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AyRojgar

Fast food and burger shop

A small shop selling burgers, sandwiches, rolls and fries. Lower capital than a restaurant, but exactly the same licence stack - trade, food safety, fire, environment and VAT.

  • Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
  • Version 1
Fast food and burger shop

Fast food and burger shop

Starting capital
৳2,50,000 – ৳15,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
2 – 8 people
First sale
30 – 90 days
Official source
Break-even
4 – 12 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Medium difficulty

About the business

A small shop selling burgers, sandwiches, rolls, fries and fried chicken. It needs less capital than a restaurant - less seating, fewer cooks, a shorter menu - but many people do not realise the paperwork is the same. You need a trade licence, Food Safety Authority registration (Tk 1,000, valid three years), a fire service licence, environmental clearance from the Department of Environment, and TIN and VAT from the NBR; with seating, VAT is 5 percent. The restaurant owners' association counts ten to twelve separate approvals to open. The cost side can be measured. At Chaldal prices on 16-09-2026 the materials in one burger are: a Bread Pit bun at Tk 17.50-22.50, an AG Food chicken patty at Tk 50, or 100 g of beef at Tk 78-85, a slice of Arla burger cheddar at about Tk 46, and 15 ml of Naples mayonnaise at about Tk 9. So a plain chicken burger costs around Tk 75 in materials and a beef burger with cheese around Tk 165, before gas, power, packaging, rent and wages. Foodpanda data shows online burger orders rising outside Dhaka too - in Chattogram, Sylhet, Khulna, Rajshahi, Mymensingh and Rangpur.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳90,000 – ৳4,50,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳150 – ৳360 / unitEditorial estimate
Variable cost৳75 – ৳165 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin50% – 54%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue30 – 90 daysOfficial source
Break-even time4 – 12 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle0 – 15 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss5% – 15%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity40 – 250Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • A grill or hotplate, a deep fryer, an oven or microwave, a fridge and a deep freeze, an exhaust fan, a counter, a cash box and a fire extinguisher. A 12 kg LPG cylinder is Tk 1,585 (BERC, 2 September 2026).Equipment
  • Burger buns (Bread Pit 2 for Tk 35, 4 for Tk 90), chicken patties (AG Food 4 x 50 g for Tk 200), ready beef patties (Quality 240 g for Tk 330), burger slice cheese (Arla 200 g for Tk 460), mayonnaise (Naples 475 ml for Tk 275), beef at Tk 780-850 a kg, broiler at Tk 180-200 a kg, soybean oil at Tk 186-195 a litre.Starting stock
  • Fire safety licence from the Fire Service and Civil Defence Directorate, compulsory because of gas burners, fryers and cylinders. The fee could not be verified in this research.Licence
  • Environmental clearance from the Department of Environment, one step in the food business licensing process.Licence
  • TIN and VAT registration from the National Board of Revenue. VAT is 5 percent for dine-in restaurants and 15 percent for catering services.Licence
  • Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000, plus VAT and a signboard fee, in 3-5 working days.Licence
  • Bangladesh Food Safety Authority registration, compulsory for restaurants and food shops under the Food Safety (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2026: Tk 1,000 new, Tk 500 renewal, valid three years, with a physical kitchen inspection before registration.Licence
  • Judging the heat and timing of a patty, and getting the order out in five to seven minutes. In fast food a slow counter loses the customer.Skill
  • A shop of 150 to 400 square feet with a counter at the front and the kitchen behind, with water and drainage. Adding seating brings the 5 percent dine-in VAT into play.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Pick a spot where young people gather in the late afternoon and evening - college gates, coaching centre lanes, near a university, or an office area. Fast food lives entirely on foot traffic.
  2. 2Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality with a food shop named as the trade: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000.
  3. 3Register with the Food Safety Authority: Tk 1,000 new, Tk 500 renewal, valid three years. Registration involves a physical kitchen inspection, so get the floor, drainage, hand-washing point and covered bins right first.
  4. 4Take the fire safety licence from Fire Service and Civil Defence and environmental clearance from the Department of Environment. With gas burners and fryers neither can be skipped.
  5. 5Take TIN and VAT registration from the NBR. With seating, VAT is 5 percent; catering services are a separate head at 15 percent.
  6. 6Fit out the kitchen: a grill or hotplate, a deep fryer, a convection oven or microwave, a fridge and a deep freeze, an exhaust fan and a fire extinguisher. A 12 kg LPG cylinder is Tk 1,585.
  7. 7Keep the menu short. More items mean more prep sitting in the fridge, and whatever does not sell is a loss. Start with six to eight items and add as demand shows.
  8. 8Line up suppliers - a steady source for buns and patties and a nearby butcher for meat. 100 g of beef is Tk 78-85 and broiler is Tk 180-200 a kg (15-09-2026). Making your own patties is cheaper but needs a freezer and time.
  9. 9Register the shop on the delivery apps. Foodpanda data shows online burger orders rising in Chattogram, Sylhet, Khulna, Rajshahi, Mymensingh and Rangpur as well as Dhaka. Find out the platform commission before you set prices.
  10. 10Write down each day's sales and prep the next day to match. Sales drop on rainy days and in exam weeks, so prep less on those.
  11. 11Keep the kitchen clean and raw meat away from cooked food. Mobile courts fine directly under the Food Safety Act - stale food in the fridge or cockroaches in the kitchen bring fines in the lakhs.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarHigh
  4. AprHigh
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugNormal
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecHigh
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitChattogram · Foodpanda data shows online burger orders growing fastest here outside Dhaka, with both universities and office areas.
  • Strong fitDhaka · The densest concentration of students, coaching centres and office areas, and the biggest delivery app market.
  • Strong fitGazipur · Garment workers and dense settlement give strong evening trade.
  • Strong fitKhulna · A divisional city with universities and colleges, and rising delivery app demand.
  • Strong fitRajshahi · A city ringed by universities and colleges with a large student population and rents far below Dhaka's.
  • Strong fitSylhet · Remittance purchasing power and a long-established restaurant culture, with online burger demand rising.
  • PossibleCox's Bazar · Sales jump in the tourist season and collapse out of it, while rent stays high all twelve months.
  • PossibleCumilla · The highway, the university and the cantonment area together give good footfall.
  • PossibleMymensingh · University and medical college students, with online ordering on the rise.
  • PossibleRangpur · A divisional city with low rents and, by Foodpanda's data, rising orders, though purchasing power is lower.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: The licence stack is the same as a restaurant's - trade licence, food safety registration, fire licence, environmental clearance, TIN and VAT, ten to twelve approvals by the restaurant owners' association's count. Missing any one of them can get the shop closed by a mobile court, and a dirty kitchen brings heavy fines: on 26 February 2026 Kacchi Dine at Chakbazar in Chattogram was fined three lakh taka under the Food Safety Act after rats and cockroaches were found in its kitchen.
  • HighSpoilage: Fast food runs on prep - salad, tomato, onion, patties. Whatever does not sell that day is a loss, and keeping it is a risk of being caught. A power cut spoils the meat and cheese in the fridge. On a wet day sales halve, but the prep is already done.
  • MediumDependency: Input prices are out of your hands - over twelve months broiler rose 7 percent, beef 5.2 percent and loose soybean oil 11.4 percent. But the burger price is on the board and compared directly with the shop next door, so raising it is hard.
  • MediumDemand: Customers are mostly students and office workers, so sales fall in holidays, exam weeks and closures. In Ramadan daytime sales are near zero but iftar brings a sudden rush that needs its own preparation. Rent and wages stay the same every month.
  • MediumWorking capital: Fit-out, the fridge, the fryer and advance rent all fall due together, and the licences take two to three months during which rent runs with no income. After opening, raw material still has to be bought in cash every day.

Sources

What changed

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Stories about this business

What went wrongA trained food-corner operator in East Sheorapara, Dhaka, in a Prothom Alo report

A food corner shared by five opened in May and shut in June

A food corner handed to five trained women opened in May and closed in June, with only one still trying to keep it going. A survey found 44 percent of trained women had set up no work six months after training.

Ran for
1 months
Reasons
Partner dispute, Family or health

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