Buying or opening a café or bar in Spain: costs, payback and licences

An existing café or bar in Spain sells via traspaso for about €75,000 on average: half of 2026 listings ranged from €43,000 to €120,000, around €45,000 in Valencia and €98,000 in Barcelona.

Opening a bar from scratch costs €80,000–150,000. Payback is about 3 years — but usually only if the owner works behind the bar.

Below: what it costs to buy an existing café or bar and to open one from scratch, what a traspaso actually sells, what a bar earns and spends, which permits each region requires, how module-based taxation works and what to check before buying. The page includes a payback calculator with an illustrative bar.

What an existing café or bar costs

We reviewed 73 traspaso listings for bars, cafés and restaurants in six cities (Wallapop, which also carries idealista listings, October 2026).

The median is €75,000, and half the properties fall between €43,000 and €120,000. These are asking prices: they come down in a deal.

Median rent in the sample is about €13 per m² a month.

A traspaso costs on average 59 months’ rent — a handy check: if a bar without outstanding revenue is priced at 150 months’ rent, it is overpriced. Resort towns vary wildly: in Marbella, from €38,000 to €1.25m.

Examples from the sample: a brunch café in Alicante, 78 m² — €59,800 with rent of €600 a month; a gastrobar in Valencia’s Ruzafa district, 80 m² — €105,000 with rent of €800; a bar-restaurant with kitchen near Plaça Urquinaona in Barcelona, 180 m² — €220,000 with rent of €5,700; a 40 m² bar with extraction in Badalona — €30,000 with rent of €816.

What a traspaso actually sells

Traspaso is an everyday word. Legally it is the assignment of the premises lease, usually together with furniture and equipment.

The seller’s company, its accounts and the premises themselves are not included, and the licence does not transfer automatically — it moves through a change of holder at the town hall.

So the buyer pays for three things: the lease (how many years remain and on what terms), the fit-out and equipment (no €80,000–100,000 refit needed) and the licence for the right activity — above all a permitted kitchen with extraction.

• Extraction. A bar without it cannot fry or cook hot food — only reheating and cold dishes. A kitchen must extract through its own duct taken up to the roof of the building (CTE DB-HS 3), and a duct on the façade passes through common property — usually the owners’ association has to agree. That is why “con salida de humos” in a listing pushes the price up.
• Licence classes in Barcelona. Listings still use the old classes: C1 — bar without kitchen, C2 — bar-restaurant, C3 — restaurant with kitchen and extraction.
• Terrace. Permission for street tables is a separate, time-limited document, and it does not always pass to the buyer.

What it costs to open a café or bar from scratch

According to industry suppliers, a typical bar including refit, licences, equipment and furniture costs €80,000–150,000, a small one €25,000–90,000.

The main item is the refit: about €1,000–1,200 per m², or €80,000–96,000 for 80 m².

Equipment (fridges, coffee machine, beer taps, display cases, till) costs €5,000–30,000, design and licences €1,000–5,000, opening stock €3,000–10,000, plus a reserve until the business breaks even.

Hence the main argument for a traspaso: for a median €75,000 the buyer gets premises already fitted out, with a kitchen and, with luck, extraction — whereas starting from scratch, the refit alone costs more.

The argument against: failing locations are sold by traspaso too, so find out why the bar is for sale.

Which permits you need

Spain’s retail liberalisation law (Ley 12/2012), which replaces licences with a declaration for shops up to 750 m², does not apply to bars and cafés: hospitality is not in its annex.

Opening a bar is governed by regional public-establishment laws and municipal ordinances:

• Valencian Community. You open on a declaration with a technician’s project, a completion certificate and insurance; the town hall must inspect within a month, otherwise you may open after notifying it in writing (Ley 14/2010, art. 9). Venues for more than 500 people need an authorisation (art. 10).
• Catalonia. Bars and restaurants for up to 150 people open on prior notification (comunicació prèvia); larger ones need a municipal licence.
• Madrid. Since 2022 the OLDRUAM ordinance applies: the main regime is a declaration, with a licence only where there are risks to safety, health, the environment or heritage.
• Andalusia. Hospitality venues with or without music close by 02:00 (Decreto 155/2018, art. 17.1); live music is not automatically part of a bar’s activity — it must be stated in the declaration or separately authorised.

The food-safety register for a bar is kept by the region; there is no separate entry in the national register.

The mandatory “food handler’s card” was abolished in 2010 (RD 109/2010) — the bar itself must train its staff in hygiene.

A terrace costs money. In Alicante it is €4.16 per m² a month on a first-category street; in Málaga €87.80 per m² a year on a category A street (ordinance rates from 2020–2021).

A 20 m² terrace costs about €1,000 a year in Alicante and about €1,760 in Málaga.

What a café or bar earns

Spain has 163,890 bars — 14% fewer than ten years ago — plus around 84,000 restaurants and cafeterias.

Hospitality as a whole sells €116bn a year, but sector profitability fell in 2025: average spend is not keeping up with rising food, wage and energy costs.

Cost structure benchmarks (industry figures, not official statistics):

• Food and drink — 25–35% of revenue, usually 28–32% for cafés and bars.
• Staff — 25–35% of revenue. Food plus staff should stay below 60%; above 65% threatens profit.
• Rent — no more than 10% of revenue. At the median rent of €1,255 a month, a bar needs at least €150,000 of revenue a year.

Staff. Under the 2026 collective agreement for Alicante province, a bar waiter earns €1,314.25 a month 14 times a year plus an October payment of €1,235.82 — €19,635 a year gross.

Employer contributions in 2026 add about 32%, so a waiter costs the bar about €25,950 a year, around €2,160 a month.

Café and bar payback calculator

The calculator holds an illustrative bar: a €75,000 traspaso plus €15,000 for upgrades.

Revenue is €15,000 a month excluding VAT (€180,000 a year), food and drink 30%, staff €4,800 a month (about two positions with a working owner), rent €1,255 a month, other costs (energy, insurance, accountant, repairs, terrace) €1,500 a month.

Pre-tax profit is €35,340 a year, about €28,600 after tax, and the €90,000 investment pays back in about 3.1 years.

Two caveats. First, the model has no salary for the owner — they work behind the bar, so much of that €28,600 a year is their wage rather than a return on capital.

Second, a bar is very sensitive to revenue. At €140,000 a year instead of €180,000, with the same costs, pre-tax profit falls from €35,340 to €7,340. Break-even is about €10,800 of revenue a month.

Take revenue from bank statements, till reports and VAT returns (modelo 303), not from the seller’s word.

For how sellers justify a price, see How to value a business for sale; to assess an investment once timing is considered, see IRR (internal rate of return).

Taxes: VAT and modules

• VAT. Food and drink served in a bar or restaurant is taxed at the reduced 10% rate (art. 91.Uno.2.2º Ley 37/1992).
• Modules. In 2026 the objective assessment regime (módulos) applies to bars: headings 673.1 and 673.2, up to 8 employees. For an ordinary bar (673.2) the annual base is €11,413.08 per working owner, €1,643.93 per employee, €94.48 per kW of power, €119.67 per table and €163.76 per metre of bar counter. Example: owner, 1 employee, 15 kW, 8 tables and a 6 m counter — about €16,414 of taxable base a year before depreciation and reducing coefficients, regardless of revenue.
• Module limits. Modules are available with previous-year revenue up to €250,000 — that is the tax agency’s position, although parliament has not ratified the decrees extending these limits. Check this with an accountant before choosing a regime.
• SL. Modules are for individuals only. A bar owned by an SL pays corporate tax: in 2026, with turnover under €1m, 19% on the first €50,000 of profit and 21% above. What a company costs is covered in SL in Spain, how to take profit out in Salary or dividends from a Spanish SL.

What to check before buying a café or bar

1. The lease. A business tenant may assign the lease without the landlord’s consent, but the landlord may raise the rent by 20% and must be notified within a month (art. 32 LAU). The lease may prohibit assignment or change these terms (art. 4.3 LAU). The remaining lease term is the main asset in a traspaso.
2. The licence. Who holds it and for which activity: a bar without a kitchen or a restaurant, with or without music. Do capacity and terrace match the licence? In the Valencian Community a change of holder is notified to the town hall within a month of the deal, and both parties sign the notice (Ley 14/2010, art. 12).
3. Extraction. Is there any, and is it legal? Without it the menu is limited.
4. The numbers. Monthly revenue for 2–3 years from bank statements, the till and VAT returns. If the seller is on modules, real revenue does not appear in tax returns. In resort towns, look at winter revenue.
5. Debts and staff. The buyer of a trading business is liable for the seller’s tax debts (art. 42.1.c LGT) unless they obtain a tax-debt certificate before the deal, issued within 3 months (art. 175.2 LGT); for Social Security debts (art. 168.2 LGSS); employees transfer with all their rights, and seller and buyer are jointly liable for wage debts for 3 years (art. 44 ET).
6. VAT on the deal. Selling a whole business able to operate on its own is outside VAT (art. 7.1 Ley 37/1992); a mere assignment of rights and assets usually carries 21% VAT — structure the deal with a tax lawyer.
7. Why it is for sale. Neighbours and noise complaints, seasonality, competitors on the street, the state of the equipment. Visit on different days and in different seasons.

How an existing business is checked before you pay a deposit is described on our traspaso audit page; if you are buying the owning company, you need full due diligence.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to buy a bar in Spain?

In a sample of 2026 listings, a bar or café traspaso costs €75,000 on average, with half between €43,000 and €120,000. Cheapest in Valencia (about €45,000), most expensive in Barcelona (about €98,000) and Marbella (about €120,000). These are asking prices.

How much does it cost to open a bar from scratch?

A typical bar costs €80,000–150,000, a small one from €25,000. The main item is the refit at about €1,000–1,200 per m², plus equipment at €5,000–30,000, design and licences at €1,000–5,000 and a reserve until break-even.

Is the licence included in a traspaso?

The licence is tied to the premises and activity and transfers through a change-of-holder notice at the town hall, not automatically. Check which activity it covers: a bar without a kitchen cannot cook hot food.

How much does a bar owner earn in Spain?

In the illustrative example with €180,000 of revenue a year, the owner keeps about €28,600 after tax — while working behind the bar themselves. Industry benchmarks put bar net margins at 5–15% of revenue.

What is the payback period for a café or bar?

About 3 years at average revenue with a working owner. A bar is sensitive to revenue: a 20% drop in revenue can cut profit several times over.

Can a bar pay tax under the module system?

Yes, if the owner is an individual, the bar has no more than 8 employees and previous-year revenue was up to €250,000. The base is calculated on staff, power, tables and counter length, not revenue.

Key points about buying a café or bar in Spain

• A bar or café traspaso costs €75,000 on average, about 59 months’ rent; opening from scratch costs €80,000–150,000.
• A traspaso buys the lease, the fit-out and equipment, and the licence — a permitted kitchen with extraction is especially valuable.
• Opening is governed by regions and town halls, not the general retail law.
• Payback is about 3 years, but usually only with a working owner; a bar is very sensitive to revenue.
• Before buying: the lease, the licence, extraction, revenue from bank and till, the seller’s debts and staff.

Sources

• Ley 12/2012 — BOE; Ley 14/2010 of the Valencian Community — alicante.es; Decreto 155/2018 (Andalusia) — BOJA.
• LAU, arts. 4 and 32 — BOE; LGT, arts. 42 and 175 — BOE; Workers’ Statute, art. 44 — BOE; Ley 37/1992 (VAT) — BOE.
• Orden HAC/1425/2025 (modules for 2026) — BOE; Orden PJC/297/2026 (contributions) — BOE.
• Alicante province hospitality collective agreement, 2026 tables — BOPA.
• Terrace fees: Alicante — alicante.es, Málaga — malaga.eu.
• Hostelería de España, Anuario 2025 — otea.es.
• Traspaso listings — Wallapop, October 2026.