Food Factory Licence
The food factory licence is for businesses that prepare food to be eaten somewhere other than where it is made (not including frozen confection factories).
Put simply, the food factory licence is for processing, cooking or making food and selling it as takeaway, with no dine-in, which is why it is also called the "takeaway licence". Besides food processing plants, common examples include Hong Kong street snack shops, bubble tea shops, takeaway coffee shops and takeaway two-dish rice shops. As long as there is no dine-in and food is taken away or collected, you can apply for a food factory licence.
Trust or Company Service Provider licence TC007926
Government fees — food factory
| Floor area | New full licence / year | Renewal / year |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 100 m² | 2,330 | 3,740 |
| Over 100, up to 150 m² | 3,280 | 4,690 |
| Over 150, up to 200 m² | 5,170 | 6,580 |
| Over 200, up to 2,000 m² | 6,740–54,620 | 8,450–56,330 |
| Over 2,000 m² | 91,230–185,160 | 93,710–187,640 |
All amounts in HK dollars. A price range covers several official area bands. Your exact fee depends on the premises' floor area. From 1 November 2025, the new full-licence fee excludes the prescribed Fire Services Department fees. Renewal fees are unchanged. These are government charges, separate from our consultancy fee.
Businesses that can apply
- Canning, bottling or packing food or drinks in bags or other packaging materials
- Making soy sauce, pickles or sauces (including flavouring powder and MSG)
- Curing food, including dried and cured meats, smoked ham, sausages, lo mei and preserved fruit
- Catering and banquet services
- Roasting meat or poultry
- Making desserts
- Making tofu, soy milk, dried tofu, fermented bean curd and red fermented bean curd
- Making noodles, rice noodles, fine wheat noodles, macaroni, spaghetti and glass noodles
- Making snacks (such as peanuts, prawn crackers and potato crisps) and pastries
- Making gluten and gluten products, such as vegetarian lo mei
- Food processing, such as making fish balls, shrimp balls, meat balls and pork rind
- Making bottled drinking water
Shop specifications
- A food factory selling takeaway cooked food / fast food must have a food room of at least 6 sq m in total.
- A food factory reheating / heating cooked food for sale must have a food room of at least 3.5 sq m in total.
Special requirements and restrictions
From a fire safety point of view, these buildings are not suitable for a food factory licence:
- Buildings at the fourth basement level or below.
- Buildings directly below a registered school / child care centre, or that pose a fire risk to such places.
Other food licences
Food factory licence questions
What is a temporary food factory licence?
How does a food factory licence compare with a light refreshment restaurant licence ("small licence")?
Ask us
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