The publican's certificate or publican's examination is not compulsory in every canton for running a compulsory catering business, but it is in most of them. Without such a license, you will not be issued an operating permit for a restaurant, club, bar, café or other establishment. However, as the cantonal hospitality laws vary greatly, there are also different requirements for prospective restaurateurs. Only in the cantons of Graubünden, Uri, Schwyz, Glarus, Appenzell-Ausserroden, Neuchâtel, Zug and Zurich is attendance at a course or college for publicans voluntary, although this is also recommended.

The contents of the cantonal landlord's license can vary greatly, so you must always ensure that you attend a course that meets the requirements of your canton. For the cantons of Lurzern, Nidwalden and Obwalden, for example, these are: Hospitality Industry Act, Addiction Prevention and Alcohol Act, Social Insurance, Food Law and Hygiene, Employment and Aliens Law and Fire Safety. For the canton of St. Gallen, the topics "Food Law and Hygiene" and "Addiction Prevention" are examined, and in Thurgau "Hospitality Law", "Food Law", "Alcohol Law and Addiction Prevention", "Social Security and Tax Law" and "Employment and Aliens Law". For the GastroSuisse G1 certificate, which is recognized throughout Switzerland, you take the modules "Hygiene", "Gastronomic Law", "Law", "Accounting", "Business Management and Organization", "Service/Sales" and "Kitchen".

Depending on the canton and its cantonal regulations, prospective landlords and landladies have to acquire different amounts of knowledge in order to pass the landlord's examination. Depending on the canton, the training for a landlord's license takes between four weeks with a workload of eight hours per week and four months with the same workload.

With the exception of the canton of Aargau, it is not essential that you have already worked in the catering industry to take the examination for the landlord's license, although this is of course an advantage. Career changers can also attend a course and take the exam. In order to be admitted to the examination in the canton of Aargau, 6 months of experience in the hospitality industry or professional experience with food must be proven.

A landlord's certificate that you obtain in the canton of Lucerne is not necessarily recognized in Bern, and one that you obtain in the canton of Aargau is not necessarily recognized in the canton of Basel-Land. In addition to cantonal certificates, however, there are also supra-regional certificates offered by some schools that are recognized throughout Switzerland, so you are not restricted to running a catering business in one canton only.