Restaurant Licence and Provisional Restaurant Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the sale of meals or unbottled non-alcoholic drinks other than Chinese herb tea to the general public for consumption on the premises?
A Restaurant Licence should be obtained to run the food business.
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What is the difference between a General Restaurant Licence and a Light Refreshment Restaurant Licence in respect of the cooking method?
For a General Restaurant Licence, the licensee is allowed to use any kind of cooking methods to prepare and sell food for consumption on the premises. In addition, cooking or food-reheating activities (e.g. hotpots, Teppanyaki or Korean style BBQs) are allowed in the seating area. For a Light Refreshment Restaurant Licence, the licensee is allowed to prepare food by using simple cooking methods like boiling, stewing, steaming, braising, simple frying (excluding deep frying and stir frying) which shall not generate large amount of greasy fumes during the food preparation process for consumption on the premises.
Bakery Licence and Provisional Bakery Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the baking of bread and other bakery products for sale at any premises in the territory?
A Bakery Licence should be obtained to run the food business.
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Is a separate Bakery Licence required for baking of bread and other bakery products for consumption of the customers inside a licensed restaurant?
If the baking of bread and other bakery products is carried out in a licensed general restaurant and if such bakery products are for consumption of the customers on the premises, no separate bakery licence is required. With effective from 1 March 2023, in the case of a licensed light refreshment restaurant is to equip with baking oven and hood above to prepare bakery products, a separate bakery licence is required if the bakery products are prepared for consumption of the customers on the premises.
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Is a separate Bakery Licence required for retail sale of bread and bakery products which are prepared in a licensed restaurant?
For the retail sale of bread and other bakery products, which are prepared in a licensed general restaurant or light refreshment restaurant, in a separate counter / portion of the restaurant, a separate bakery licence is required.
Cold Store Licence and Provisional Cold Store Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the storage of articles of food under refrigeration in any warehouse?
A Cold Store Licence should be obtained to run the food business.
Factory Canteen Licence and Provisional Factory Canteen Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business in a factory building which involves the sale or supply of meals or unbottled non-alcoholic drinks other than Chinese herb tea for consumption on the premises by persons employed in any factory in that factory building?
A Factory Canteen Licence should be obtained to run the food business.
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Can any person other than persons employed in any factory in that factory building where the licensed factory canteen is situated be served with food inside the premises?
Factory Canteen Licence does not allow the licensee to serve food to person, who is not the employee of any factory in the factory building where the factory canteen is situated, for consumption on the premises.
Food Factory Licence and Provisional Food Factory Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the manufacture or preparation of food for sale for human consumption off the premises?
A Food Factory Licence should be obtained to run the food business.
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Can milk and / or frozen confections be prepared in a licensed food factory?
A Food Factory Licence does not allow the licensee to prepare milk and / or frozen confections inside the premises. A Milk Factory Licence is required for any business in pasteurizing, manufacturing and packaging of reconstituted milk drinks. A Frozen Confection Factory Licence is required for the manufacture of ice cream, soft ice cream and popsicles, etc.
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Is a Food Factory Licence required for preparation for sale of popcorn or cotton candy?
A Food Factory Licence is not required if popcorn or cotton candy is prepared or processed in a hygienic manner and in a machine of a type approved by the FEHD and operated in a proper manner. A list of approved popcorn machines and cotton candy machines can be accessed in the FEHD's website at http://www.fehd.gov.hk/english/howtoseries/doc/bafseis_popcorn.html and http://www.fehd.gov.hk/english/howtoseries/doc/bafseis_cotton.html.
Temporary Food Factory Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the operation of a stall / kiosk of temporary nature for sale of heating up / warming pre-cooked food and/or cooking of pre-prepared, ready-to-cook food for human consumption off the premises in conjunction with a public function of short duration?
A Temporary Food Factory Licence of short duration should be obtained to run the food business. The validity period of a Temporary Food Factory Licence will not exceed 7 days.
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Will a Temporary Food Factory Licence be issued if the food business is not conducted in conjunction with a public function?
Under the existing licensing policy, application for a Temporary Food Factory Licence will be considered only when the proposed food business is conducted in conjunction with a public function.
Fresh Provision Shop Licence and Provisional Fresh Provision Shop Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the sale of fresh provisions in the premises?
A Fresh Provision Shop Licence allows the licensee to sell fresh, chilled or frozen beef, mutton, pork, reptiles (including live reptiles), fish (including live fish) or poultry (including live poultry) inside the premises.
Frozen Confection Factory Licence and Provisional Frozen Confection Factory Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the manufacture of any frozen confections?
A Frozen Confection Factory Licence allows the licensee to manufacture any frozen confections. The manufacture of soft ice cream from pre-prepared mixture in a dispensing machine for direct retail sale at any premises also requires a Frozen Confection Factory Licence.
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Is a separate Frozen Confection Factory Licence needed for manufacturing frozen confections in a licensed restaurant for customers' consumption on the premises?
If the manufacture of frozen confections is carried out in a licensed restaurant for the consumption of customers on the premises, no separate Frozen Confection Factory Licence is required.
Milk Factory Licence and Provisional Milk Factory Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves processing milk, preparing reconstituted milk or milk beverages, or packaging milk at any premises in the territory?
A Milk Factory Licence should be obtained to run the business.
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Is a separate Milk Factory Licence required for processing milk or preparing reconstituted milk or milk beverages in a licensed restaurant for customers' consumption on the premises?
If milk is processed or reconstituted milk or milk beverages are prepared in a licensed restaurant for the consumption of customers on the premises, no separate Milk Factory Licence is required.
Siu Mei and Lo Mei Shop Licence and Provisional Siu Mei and Lo Mei Shop Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the retail sale of siu mei and lo mei at any premises in the territory?
A Siu Mei and Lo Mei Shop Licence should be obtained to run the food business.
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Can siu mei and lo mei be prepared by the licensee at the licensed siu mei and lo mei shop?
Siu Mei and Lo Mei Shop Licence only allows the licensee to conduct retail sale of siu mei and lo mei supplied by licensed food factories or other lawful sources. If the licensee intends to prepare siu mei and lo mei by himself at his premises, he needs to apply separately for a Food Factory Licence for such activity.
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Is a separate Siu Mei and Lo Mei Shop Licence required for selling siu mei and lo mei inside a licensed restaurant?
For restaurant licensees selling siu mei and lo mei at their premises, only permission from this department in the form of endorsement onto their restaurant licences for the sale of these food items is required.
Common Reasons of Objection to Licence Applications
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What are the common reasons of objection by relevant government departments in the applications for food business licences?
For the sake of safeguarding public health and ensuring the safety of patrons, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), as the licensing authority, has to ensure that any premises applying for a food business licence are suitable for the purpose before granting a licence.
FEHD will not consider an application for a food business licence in respect of the premises unless it can meet requirements on health, building safety, fire safety and the proposed business is in compliance with Government lease conditions and statutory plan restrictions.
To this end, FEHD will examine and consult the concerned government departments on each licence application. If their comments are such that its policy or requirements cannot be complied with, FEHD will reject the application.
Applicants are advised that not all the premises are suitable for use as food business and may make reference to the following common reasons of objection by relevant government departments in the applications for food business licences:
Buildings Department
Common Reasons of Objection Category 3 Objection 1. Structural Safety - Original design live load is inadequate (less than 4kPa).
- Unauthorized reinforced concrete slabs filling up approved cockloft and staircase voids.
- Unauthorized cocklofts, intermediate floors and floor extensions.
- Unauthorized staircases; unauthorized openings through structural slabs, beams and compartment walls.
- Unauthorized removal, partial removal or major alteration of structural members.
2. Means of Escape- Unsatisfactory means of escape, e.g. insufficient exit routes / exit doors and inadequate headroom of exit routes.
- Unauthorized building works in common areas resulting in obstruction of means of escape from the restaurant premises or the building, such as unauthorized sub-division of a floor into separate units resulting in some units without adequate means of escape, and unauthorized blocking up of access to an exit staircase rendering the means of escape of other occupancies inadequate.
- Food business premises resulting in increase of population figures which exceed the allowable discharge values of the existing staircases for means of escape or the existing width of exit routes for the storey where the food premises are situated cannot accommodate the total population capacity of that storey.
Fire Services Department
Common Reasons of Objection 3. Location
The restaurant under application is located :- in any buildings / structures which are of sub-standard construction;
- on level 4 of basement or below;
- on any floor below ground level, if liquefied petroleum gas is to be used;
- in areas designed for emergency use, such as refuge floor;
- in areas designed for other use, such as car parks; or
- in any industrial buildings.
4. Fire safety - Non-compliance with the Fire Safety Requirements issued.
Lands Department
Common Reasons of Objection 5. Breach of user clause under lease - The proposed use in the premises is in breach of the user clause under the concerned lease.
6. Unauthorized structure (excluding those under the regulatory regime of Buildings Department) - The premises are an unauthorized structure located in the New Territories and no Certificate of Exemption under Cap. 121 or other approval (such as Short Term Waiver) has been granted.
Planning Department
Common Reasons of Objection 7. The proposed food business is considered as a kind of "Shop and Services" / "Eating Place" / "Non-polluting Industrial Use (excluding industrial undertakings involving the use/storage of Dangerous Goods)" etc. [depends on the nature, mode of operation and scale of the food business under application] on the Outline Zoning Plans, which is not in compliance with statutory plan restrictions. Housing Department
Common Reasons of Objection Category 3 Objection 8. Structural Safety
- Unauthorized removal of approved building works
- Unauthorized removal of the approved load bearing structural walls inside the premises.
- Design live loads of premises not met required standard for relevant food business
- The proposed refrigerators and impulse freezers are located on floor slab having a design imposed load less than 5 kPa as required for supermarket use.
9. Means of Escape
- Unsatisfactory means of escape
- For premises with 501-750 occupants, the exit door of clear width less than 1200 mm and total width less than 4500 mm is unacceptable.
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
Common Reasons of Objection 10. Health objections - Presence of manhole in food room.
- No provision of sanitary fitments.
Labour Department
Common Reasons of Objection 11. Improper arrangement for means of escape involving non-compliance with the "Code of Practice for the Provision of Means of Escape in Case of Fire" issued by the Building Authority. Environmental Protection Department
Common Reasons of Objection 12. Operation of food business causing nuisance to nearby residents - No indication of any air pollution control equipment to be used or any information about the discharge point of the emission.
- In general, new meat roasting activities in residential buildings are not supported.
Government Property Agency
Common Reasons of Objection 13. Breach of tenancy agreement - The proposed use and/or subletting are in breach of the tenancy agreement because the tenant has not obtained the prior written consent of the landlord pursuant to the terms and conditions of the tenancy agreement.
Restricted Food Permits
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What type of licence / permit should be applied for conducting the food business which involves the retail sale of restricted foods specified in Schedule 2 to the Food Business Regulation?
Relevant restricted food permit(s) should be obtained for sale of the food items such as non-bottled drinks, frozen confections, milk and milk beverages, cut fruit, Chinese herb tea, leung fan, sushi, sashimi, oysters to be eaten in raw state, meat to be eaten in raw state, live fish, shell fish and food sold by means of a vending machine.
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What kind of drinks could be sold under a Non-bottled Drinks Permit?
Generally speaking, non-bottled drinks are those drinks prepared for immediate consumption and do not require storage in sealed bottles, cans or other containers, for example, fresh fruit juice, diluted drinks prepared from concentrated fruit juice or syrup, soya bean juice, etc. Drinks sold from a manual dispensing machine also belong to this category.
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Can non-bottled drinks sold by a coin-operated automatic vending machine be sold under a Non-bottled Drinks Permit?
If non-bottled drinks are sold by a coin-operated automatic vending machine, a permit for such machine shall have to be applied for separately.
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Can soft ice cream be manufactured from soft ice cream machine installed inside a shop which is issued with a Frozen Confection Permit?
If a machine for the manufacture of soft ice cream is installed inside a shop which is issued with a Frozen Confection Permit, a separate Frozen Confection Factory Licence for the manufacture of soft ice cream from the soft ice cream machine is required.
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Does sale of all kinds of milk require a Milk Permit?
A Milk Permit is not required for the sale in sealed containers of sterilized milk or sterilized milk beverage which have been approved by this department.
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Can sushi and sashimi be prepared inside the premises which are issued with Sushi Permit and Sashimi Permit?
Only prepackaged sushi / sashimi supplied from licensed food factories or other lawful sources are allowed to be sold inside the premises which have been issued with Sushi Permit and Sashimi Permit. Manufacture of sushi and sashimi inside the aforesaid premises requires a separate Food Factory Licence.
Karaoke Establishment Permit and Provisional Karaoke Establishment Permit
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What type of licence / permit should be applied for conducting the business of a karaoke establishment in a licensed restaurant?
A Karaoke Establishment Permit should be obtained to run the business.
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Will exemption from obtaining a Karaoke Establishment Permit to operate a karaoke establishment business in a licensed restaurant be granted?
Certain types of karaoke establishments are exempted from the requirements of permits or licences under the Karaoke Establishments Ordinance (Cap. 573). Karaoke establishment does not include bona fide restaurants which are, restaurants licensed by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene (the Director), providing karaoke facilities and satisfying the following criteria:
- The aggregate areas of all rooms partitioned for karaoke activities do not exceed 30% of the seating area in the restaurant."Seating area"is defined as the aggregate floor area of entertainment rooms, corridors, lounge, dining areas, dancing areas (where applicable) and reception areas; and
- The number of rooms partitioned for karaoke activities does not exceed the quotient obtained from dividing the total seating area in square metres by 100m 2.
(Rooms enclosed by sliding partitions and movable partitions are not regarded as partitioned rooms.)
The licensees of bona fide restaurants have to apply to the Director for exemption from the application of the Karaoke Establishments Ordinance (Cap. 573) on the restaurants by submitting an application form FEHB 180 together with a copy of the layout plan of the licensed restaurant to the respective District Office of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD).
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The aggregate areas of all rooms partitioned for karaoke activities do not exceed 30% of the seating area in the restaurant."Seating area"is defined as the aggregate floor area of entertainment rooms, corridors, lounge, dining areas, dancing areas (where applicable) and reception areas; and
- The number of rooms partitioned for karaoke activities does not exceed the quotient obtained from dividing the total seating area in square metres by 100m 2.
Other Trade Licences
(Commercial Bathhouse Licence / Funeral Parlour Licence / Offensive Trade Licence / Swimming Pool Licence / Undertaker's Licence)
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the business of a commercial bathhouse for the use of persons requiring a bath?
The premises, which are maintained or intended to be maintained for the use, on payment of a fee, of persons requiring a bath, should be covered by a Commercial Bathhouse Licence.
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting a funeral parlour business?
A Funeral Parlour Licence should be obtained to run the business.
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What type of businesses would require an Offensive Trade Licence for the operation?
The following activities can be conducted with an Offensive Trade Licence:
- Boiling of bones
- Burning of bones
- Crushing of bones
- Scraping of bones
- Storing of bones
- Manufacture of chloride of lime
- Boiling of fat
- Fell-mongery
- Cleaning of feathers
- Sorting of feathers
- Storing of feathers
- Processing of fish meal
- Manufacture of glue
- Manufacture of gluten reduced starch
- Cleaning of hair
- Boiling of lard
- Dressing of leather
- Tanning of leather
- Crushing, packing or otherwise dealing in any way with manganese ore or manganese dioxide
- Processing of manure
- Boiling of resin
- Processing of sharks' fins
- Manufacture of size
- Boiling of soap
- Melting of tallow
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What type of licence should be applied for operating a swimming pool?
A Swimming Pool Licence is required for any artificially constructed pool used for swimming or bathing and to which the public have access (whether on payment or otherwise) or which is operated by any club, institution, association or other organization. A Swimming Pool Licence is not required for any swimming pool which serves not more than 20 residential units and to which the public have no access.
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the business which is to undertake all or any duties connected with the burial of human cadavers?
An Undertaker' s Licence should be obtained to run the business.
Places of Public Entertainment Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the business of a cinema or theatre?
A Place of Public Entertainment Licence (Cinema / Theatre) should be obtained to run the business.
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the business other than cinema / theatre?
For public entertainment activity other than cinema / theatre (e.g. entertainment machine centre, exhibition venue and dance party, etc.), a Place of Public Entertainment Licence (for places other than cinemas and theatres) should be obtained to run the business.
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the business of public entertainment activity temporarily?
A Temporary Place of Public Entertainment Licence should be obtained to run the business.
Liquor Licence and Club Liquor Licence
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the business of selling liquor for consumption on the premises which are issued with a restaurant licence by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department?
A Liquor Licence should be obtained from the Liquor Licensing Board to run the business.
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What type of licence should be applied for conducting the business of supplying liquor in any premises used by a club for the purpose of the club?
A Club Liquor Licence should be obtained from the Liquor Licensing Board to run the business.