Trademark Classes
Trademark Class for Restaurant
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
A restaurant name is Class 43. That is the class for services providing food and drink, and it covers restaurants, cafes, bars, cloud kitchens, catering and hotels.
But Class 43 protects the service of feeding people. The moment you put your name on something a customer takes away in a packet or a bottle, you are in goods classes too, and that is where most food businesses have a gap.
Class 43 is the restaurant itself
Class 43 covers services for providing food and drink and temporary accommodation. In practice that means the restaurant, the cafe, the bar, the food truck, the cloud kitchen, the catering operation and the hotel.
If you run a place where people eat or order meals, this is the class your brand name belongs in. For a single-outlet restaurant with no packaged products, Class 43 on its own is a complete and sensible answer.
Note that a bar is still Class 43. Serving alcohol is part of providing food and drink, so a restaurant and bar does not need a separate class for the bar side. Selling your own branded bottled alcohol is a different matter, covered below.
The goods classes food brands miss
The moment you sell a branded product rather than a meal, you need the relevant goods class. The four that matter most:
Class 30 — coffee, tea, rice, flour, bread, pastry, confectionery, spices, sauces, masalas and ready-mixes. This is the biggest one for Indian food brands. If you sell your own masala, pickle, sauce, biscuits or sweets, it is Class 30.
Class 29 — meat, fish, poultry, dairy, ghee, paneer, edible oils, dry fruits, jams and preserved or frozen vegetables. Packaged snacks made from these belong here rather than in 30.
Class 32 — mineral water, soft drinks, fruit juices, energy drinks and beers.
Class 33 — alcoholic beverages other than beer. Wine, spirits and liqueurs sit here. Note the split: beer is 32, everything else alcoholic is 33.
The line between 29 and 30 catches people out constantly. The rough rule is that 29 is animal products and processed produce, while 30 is grains, spices, baked goods and confectionery. A cheese is 29; a biscuit is 30.
If you franchise or sell through retail
Class 35 covers retail services and business administration, including franchising support. A restaurant group that licenses its brand to franchisees, or runs a retail counter selling packaged goods from other brands, should look at 35 in addition to 43.
A single restaurant that does not franchise and does not stock other brands usually does not need Class 35, and adding it without a reason just adds government fee.
What a food business typically files
Single restaurant or cafe. Class 43 alone.
Restaurant with its own packaged masalas or sauces. Class 43 plus Class 30.
Cloud kitchen brand. Class 43. Add 29 or 30 if you also sell retail packs.
Restaurant chain that franchises. Class 43 plus Class 35.
Bakery with a cafe. Class 30 for the baked goods and Class 43 for the seating and service.
Beverage brand with no outlet. Class 32, or 33 if alcoholic. No Class 43 at all, because you are not providing food and drink as a service.
Why the service class alone is not enough
This is the practical risk. If you register only Class 43 and your restaurant becomes known, nothing stops a third party registering your name in Class 30 and selling packaged food under it. Customers would reasonably assume it was yours.
Food and beverage is one of the more contested areas on the Indian register, and names drawn from common Indian food words attract objections under the absolute grounds because they can be read as descriptive. That makes a proper search before filing more important here than in many classes.
Before you file
List what you actually sell, separating the service from any product. Then check each item in the trademark class finder rather than working from the class headings, since examination turns on the specific description.
For a wider view of how service classes work, see the guide to trademark classes for service businesses.