinks outside their location under § 50 Abs 1 Z 11 GewO. At events, the organiser's rules and the events law of the federal state also apply. After conversion, the vehicle itself usually needs individual type approval, and above 3.5 tonnes gross weight you need a category C1 driving licence (up to 7.5 tonnes) or C.

Food hygiene in a small space

A sausage stand is a food business too, under the EU Hygiene Regulation and the LMSVG (Austrian Food Safety and Consumer Protection Act): get registered, run self-monitoring, train your staff. In just a few square metres, every detail counts: a separate hand basin with warm water, enough drinking water in the tank, separate waste water containers, refrigeration with temperature monitoring and a clear separation of raw and ready-to-eat food. Record temperatures, cleaning and incoming goods in writing; the food inspectorate checks stands and trucks too. For allergen information with a small range, letter codes on the board are often enough, see Allergen labelling in Austria. The matching legend with the letters A to R comes from the allergen labelling generator.

Cash register and cold hands rule

The Registrierkassenpflicht (cash register obligation) applies from an annual turnover of 15,000 euros per business if cash turnover exceeds 7,500 euros (§ 131b BAO, the Federal Fiscal Code). Card payments count as cash turnover. A busy snack bar reaches these thresholds quickly. For sales outdoors there is a relief, the so-called Kalte-Hände-Regelung: sales from door to door or on public paths, streets, squares and other public places, but not in or in connection with permanently enclosed premises, have been exempt from the cash register and receipt obligation since 1 January 2026 up to 45,000 euros net per year (§ 131 Abs 4 Z 1 lit a BAO, Barumsatzverordnung 2015). You then determine your daily takings by counting the cash.

Whether your stand or truck qualifies depends on the individual case: a sausage stand with an enclosed sales room or a truck with its own seating area is assessed differently from an open chestnut stand. Clarify this with your tax adviser before you do without a register. If the threshold is exceeded, the obligation starts in the fourth month after the end of the VAT return period. Everything else is in the post Cash register in Austria.

Online ordering: your own website or a platform

Lieferando, Wolt and foodora bring reach, but charge commissions that eat up a large part of the margin at snack bar prices. So run your dishes through the menu price calculator to make sure enough is left after commission. Many snack bars run two tracks: a platform for new customers, and their own website with pre-ordering for pickup for regulars, without commission. An order form or WhatsApp ordering with a pickup time saves waiting at the lunchtime peak. When which solution pays off is compared in the post Delivery platforms and your own ordering.

Showing your locations online: website and Google

For food trucks, the most important information on the website is: Where are we today? A weekly schedule with address, time and map link, updated immediately if you cancel because of the weather, is worth more than any brochure. For a snack bar with a fixed address, the Google Business Profile is the most important channel, with opening hours, menu and photos. A mobile truck without a fixed location fits less easily into Google's rules for business profiles. Check the guidelines and use posts for your weekly schedule if you run a profile. You can create opening hours with the opening hours and Google post tool.