From an idea abroad to opening day in Switzerland.
The whole journey on one page: permit, premises, licences and registrations, in the order they actually happen. Including the parts nobody tells you about.
The short version
You bring the business. Switzerland brings the rules. The work in between is a sequence of authorities, documents and deadlines that must land in the right order. That sequence is handled here, in your language, while you keep building your business.
The journey
Feasibility
Your situation is assessed: citizenship, the canton, the type of business, the premises you have in mind. The outcome is a clear answer. What is possible, what it requires, and in which order. An EU or EFTA passport makes this stage short. A third-country case takes longer and runs with specialist partners.
You decide: whether the plan holds as it is or gets adjusted first.
The permit
Permit strategy, the complete dossier, all correspondence with the cantonal migration office. You sign. Everything else is prepared for you.
The premises
The lease is checked before you sign it, not after. Old index clauses, handover conditions, solidarity clauses and hidden obligations get flagged and negotiated with the landlord or the agency, in German, French or Italian.
Licences and requirements
Operating licence, restaurant patent where needed, food safety self-control concept, fire safety, communal requirements. The dossiers are assembled and submitted, and the authorities are followed up until the answer comes.
Registrations and opening
Residents’ office, AHV, the remaining registrations. Then you open.
What can go wrong
Most consultants leave this part out. Here it is anyway.
- Authorities take time. A permit or a licence can sit on a desk for weeks. Following up helps. Pressure rarely does.
- A space is not automatically approved for your use. A locale that housed a shop cannot always become a restaurant. Change-of-use and building requirements are checked before you commit to the premises.
- Third-country cases can fail. Quotas and requirements are real. If a case is unrealistic, you hear it in the first conversation, not after months of fees.
When something stalls, you hear it early, with the reason and with a plan B. That is the deal.
While you are still abroad
Viewings, meetings with authorities and landlords, translations between German, French, Italian and English: someone stands in for you on the ground until you arrive.
The first conversation is free.
Describe your plan: what you want to open, where, and your citizenship. Those three things decide most of the journey. Replies come within one working day.
info@dipernaconsulting.com