What does bringing in a franchise restaurant brand require?

A regional representation agreement with the brand owner, the right location, and a fit-out meeting brand standards; we manage this process end to end.

Why might a gastronomy market model outperform a single restaurant?

Combining multiple concepts under one roof can raise foot traffic and average spend per visit.

Can a foreign investor operate a restaurant?

Yes, through a company incorporated in Türkiye. We manage the process from incorporation through licensing.

Is getting an alcohol sales permit difficult?

It's a separate process tied to your concept and location; we plan for it as part of the overall licensing process.

Antakya Cuisine Restaurant & Gastronomy Center Investment

As a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, Antakya's internationally recognized dishes, künefe, hummus, muhammara and oruk among them, give a new restaurant investment ready-made brand value.

A traditional Mediterranean/Antakya cuisine spread

Antakya cuisine's international recognition gives a restaurant or gastronomy center investment ready brand value that appeals to both local and international visitors. The population movement driven by the rebuilding process is also raising day-to-day restaurant demand.

What Project Types Are Worth Considering?

Authentic Antakya cuisine restaurant
Gastronomy market / food court concept
Franchise restaurant (national/international brand)
Central kitchen + delivery-focused model

Which Areas Should You Consider?

The area around Antakya's Uzun Çarşı and the city center, close to the historic fabric, is the primary location. Defne offers a separate opportunity built around daily restaurant demand in new housing districts.

Licensing and Permit Process

Business opening and operating license (municipality)
Food safety certificate and food registry certificate
Alcohol sales permit, if applicable
Zoning status and commercial-use compliance for the building

Incentives and Support

Gastronomy investments with a tourism component (gastronomy centers, food courts) can access tourism incentive mechanisms; general Region 6 incentives apply as well.

See our Tourism Investment Consulting service

What to Keep in Mind

Location and foot traffic are decisive for a restaurant's success; rents within the historic fabric can run high, so factoring this into your budget early is important.

Sources

UNESCO Creative Cities Network: Hatay

From the official data

Distribution of Food Businesses by District

According to the district table in the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry's 2025 Activity Report, the number of food businesses registered with district directorates totals 10,825. İskenderun (1,650) and Antakya (1,470) rank first and second.

Indicator	Value	Year	Source
İskenderun	1,650	2025	[1]
Antakya	1,470	2025	[1]
Samandağ	1,233	2025	[1]
Arsuz	1,220	2025	[1]
Defne	1,059	2025	[1]
Dörtyol	916	2025	[1]
Reyhanlı	601	2025	[1]
Kırıkhan	535	2025	[1]
Altınözü	449	2025	[1]
Hassa	373	2025	[1]
Yayladağı	348	2025	[1]
Payas	329	2025	[1]
Belen	308	2025	[1]
Erzin	268	2025	[1]
Kumlu	66	2025	[1]

What does this data mean for an investor?

The top four districts (İskenderun, Antakya, Samandağ, Arsuz) hold 51% of businesses. It is notable that Samandağ and Arsuz rank ahead of the more populous Defne and Dörtyol, which suggests food production and sales are registered more densely in coastal districts than population alone would predict (interpretation). It is a starting point for reading competitive density district by district for restaurant, central-kitchen or food-brand investments.

Limitation: The count is registered food businesses subject to inspection; the type (restaurant, producer, retail) and size of business are not in the table. The “2025 realisation” and “2026 target” columns of the same table may relate to the inspection programme and were not used. A further 688 businesses are registered with the provincial Food and Feed Branch and are not allocated to districts.

Pages related to this data

Sources

[1] Hatay Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, 2025 Activity Report (data period: 2024–2025)

Tourism: Pre-Earthquake Baseline and the Development Agency's 2025 Records

According to the Hatay Provincial Tourism Strategy and Action Plan of the Eastern Mediterranean Development Agency (DOĞAKA), Hatay had 45 tourism-licensed accommodation facilities, 2,273 rooms and 4,602 beds in 2016 data. These figures describe the situation before the 2023 earthquake; current facility and bed numbers are not in these sources. The agency's 2025 activity report records current tourism projects (Antakya Gastronomy Market, Madenli Yacht Harbour, Hatay Surf Centre).

Indicator	Value	Year	Source
Tourism-licensed accommodation facilities	45	2016	[1]
Rooms · beds	2,273 · 4,602	2016	[1]
Rooms · beds in Antakya (subtotal)	754 · 1,522	2016	[1]
Tourism-licensed food-and-beverage facilities · travel agencies	10 · 86	2016	[1]
Average annual tourists (entries to licensed facilities)	223,304	2009–2015	[1]
Average nights · average occupancy (DOĞAKA calculation)	1.9 · 34.4%	2009–2015	[1]
Antakya Gastronomy Market: opened · daily visitors · businesses	27.09.2024 · about 3,000 · 15	2024–2025	[2]
Hatay Surf Centre (2025 CMDP): completion target	April 2026	2025	[2]

What does this data mean for an investor?

About 33% of the pre-earthquake capacity (1,522 beds) was in Antakya's centre. The present state of this capacity cannot be read from these sources; without the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's current licensed-facility data no accommodation supply figure can be given. By DOĞAKA's calculation, average occupancy in licensed facilities during 2009–2015 was 34.4% with 1.9 nights on average: pre-earthquake demand used only a small part of existing bed capacity. The agency read this as roughly two thirds of accommodation capacity going unused.

What it means for an investor: for a new hotel or boutique-lodging decision, the first question should not be “are beds missing?” but “where will occupied beds come from?”; low pre-earthquake occupancy shows the demand side (visitor numbers, length of stay) matters more than the structure. As current demand indicators, Hatay Airport passenger data (the air-traffic block on this page), new visitor-drawing sites such as the Gastronomy Market and the museum's reopening timetable should be followed together (interpretation).

Limitation: Accommodation and visitor figures refer to 2016 and 2009–2015; they rest on Hatay Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism data in the DOĞAKA plan and do not reflect the 2023 earthquake. The plan's “occupancy” is a rough ratio of annual tourist numbers to bed capacity, not true room occupancy. The plan's visitor and revenue projections for 2023 should be assumed not to have materialised and are not used as reference. The 2025 items are project statuses from the development agency's activity report; visitor numbers (Gastronomy Market) are the agency's statement.

Pages related to this data

Sources

Figures come from official sources; interpretations are Invest Hatay's own and are not investment advice.

Frequently asked questions about restaurant & gastronomy center investment

The Uzun Çarşı area stands out for proximity to the historic fabric, while new housing districts offer strong day-to-day customer potential; we help determine this based on your concept.