Restaurant grants, financing and exemptions in France 2026: 12 schemes for restaurateurs

Up to date as of 14 May 2026.

The top restaurant financing schemes in France for 2026 are: ACRE startup social contribution exemption (50% reduction in year one), unique apprenticeship grant of €6,000 (Decree 2023-1354), executive training tax credit for HACCP (French Tax Code art. 244 quater M), eco kitchen equipment depreciation allowance (FTC art. 39 decies), BPI Tourisme loan without personal guarantee, Île-de-France Tourism Fund, Pro-A and OPCO AKTO training funding, and ZRR/ZFU-TE exemptions where zoning applies. Cabinet Hayot Expertise in Paris supports restaurateurs in mapping and activating these mechanisms.

The commercial restaurant sector concentrates a range of aid mechanisms that few other sectors match — yet these mechanisms are scattered across URSSAF, BPI France, the Région, OPCO AKTO and the tax authorities. A restaurateur who does not run an annual eligibility review systematically leaves resources uncollected. At Cabinet Hayot Expertise in Paris, we work with independent restaurateurs, brasseries and multi-site groups: mapping available schemes is built into our annual advisory engagement.

The mechanism since the 2019 reform#

ACRE (Aide à la Création ou Reprise d'Entreprise) provides a partial exemption from social contributions during the first year of activity for business creators and acquirers. Since Decree n° 2019-1215, the exemption rate has been standardised at 50% of contributions due on remuneration below the applicable thresholds, without any requirement relating to the entrepreneur's previous situation. For a restaurateur drawing €40,000 in remuneration in year one, the contribution saving can reach €8,000–€10,000 depending on the social regime chosen (minority SARL manager, SAS employee-equivalent, or self-employed TNS).

Eligibility conditions and application deadline#

For creators of companies (SARL, SAS, EURL, SASU), the ACRE application must be submitted to URSSAF within 45 days of the company's registration date. This deadline is absolute: a missed or late application results in the permanent loss of the right. For micro-entrepreneurs, the application is made simultaneously with the business creation declaration on the guichet unique. The exemption does not apply if the creator has already received ACRE within the preceding three years.

Our view: ACRE and year-one remuneration structuring#

In the restaurant creation files we process at Cabinet Hayot Expertise, the year-one remuneration level is frequently under-analysed. Drawing excessive remuneration immediately after opening can consume part of the ACRE benefit against high contributions, without necessarily justifying the cash extraction. Conversely, too low a remuneration penalises future pension entitlements. The optimal calibration depends on the social regime, available cash flow and projected profit — a question to address at the business plan stage.

The BPI France Tourisme loan#

BPI France offers sector-specific loans for hospitality and restaurants, generally without a personal guarantee from the company director, to finance creation, renovation or modernisation investments (kitchen, dining room, equipment). For restaurant SMEs, amounts typically range from €50,000 to several hundred thousand euros depending on the project and establishment size. Repayment periods run from three to seven years with possible deferred amortisation. Rates and conditions for 2026 are to be confirmed with BPI France at the time of dossier preparation.

BPI France guarantee on bank loans#

Beyond the direct loan, BPI France can guarantee up to 70% of a bank loan taken by a restaurateur. This guarantee reduces the risk perceived by the bank and improves financing conditions (rate, term, absence of personal surety). It is particularly useful for business acquisitions where the goodwill (fonds de commerce) is valued at a significant amount but the acquirer has limited personal assets.

In practice: preparing the BPI file#

To build a BPI France application, the restaurateur must provide: two years of financial statements (or a business plan for new creations), a detailed financing plan, a three-year business plan, evidence of the investment need (equipment quotes, acquisition memoranda for buyouts), and company articles of association. Cabinet Hayot Expertise handles the preparation of these files within its business creation and advisory service in Paris.

The Île-de-France Region, in partnership with BPI France, maintains dedicated envelopes for the tourism and restaurant sector. These mechanisms can take the form of investment grants, subsidised loans or regional guarantees. Eligibility criteria typically target establishments in tourist zones, projects involving upgrading or renovation, and SMEs registered in Île-de-France. The calls for applications and available budgets vary from one year to the next: regular monitoring of the Région IDF website and BPI France Île-de-France is essential to avoid missing open windows. (2026 conditions to be confirmed with Région IDF and BPI France Île-de-France.)

The €6,000 unique apprenticeship grant (Decree 2023-1354)#

Decree n° 2023-1354 of 29 December 2023 maintained the payment of a €6,000 state grant for the first year of an apprenticeship contract, without any employee headcount condition for qualification levels up to bac+2. This grant is particularly relevant for restaurants training apprentices in CAP Cuisine or Bac Professionnel Cuisine — the two most common qualifications in the hospitality career path. For the second year and qualifications above bac+2, headcount conditions apply and amounts differ (to be verified with ASP for 2026).

The apprenticeship tax credit (FTC art. 244 quater C)#

Article 244 quater C of the French Tax Code provides a tax credit of €2,400 per apprentice for companies with fewer than 250 employees hiring apprentices studying for a qualification at or below bac+2. A restaurant employing two CAP Cuisine apprentices receives a direct €4,800 reduction in corporation tax. This credit is applied against the IS for the financial year in which the contracts are active. The interaction with the Decree 2023-1354 unique grant must be reviewed with your accountant, as the two mechanisms do not always fully overlap.

OPCO AKTO: the skills operator for the restaurant sector#

Since 2021, OPCO AKTO has been the competences operator for the HCR branch (Hotels, Cafés, Restaurants). It funds pedagogical costs for alternance training at branch-level reimbursement caps, Pro-A retraining and upskilling programmes, and continuing professional development for employees and directors. For a restaurateur seeking funding for floor staff, kitchen or management training, AKTO is the primary contact. The 2026 reimbursement caps are available on the OPCO AKTO website.

The executive training tax credit (article 244 quater M of the French Tax Code) allows the manager or president of a restaurant company to deduct the cost of training they personally attend, capped at 40 hours per year valued at the gross hourly SMIC minimum wage. For microenterprises, the benefit is doubled under the 2022 Finance Act (to be confirmed for 2026 under the applicable Finance Act). This mechanism is frequently overlooked in the HCR sector, even though it applies directly to mandatory food hygiene training (HACCP), kitchen management courses, and restaurant finance and business management training — all of which qualify provided they have a direct connection to the director's management activity.

The under-estimated risk: restaurateurs who complete the mandatory HACCP training (minimum 14 hours under applicable referentials) almost never declare the corresponding hours under this tax credit. Forty available hours, minus 14 hours of HACCP plus a few hours of management training, fills the annual cap entirely. For a microenterprise, this represents a tax credit of approximately €450–€650 depending on the applicable SMIC rate (to be verified against the January 2026 SMIC).

Article 39 decies of the French Tax Code authorises an additional fiscal deduction on the acquisition cost of certain low-environmental-footprint equipment. For kitchen equipment — energy-recovery extraction hoods, low-consumption ovens, low-water-consumption dishwashers, refrigeration systems using natural CO₂ or high-efficiency refrigerants — the mechanism can apply provided the equipment meets the relevant energy efficiency classification (class A+ or equivalent under applicable referentials). The additional depreciation rate is 40% of the asset's acquisition cost (indicative value — to be confirmed against the applicable article and the precise nature of the asset). For a restaurant investing €150,000 in eligible kitchen equipment, this represents €60,000 of additional fiscal deduction — equivalent to approximately €15,000 of corporation tax savings at the standard 25% rate. (Conditions and rates to be verified against the BOFiP in force at the date of investment.)

The obligation since 1 January 2024#

The AGEC Act (Law n° 2020-105 of 10 February 2020 on the fight against waste) extended the obligation of biowaste source-separation to all waste producers from 1 January 2024. For restaurants, this obligation requires the implementation of a separate collection chain for food and organic waste (vegetable peelings, meal leftovers, used cooking oil, etc.). Non-compliance exposes the establishment to administrative sanctions.

ADEME subsidies for compliance investment#

ADEME (the French ecological transition agency) and certain local authorities offer investment grants to fund the equipment needed for AGEC compliance: sorting bins, composters, source-reduction equipment (grinders, dehydrators), and external collection solutions. Amounts vary depending on location, equipment type and available envelopes. The chambers of commerce (CCI Paris, CMA Paris) can direct restaurateurs to active local schemes. (2026 envelopes to be confirmed with ADEME Île-de-France and local authorities.)

How it works and what it commits#

The brewery loan (prêt brasseur) is a supplier financing mechanism offered by beverage suppliers (breweries, wine merchants, soft drink distributors) in exchange for an exclusive or semi-exclusive supply commitment. Concretely, the supplier lends a sum — ranging from €20,000 to several hundred thousand euros depending on the establishment's size and consumption profile — repayable over 5–10 years, interest-free or at a reduced rate, in exchange for an exclusivity clause on beverage purchases in the relevant category.

Benefits and constraints#

The main advantage is access to a financing resource without conventional bank security, which reduces balance sheet pressure during an opening or renovation phase. The main constraint is supplier dependency: exclusivity of supply limits negotiating freedom on pricing and can weigh on margins over the long term. A prospective acquirer of a restaurant business must systematically review any outstanding brewery loan before completing the transaction, as the debt is transferred with the goodwill. Cabinet Hayot Expertise systematically includes brewery loan contract review in its restaurant business acquisition due diligence engagements.

Arbitrage: brewery loan or BPI France?#

As a general principle, the brewery loan is appropriate for openings and acquisitions where the beverage card is a structurally important revenue driver. The BPI France loan is preferable for heavy equipment investment (kitchen, dining room) where operational freedom must be preserved.

ZFU-TE (FTC art. 44 octies A)#

Restaurants whose registered office or establishment is located in an Urban Free Zone — Entrepreneur Territory (ZFU-TE) benefit from a full income tax or corporation tax exemption for five years on profits generated in the zone, followed by a tapering exemption over nine years. The cap is €50,000 per year (doubled to €100,000 if at least one employee is resident in the ZFU). In Île-de-France, several municipalities in Seine-Saint-Denis, Hauts-de-Seine and Val-de-Marne include active ZFU perimeters. The main condition is that business activity must be genuinely exercised in the zone (staff, clientele, production). A restaurant opened in a ZFU may pay zero corporation tax for five years on the profits from that activity — subject to full compliance with all conditions (maximum 50 employees at entry, turnover threshold to be verified against FTC art. 44 octies A and BOFiP BOI-BIC-CHAMP-80-10-20).

ZRR (FTC art. 44 quindecies) for rural restaurateurs#

Article 44 quindecies of the French Tax Code provides a full IR or IS exemption for five years followed by a three-year tapering relief for businesses created or acquired in a ZRR municipality. This scheme is relevant for restaurateurs who set up or acquire an establishment in a rural area — country dining restaurants, rural inn tables d'hôtes, village café-restaurants. The list of ZRR municipalities is available on the ANCT website. Combining a ZRR exemption with ACRE can almost entirely eliminate the tax and social contribution burden during the first two years of activity.

Working with restaurateurs in Paris and Île-de-France — from the independent brasserie to the multi-site group — we observe three recurring patterns in the files we receive.

ACRE lost through failure to apply. In approximately half of the restaurant creation files we receive mid-year, ACRE was either never requested within the 45-day deadline or the application was misdirected. The 45-day post-registration deadline is absolute and non-recoverable. A single control point at registration is sufficient to secure this exemption, which can represent several thousand euros of savings in year one.

The brewery loan transferred without audit. In restaurant business acquisitions, outstanding brewery loans are frequently overlooked in initial analyses. Yet they condition beverage margins for the next 5–10 years. At Cabinet Hayot Expertise, we systematically incorporate brewery loan and exclusive supplier contract review into our pre-acquisition due diligence for restaurant businesses.

HACCP training never declared as a tax credit. Mandatory food hygiene training is required for at least one management team member and is attended by the vast majority of restaurant directors. Yet fewer than one in five restaurateurs declares the corresponding hours under the executive training tax credit (art. 244 quater M). A few additional lines in the annual tax return, a credit of €400–€600 — the effort is minimal, the result certain.

Our recommendation for 2026: conduct an annual mapping of all schemes for which your establishment is eligible, distinguishing aid that requires active filing (ACRE, apprenticeship grant, training tax credit, depreciation allowance) from financing to be sought as projects arise (BPI Tourisme, IDF Fund, brewery loan). Cabinet Hayot Expertise carries out this scheme audit as part of its annual fiscal and accounting advisory engagement for Parisian restaurateurs.

• At creation or acquisition: submit ACRE application to URSSAF within 45 days of registration
• For each CAP/BAC cuisine apprenticeship contract: confirm receipt of the €6,000 unique grant and imputation of the art. 244 quater C tax credit
• For every training session attended by the director (HACCP, management, finance): record hours for the art. 244 quater M tax credit declaration
• For each eco kitchen equipment purchase: assess eligibility under FTC art. 39 decies before placing the order
• Verify AGEC biowaste compliance and identify ADEME and local authority grants available for sorting equipment
• Before any business acquisition: audit brewery loan contracts and exclusivity clauses
• For any investment project ≥ €50,000: instruct a BPI France application in parallel with the bank application
• Verify each establishment's address against active ZFU-TE perimeters and, where relevant, the municipality against the ZRR list
• Monitor Île-de-France regional tourism calls for applications at the start of the financial year (envelopes are exhaustible)
• Contact OPCO AKTO for Pro-A and HCR continuing training funding during the financial year