Restaurant Feasibility Study Consultant in Qatar

By Ralph Homer, founder of Praxis Model · 33 years and more than 300 restaurant projects · Updated October 18, 2026 · اقرأ بالعربية

In short. Praxis Model prepares restaurant and cafe feasibility studies for investors opening in Doha, Lusail, Al Wakrah and across Qatar. You get a complete study of your concept, your location and your numbers, with a clear verdict, delivered in seven days. One location costs USD 3,999 (about QAR 14,550) at our founding price.

Scope, price and timeline

Praxis Model is a restaurant feasibility study consultancy for Doha, Qatar and the six GCC markets. Fixed, published prices from USD 3,999. Delivered in seven days. Built for bank, investor and landlord submissions.

Most feasibility work in the Gulf is priced after a call and delivered in weeks. Ours is priced on this page and delivered in days.

Who it is for

You have a concept and a budget, and you are close to signing something in Qatar: a lease in a Doha mall, a partner agreement, a franchise contract. Before that signature, you want to know whether the restaurant will make money, how much it will really cost to open, and how long the cash has to last.

Our clients are usually one of three people. A Qatari investor with capital and a concept, who may also want to present the study to Qatar Development Bank. A Gulf operator with a proven restaurant in Dubai, Riyadh or Kuwait who wants to bring it to Doha. Or a foreign group entering Qatar for the first time, who needs the numbers before the structure.

What a feasibility study is, and why a free template is not enough

A feasibility study answers one question in writing: is this restaurant worth your money? Free templates are easy to find and they show the general shape. What they cannot know is your unit in Lusail or on The Pearl, your menu, your rent, or what visas, permits and housing will cost for your team. Restaurants in Qatar rarely fail in the general shape. They fail on the details a template leaves blank.

That is why we start with the concept and work outward. The menu decides the equipment, the equipment decides the floor area you lease, and the seats multiplied by the average bill decide the sales the site has to deliver.

How we prepare a restaurant feasibility study in Qatar

1. The concept first. The idea, the menu and the guests, before a single riyal is committed.
2. The site, at every hour. Morning, afternoon, evening and late at night, and in summer too. Footfall, parking, the mall or street around you, and the neighbours: who trades well, who has closed, and why.
3. The capital budget. Fit-out, kitchen, the commercial registration and licence, Municipality, Civil Defence and health approvals, deposits, pre-opening salaries, marketing, working capital and contingency. Our rule: a 5 percent contingency on the build, and working capital for three months of fixed costs.
4. Sales. Covers and average spend by time of day and by season, Ramadan, the summer and the event calendar included, built from your menu and your seats rather than from hope.
5. Costs. Food, staff, work permits, residence permits, housing and food allowances, rent, utilities and delivery commissions, line by line.
6. Break-even and payback. The monthly sales that cover your costs, when you reach them, and when the money comes back.
7. The verdict. Go, or Go with Conditions. When the answer is no, we say so plainly, with what would have to change.

Opening a restaurant in Qatar: the rules we price

Rules change, so we check them live for every study. This is what the official sources said when we last checked, on 18 October 2026.

Licensing

• Company and commercial registration. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) issues the commercial registration through its Single Window, and its licensing guide for cloud kitchens puts that step at one to two days. The commercial licence fee in the same guide is QAR 500.
• Premises approvals. The premises licence needs the building completion certificate, the lease or title, and approvals from the Ministry of Municipality, the Civil Defence Department and the health authorities. This is where most of the waiting happens, and the study's cash plan pays the rent and salaries that run before you open.
• A year to fit out. MOCI has offered a provisional commercial licence that lets you prepare the site and collect approvals for up to one year, without trading. We confirm it is still available when we build your timeline.
• Inspections. The Ministry of Public Health grades food outlets under its Food Safety Rating Programme and publishes the grades, and the Ministry of Municipality closes outlets that fail its inspections. Both are part of the operating plan, not an afterthought.

Ownership

• Up to 100 percent, by application. Law No. 1 of 2019 allows a non-Qatari investor to own up to 100 percent in most sectors, and restaurants are not on its excluded list. Ownership above 49 percent is an application, which the ministry decides within 15 days of a complete file. It is not automatic.
• The QFC is for the head office. A Qatar Financial Centre company suits a holding or regional head office, not the restaurant outlet itself.

Your team

• Permits. Under Labour Decision No. 32 of 2025, a private-sector work permit costs QAR 100 a year and a licence to recruit from abroad costs QAR 2,000. Residence permits, ID cards and medical checks come on top for every hire.
• Minimum wage. QAR 1,000 a month basic, plus QAR 500 for housing and QAR 300 for food when the employer does not provide them.
• Food handlers. The Ministry of Public Health licenses food handlers and says it is working towards making the licence mandatory. We budget the training time and the exams.
• Qatarization. Law No. 12 of 2024 applies to private companies, with quotas set by workforce size and job type. We check what applies to your staffing plan at the time of the study.

Tax and delivery

• No VAT, yet. Qatar charges no VAT today and has announced no date. Mandatory e-invoicing is coming: the draft law was approved by the Council of Ministers on 6 May 2026, and advisers expect it from 1 January 2027.
• Sweetened drinks. Since 6 July 2026, Law No. 2 of 2026 taxes sweetened drinks by sugar content. Drinks made to order in restaurants and cafes are exempt, but the packaged soft drinks you buy in for resale cost more. That is a menu decision for every cafe.
• Delivery platforms. MOCI's rules of April 2026 let restaurants set separate prices for delivery and dine-in, and require platforms to disclose every fee and commission. They set no cap on commissions. With Keeta in the market since August 2025 and Deliveroo leaving Qatar, the study prices delivery at the commission you can actually negotiate.

What restaurant space costs in Doha

Rent is the number that decides most Qatar budgets. These are the latest published benchmarks for retail space, in Qatari riyals per square metre per month:

The market is softer than it was. ValuStrat reported rising vacancies in hotel food and beverage space and landlords offering longer rent-free periods and more flexible terms, which gives a new tenant room to negotiate the fit-out period. None of the reports publishes restaurant rents by district, so we price your unit from its own offer and the comparable units around it.

Our rule on rent: 12 to 15 percent of sales is the norm, and 20 percent is the absolute maximum, only for a very prime site. Above that, the restaurant works for the landlord. You can test your own numbers with our free restaurant break-even calculator.

Financing in Qatar: what QDB and the banks ask for

Investors often hear that a bank or Qatar Development Bank will only accept a study from a local, stamped consultancy. The official pages say something more precise:

• QDB reviews studies for free. Its Feasibility Study Assessment compares a client's study with QDB's minimum requirements and returns comments to make it bankable, free of charge. The applicant needs a valid Qatari ID and an SME commercial certificate. The page sets no rule on who prepares the study.
• QDB finance has a nationality rule. QDB's own FAQ says a project finance applicant must be a Qatari national, and that entrepreneurs of other nationalities qualify when they have a 51 percent active Qatari partner. A 100 percent foreign-owned restaurant company does not qualify for that route.
• The credit guarantee works through the banks. QDB's Credit Guarantee Program covers typically up to 50 percent of a partner bank's loan (up to 70 percent for smaller loans) for up to 15 years, for Qatar-based companies with a valid commercial licence. Applications go through the TAMKEEN national funding gate.
• Commercial banks set their own test. QNB's SME loan pages, for example, ask for a feasibility study prepared and audited by a third party acceptable to the bank. Ask your bank which reviewers it accepts before you commission any study.

We build every study to be read by a lender: sources and uses, a monthly profit and loss, cash flow and break-even, with every assumption written down. We never arrange financing and we take no fee from any bank. The study is yours to present, and the Investor Edition gives you a presentation version for exactly that meeting.

The Qatar market in four numbers

• More than 6,000 restaurants, according to Visit Qatar in October 2026. QDB counted about 2,950 food and beverage outlets in 2016.
• 5.09 million visitors in 2025, up from 4.91 million in 2024 (Knight Frank).
• 44,681 hotel keys expected by the end of 2026, after 2,126 new rooms this year (Knight Frank).
• No VAT on a restaurant bill today, which keeps menu prices simpler than in the UAE or Saudi Arabia.

Visitor numbers and new supply both rise, and so does competition for the same guest. We test whether your concept has room on your street, not just whether the country is growing.

The four questions investors ask us first

• What kind of concept? Any food and beverage concept: a cafe, a quick-service counter, casual dining, fine dining, a cloud kitchen or a kiosk. Sales are built from your own menu, seats and dayparts, so the model fits the concept rather than the other way round.
• Which area? West Bay, The Pearl, Lusail, Msheireb, Al Sadd, Al Waab and the malls of Doha, as well as Al Wakrah and Al Khor. The study is built for your exact site, its rent and the trading pattern around it.
• Is it for QDB, a bank, investors or your own decision? All of them. The same study serves your own go or no-go and a submission to a lender, an investor or a landlord.
• Qatari partner or foreign investor? Both. The structure changes which financing doors are open, as the section above shows, so we price your route before we price your kitchen. For the legal structure itself you will need a lawyer; our guide to local partners and sponsors in 2026 explains the options.

What the study contains

Every study is built from the ground up for your concept and your site. No templates with your name pasted on top. It covers nine sections:

1. Company at a glance. The concept, the site, the people and the plan on one page.
2. Sources and uses. Where the money comes from and exactly where it goes.
3. The capital budget. Every line it takes to open: build-out, kitchen, licences, deposits, pre-opening salaries, launch marketing, working capital and contingency.
4. Sales, engineered. Covers, average spend and seasonality, Ramadan and summer included, built from the menu and the seats, not from hope.
5. The cost engine. Food, staff and permits, rent, utilities and every other cost, line by line.
6. Profit and loss. Month by month for the first year.
7. The five-year view. Growth, cash and returns over five years.
8. Break-even. The sales you need each month to cover your costs, and when you reach them.
9. The thesis. Our verdict and the reasons for it.

How it works

1. The conversation. We start with what you want to achieve and the risks you carry, not the numbers you want to hear.
2. The analysis. We test your concept against the market, the numbers, the competition and what has actually happened to restaurants like it in the Gulf.
3. The report. You receive the study within seven days, with a direct recommendation and the next steps.
4. The meeting. We walk you through it and answer your questions. Most investors have plenty, and we take the time to answer them properly.

Prices

A feasibility study is the cheapest money you will spend on a restaurant. It costs a fraction of one month’s rent on a good Doha site, and it is the only point where every mistake is still free to fix.

Commission your study ›

Why Praxis Model

I have spent 33 years opening and running restaurants and advising the investors behind them, with more than 300 projects across the Gulf and beyond, Qatar among them. I know which line in a budget goes wrong first, which lease clause hurts in year two, and why a concept that queues around the block in one city can sit empty in another.

Our studies are built on that experience, and on a simple rule: make every mistake on paper, never with your money.

You can read how we think about costs in what a restaurant feasibility study costs in the GCC, or see a full sample study before you commission one.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a restaurant feasibility study cost in Qatar?

USD 3,999 (about QAR 14,550) for one location at our founding price (standard price USD 6,999). Studies covering two or more locations cost less per site.

How long does a feasibility study take?

Seven days from the moment we have your information.

Do you cover Lusail, The Pearl and Al Wakrah as well as central Doha?

Yes. We work across Qatar, and in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

Will Qatar Development Bank accept a study you prepare?

QDB reviews any study free of charge against its minimum requirements, and its published rules set no condition on who prepares it. Its project finance needs a Qatari applicant or a 51 percent active Qatari partner. Commercial banks set their own tests, so ask your bank which reviewers it accepts before you commission a study.

Can a foreigner own 100 percent of a restaurant in Qatar?

Law No. 1 of 2019 allows it in principle, and restaurants are not on the excluded list. Ownership above 49 percent needs an application, decided within 15 days of a complete file. Take legal advice on the structure before you sign a lease.

Is there VAT on restaurants in Qatar?

No. Qatar charges no VAT today. Packaged sweetened drinks carry an excise tax by sugar content since July 2026, while drinks made to order in restaurants and cafes are exempt.

Is my concept kept confidential?

Always. We never name or show a client’s concept, numbers or location to anyone.

Commission your study · See a sample study · thesis@praxismodel.io

Praxis Model is a financial feasibility specialist for GCC hospitality. Prices shown are founding prices in US dollars and may change; riyal amounts are approximate at 3.64 to the dollar. Rules, fees and rents are summarised from the official and published sources listed above as of 18 October 2026, are not legal advice, and are checked again for every study. Client work is confidential: we never name or show a client’s concept, numbers or location.