Menyu

Local guide · Canton of Basel-Stadt

Running a restaurant in Basel, where Switzerland meets France and Germany

Basel gained 2,526 residents in 2025, or +1.4%, the fastest growth among Switzerland’s ten largest cities. Every day about 36,000 cross-border workers come into Basel-Stadt, over half of them from France. Your dishes can be read in German, French and English, allergens included, with their prices in francs.

Try my menu online with its linkCreate my menu QR code

Terrace table in a quiet Basel street on a spring morning, with a red QR code stand, a plate of seasonal vegetables and a homemade lemonade
AI-generated illustration

Growth

The fastest growth of the large cities

Basel had 180,097 residents on 31 December 2025, Switzerland’s third city. It gained 2,526 in a year (+1.4%), while Zurich and Geneva grew by 1.0% and Lausanne by 0.5%.1

Births (1,667) fell just short of deaths (1,680): the rise comes from 12,350 arrivals against 9,955 departures.1

For your menu

A city that grows through newcomers has many guests who don’t know your place yet: your menu online does the introductions.

Visitors and languages

36,000 cross-border workers a day

According to the Basel-Stadt statistical office, about 36,000 people cross the border every day to work there: slightly over half from France, slightly fewer from Germany. They hold about 18% of the canton’s jobs.2

The MICHELIN Guide’s “Basel and surroundings” list mixes Swiss, French and German restaurants, from Huningue and Saint-Louis to Weil am Rhein.3

For your menu

At lunchtime, part of your dining room crossed the border that morning: dishes also written in French spare them translating in their heads.

Economy

Hospitality is hiring faster than other sectors

In 2024 Basel-Stadt had 201,823 jobs, nearly 2,100 more than a year earlier. The biggest rise was in hospitality (Gastgewerbe), up 6.9% in a year.2

For your menu

Every new member of the floor team has to learn the menu: allergens written dish by dish give them the right answer from their first shift.

Local rules

Terraces on public ground: permit, 1:200 plan and a fee per m²

In Basel, serving outside your premises for the first time needs a building permit, paid for and issued to the building’s owner by the Bau- und Gastgewerbeinspektorat; you need one too to enlarge the area or extend the hours. Once it is granted, the venue registers with the Allmendverwaltung of the civil engineering office, with a dimensioned 1:200 plan. The usage permit runs all year.4

Within the permitted area you can set out menu boards, counters, parasols or plants; fences, screens, tents, rugs and platforms are not allowed, nor is third-party branding such as chairs from a brewery. Music is not permitted, and ground sleeves for parasols need a simplified building application.4

The usage fee is CHF 80 per m² a year in the city centre and 25% less elsewhere. With the neighbouring owners’ written consent, the terrace can also extend in front of the next building.4

For your menu

A menu board is allowed within the permitted area, and the QR code on the table opens the whole menu, prices in francs included.

Local food

52 MICHELIN restaurants across three countries

The MICHELIN Guide’s “Basel and surroundings” selection lists 52 restaurants: one with three stars, two with two stars, eleven with one star, six Bib Gourmands and 32 selected addresses.3

Its filters find vegetarian options at 45 of them, vegan at 16 and gluten-free at 22; two offer kosher options and two halal.3

For your menu

On both sides of the border your guests have a choice: a menu they can read without effort, dietary needs included, weighs in their decision.

Key facts

Basel in figures

residents on 31 December 2025, Switzerland’s third city1
180,097
more residents in 2025, the fastest growth of the country’s ten largest cities1
+1.4%
cross-border workers or so come into Basel-Stadt every day, over half from France2
36,000
per m² a year for a terrace on public ground in the city centre, 25% less elsewhere4
CHF 80

With Menyu

Menyu for a Basel menu: what works, what’s missing

Menyu publishes the menu behind a QR code in your colours. In Basel it helps you serve a room that reads German and French, with prices in francs; it does not handle online payment, as the limits below explain.

  • Dishes in French for cross-border guests

    Menyu translates dishes into 25 languages, German, French, English and Italian included; review the translation before you publish it. The menu’s buttons show in French or English.

    • Dishes translated into 25 languages, to reviewIncluded
    See the menu features

  • Your prices in francs, on the menu board and behind the QR code

    Choose Swiss francs as the currency in the settings: you type your prices in francs and the online menu shows them as they are, with nothing converted. The QR code, in your colours, opens an address that never changes; a seasonal dish goes on without reprinting anything.

    • QR code in your colours, with your logoIncluded
    • Content updated without reprintingIncluded
    • Prices in Swiss francs, exactly as you type themIncluded
    Create my menu QR code

  • The lunch menu, at lunchtime

    A category can show at set hours only: the lunch menu at midday, the evening menu after. With Premium, an e-mail campaign tells your regulars when the menu changes, with no text messages.

    • Categories shown by time of dayIncluded
    • E-mail campaigns, no text messagesPremium
    See what Premium includes

Limits

What Menyu does not do

  • The menu’s buttons (basket, filters) stay in French or English, and the opening status in French, even when the dishes are in German.
  • No online payment for a Basel venue: payment accounts can only be opened in France.
  • The optional sign-up phone field expects ten digits in French format: a +41 number is rejected and a 061 one would be saved as +33. Leave it blank.
  • Your menu shows francs, but Menyu’s subscription is billed in euros.

Questions

Questions and answers

How do I open a pavement terrace in Basel?

In two steps. First a building permit from the Bau- und Gastgewerbeinspektorat, paid for and issued to the building’s owner; you need one too to enlarge the terrace or extend its hours. Then registration with the Allmendverwaltung of the civil engineering office, with a dimensioned 1:200 plan.

The usage permit runs all year, and the canton’s page shows the inspector in charge of each area.4

What does a terrace on public ground cost?

The usage fee is CHF 80 per m² a year in the city centre and 25% less elsewhere, according to the canton’s zone map. The building permit you need first is also charged.4

What can I put on my terrace?

Tables and chairs, and within the permitted area menu boards, counters, parasols or plants. Fences, screens, tents, rugs and platforms are ruled out, as is third-party branding. Music is not allowed, and ground sleeves for parasols go through a simplified building application.4

Does the menu have to show where meat and fish come from?

Yes, in writing, according to the Swiss food safety office (FSVO). In Basel, au violon’s lunch menu does it next to each dish: “Wildschwein-Terrine (AT)”, “Geschnetzeltes Rindfleisch (IRL)”, “Knurrhahnfilet (NL)”, with the line “Preise in CHF inkl. MWST”.

On Menyu, the origin goes into the dish name or description and is translated with it. The national rules are on the Switzerland page.56

Swiss menu rules
Can my menu show in French for cross-border guests?

Yes for the dishes. About 36,000 cross-border workers come into Basel-Stadt every day, over half from France. Menyu translates the content into 25 languages, French and English included; the menu’s buttons stay in French or English.2

Can the prices on my Menyu menu be in francs?

Yes. Once Swiss francs are chosen in the settings, you type your prices in francs and the menu shows them with nothing converted, as your menu board does. The price-indication ordinance requires restaurants to show the actual price in Swiss francs.

Menyu’s own subscription is billed in euros, whatever the currency of the menu.7

Can I take payments online with Menyu in Basel?

No: Menyu only opens payment accounts in France. Guests pay on site, as they do today.

Are the restaurants on this page Menyu customers?

No. They come from the 2025 MICHELIN Guide selection, which lists 52 restaurants for Basel and its surroundings. We did not contact them, and the 2026 selection comes out on 2 November.38

According to the guides

Six MICHELIN Guide restaurants, from the Rhine to the Bruderholzallee

These six city addresses are in the 2025 MICHELIN Guide Switzerland selection, in force on 21 October 2026: the only three-star restaurant of the Basel selection, two two-star restaurants, one one-star, one Bib Gourmand and one vegetarian address. The 2026 selection comes out on 2 November.

These restaurants are not Menyu customers and were not approached. The list comes from the MICHELIN Guide; on 21 October 2026 each one’s website showed its hours, menus or bookings.

  1. Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl

    Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, facing the Rhine9 · Classic French cuisine · €€€€

    • 3 MICHELIN Stars 2025310

    Peter Knogl serves French haute cuisine, as a tasting menu or Ă  la carte, such as red mullet with black garlic cream and saffron sauce.9

    Guide MICHELIN listingRestaurant website11

  2. Stucki - Tanja Grandits

    A villa on the Bruderholzallee12 · Creative, modern cuisine · €€€€

    • 2 MICHELIN Stars 2025310

    Tanja Grandits brings flowers and leaves to her plates; in the evening her nine-course menu also comes in a vegetarian version.12

    Guide MICHELIN listingRestaurant website13

  3. roots

    Bachletten district, by the zoo14 · Modern, seasonal cuisine · €€€€

    • 2 MICHELIN Stars 2025310

    A surprise menu of 7 to 10 courses led by vegetables; the signature dish, “Gemüse Garten”, brings together more than thirty varieties.15

    Guide MICHELIN listingRestaurant website14

  4. Restaurant LA

    St. Johanns-Vorstadt16 · Seasonal cuisine · €€€

    • 1 MICHELIN Star 2025310

    A new star in the 2025 selection: Matthieu Judenne cooks creative yet affordable seasonal food, with a surprise menu of four or six courses, and in summer a pavement terrace facing the tram line.16

    Guide MICHELIN listingRestaurant website17

  5. au violon

    Former Lohnhof prison, old town6 · Classic French, traditional cuisine · €€

    • Bib Gourmand 20253

    A no-frills brasserie menu, from corn-fed chicken supreme to Burgundy snails, and a terrace in the shade of the trees.18

    Guide MICHELIN listingRestaurant website6

  6. Concordia

    Haltingerstrasse, in a former pub19 · Vegetarian, creative cuisine · €€€

    • MICHELIN Guide selection 20253

    Exclusively vegetarian cooking in sharing menus: in the evening, twelve dishes over five courses or fifteen over seven, with shorter versions at lunch.19

    Guide MICHELIN listingRestaurant website20

Method

How this page was made

Written by the Menyu team, a publisher based in Montpellier, from the pages cited, all read on 21 October 2026: the Federal Statistical Office, the Basel-Stadt statistical office and civil engineering office, the FSVO, Fedlex, the MICHELIN Guide and the restaurants’ websites. Distinctions are those of the 2025 MICHELIN Switzerland selection. None of the restaurants listed is a Menyu customer. The illustration is AI-generated and shows no real place.

Sources

  1. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), Bilan de la population résidante permanente, par canton et ville, de 1999 à 2025dam-api.bfs.admin.ch · accessed 21 October 2026

  2. Statistisches Amt des Kantons Basel-Stadt, Arbeitstatistik.bs.ch · accessed 21 October 2026

  3. Guide MICHELIN, Restaurants MICHELIN, Bâle et ses environsguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  4. Kanton Basel-Stadt, Tiefbauamt, Verkaufen & Bewirtenbs.ch · accessed 21 October 2026

  5. Office fédéral de la sécurité alimentaire et des affaires vétérinaires (OSAV), Informations sur les aliments vendus en vracblv.admin.ch · accessed 21 October 2026

  6. au violon, Site officiel de au violonau-violon.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  7. Fedlex, Ordonnance du 11 décembre 1978 sur l’indication des prix (OIP), RS 942.211fedlex.admin.ch · accessed 21 October 2026

  8. Guide MICHELIN, La cérémonie du Guide MICHELIN s’installe à Andermattguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  9. Guide MICHELIN, Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl, Bâleguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  10. Guide MICHELIN, La liste complète des étoiles du Guide MICHELIN Suisse 2025guide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  11. Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl, Site officiel de Cheval Blanc by Peter Knoglchevalblancbasel.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  12. Guide MICHELIN, Stucki - Tanja Grandits, Bâleguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  13. Stucki - Tanja Grandits, Site officiel de Stucki - Tanja Granditstanjagrandits.ch · accessed 21 October 2026

  14. roots, Site officiel de rootsroots-basel.ch · accessed 21 October 2026

  15. Guide MICHELIN, roots, Bâleguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  16. Guide MICHELIN, Restaurant LA, Bâleguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  17. Restaurant LA, Site officiel de Restaurant LArestaurant-la.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  18. Guide MICHELIN, au violon, Bâleguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  19. Guide MICHELIN, Concordia, Bâleguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  20. Concordia, Site officiel de Concordiarestaurantconcordia.ch · accessed 21 October 2026