Mandatory restaurant signage: what exactly are we talking about?
An inspection by the DDPP or the labour inspectorate almost always starts with a walk around the dining room. The officer looks at your walls before looking at your paperwork. A missing notice takes three seconds to spot.
The principle fits in one sentence: certain information must reach the customer before they order, and other information must reach your staff. Each notice has a location and a format imposed on it. Nothing is left to your discretion, except the look of the poster itself.
Mandatory signage for restaurants: who is concerned?
Every business serving meals or drinks on the premises. Traditional restaurants, brasseries, pizzerias, tea rooms, food trucks, bars. The number of covers changes nothing: the same signage obligations apply to 12 seats and to 120.
A business holding a licence, in other words a licensed premises, has several extra notices relating to alcohol. That is where most of the oversights are concentrated.
What signage is mandatory inside your restaurant?
Indoors, the notices cover consumption, safety and customer protection. They must stay visible from the areas open to the public, not tucked away behind the till.
Allergen information
The 14 regulated allergens must be indicated for every dish: gluten, milk, egg, tree nuts, peanuts, soya, fish, crustaceans, molluscs, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin. You can put them on the menu, in a folder available on request or on a board, provided you clearly display where the information can be found.
A line such as "ask your server" is no longer enough: the information has to exist in writing and be available without the customer having to ask for it. The detailed rules are covered in our guide to allergen information and the FIC Regulation.
Meat origin
Declaring meat origin is compulsory for meat (beef, pork, lamb and poultry) served as a dish. You must state the country of birth, rearing and slaughter, or the wording "origin: France" when all three stages take place there.
This goes on the menu, on a table card or on a board visible in the dining room. Remember to correct it as soon as you change supplier. Our page on displaying meat origin sets out the accepted wording.
No smoking and no vaping
No-smoking signage is compulsory at the entrance and in the dining areas. A standard sign stating the type of penalty incurred is enough. Since 2017, separate signage has also banned vaping in enclosed, covered workplaces.
If you have a terrace that is closed on at least three sides and covered, it counts as an indoor space. It therefore needs the same signage.
Protection of minors, alcohol and public drunkenness
A business selling alcoholic drinks must display several notices:
- the ban on selling alcohol to minors under 18, under the rules on protection of minors;
- the penalties relating to the prosecution of public drunkenness and to the protection of minors;
- the health message on drinking alcohol during pregnancy;
- the list of non-alcoholic drinks available to customers at a reduced price.
These posters come together in most of the packs sold by suppliers. Check that they really do mention the prosecution of drunkenness and not just the ban on sales to minors.
In practice, the two most frequent omissions are not allergens: they are the poster on reduced-price soft drinks and the no-vaping signage.
What signage is mandatory outside your restaurant?
The outside is there to inform the customer before they walk in. Three sets of information are expected.
Prices and service times
The menu and set menus must be readable from the public highway, with prices inclusive of all taxes and the wording "service included". You must specify the times during which set menus available only in a limited window are served, and state whether or not drinks are included in the advertised price.
For wines and drinks served by the glass, the measure must appear. The full rules are on our dedicated page about displaying prices in restaurants.
Opening hours and licence
Opening hours have no imposed format, but they must be accurate and consistent with your online listings. Displaying the licence, on the other hand, is regulated: the licence type must appear on the frontage, in a size readable from the street, with no alcohol brand advertising attached to it.
Mandatory signage for your staff: don't forget it
This is the most commonly neglected part, even though the labour inspectorate checks it. A board in the stockroom or the staff changing room must bring together the applicable HCR collective agreement, the contact details of the labour inspectorate, the occupational health doctor and the emergency services, the documents covering collective working hours, the holiday rota, plus the fire safety instructions and the hygiene rules.
An A2 board with pockets costs under 40 euros and holds the lot. The up-to-date notices are available free of charge on service-public.fr.
Where can you find a free printable PDF of mandatory restaurant signage?
This is the most common search on the subject, and the answer is reassuring: you don't have to buy anything.
- The official posters can be downloaded as free PDFs from government sites and from Santé publique France.
- Trade bodies such as the UMIH offer a kit to their members.
- Wholesalers, Metro chief among them, sell a full laminated pack for between 20 and 60 euros.
A PDF printed on ordinary paper is perfectly valid. Just plan for a laminator or plastic pockets in damp areas such as the wash-up.
Fines: what missing signage costs
The amounts vary depending on which regulation is involved. Here are the orders of magnitude that apply to an operator trading as an individual.
| Missing signage | Location | Fine incurred |
|---|---|---|
| Allergens | Dining room or menu | Up to €1,500 |
| Meat origin | Dining room or menu | Up to €1,500 |
| No smoking and no vaping | Entrance and dining areas | Up to €750 |
| Prices and service | Outside, visible from the street | Up to €3,000 |
| Protection of minors, public drunkenness | Bar counter | Up to €750 |
| Staff notices | Staff area | €450 per missing notice |
A fine is still rare at a first inspection: the officer usually issues a warning with a deadline to put things right. A repeat offence, though, does cost you.
How to keep your mandatory signage up to date
Set aside an hour every quarter. You check three things: prices, meat origin after a change of supplier, and allergens after a recipe change.
As for the format, the regulations accept paper as readily as digital, as long as the information is accessible without any special effort. Prices and the licence must remain physically displayed outside. Allergens and meat origin, on the other hand, lend themselves well to a menu consulted online, which you can correct in two minutes instead of going back to the printer. It is one of the most concrete uses of a QR code menu in a restaurant: updates are instant, and the version history tells you what has changed.
Even so, keep a printed copy of the menu available in the dining room. A customer without a smartphone, or an inspector in a hurry, has to be able to read the information without relying on your network.