Mild climate all year round, excellent cuisine, enchanting landscapes and lots of sea: if these reasons weren't enough to love southern Italy, we give you one more. With the Resto al Sud tender, you will be able to find the right funding to open a bar, cafeteria or ice cream shop. A real springboard to more easily enter a consolidated market.
What is Rest in the South?
Resto al Sud is a non-repayable loan to encourage the creation of new businesses in Southern Italy promoted by Invitalia . The latter is the national agency for investment attraction and business development, owned by the Ministry of Economy. Manages all national incentives which favor the creation of new businesses and innovative start-ups.
Who can participate?
The novelty of 2019 is the extension of participation to people between the ages of 18 and 46 (and no longer 35). Residents of one of the following regions can apply for funding to open a Resto al Sud bar: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily.
How do you apply for funding?
If you are in possession of all the requirements indicated on the site, you can proceed with the presentation of the project exclusively electronically. It's requested the digital signature and a PEC box, or certified e-mail. There is no time limit within which to send the project, whose feasibility will be evaluated.
What concessions can be obtained?
Rest in the South provides two types of concessions that can even cover 100% of the investment made to open your own bar:
- a non-refundable grant up to 35% of the expenditure programme;
- a 0-interest bank loan up to 65% of the estimated cost, to be repaid over 8 years.
What expenses are recognized and covered?
Many of the basic expenses can be covered by funding to open a Resto al Sud bar, such as:
- renovation of premises;
- purchase of machinery and professional equipment;
- transfers, utilities and bureaucratic expenses;
- purchase of raw materials.
However, personnel and design costs cannot be covered.
For further information on this and other points, visit the Resto al Sud page on the Invitalia website , where you can watch the video tutorial, download the app and get all the necessary information.
Don't forget that, beyond the requirements to participate in this or other tenders, there are others that are essential to open a restaurant business, such as HACCP and SAAB control .
Other forms of financing to open a bar
Rest in the South is just one of the possibilities for those who want to start a new business in the field of cafeteria and catering, Invitalia itself provides other opportunities. In addition, a call for funding is launched at the state level every year by the Ministry of Development. At the local level, funding varies from region to region and from year to year, and must be sought in the appropriate channels (regional portals, municipal and district Urp).
Franchising, on the other hand, is a formula to be evaluated for those who intend to take advantage of particular concessions, such as supplies, fittings and offers, but also royalties to be recognized to the brand. A great "turnkey" opportunity similar to a franchise is the Techfood Pic Nic proposal . This solution offers a complete and highly professional set-up as well as consultancy and contacts with suppliers. In a short time, with limited budget and space, you can start an innovative restaurant business like Carolina Casillo of Terni did. Discover its history .