Start a catering business in Ontario: notify your health unit under O. Reg. 493/17, get the kitchen approved, certify a food handler, and serve off-site events the legal way.
Applies in: Ontario
The national guide linked below covers the generic spine of a catering business — picking a model and a menu, registering the business, and sorting tax. This guide covers only what Ontario adds: the health-unit notification and inspection system under Ontario Regulation 493/17, the kitchen rules that decide whether you can cook at home, the food handler rule, the temperature rules that govern transport and service, the municipal licence, and the Ontario rules for serving food — and alcohol — away from your kitchen. This guide is process information, not legal advice: where a figure was not verified on an official page, this guide states a check instead of a figure.
Ontario does not issue a catering permit. It runs on notification plus inspection. Section 16(2) of the Health Protection and Promotion Act requires every person who intends to commence to operate a food premise to give notice of that intention to the medical officer of health of the health unit where the food premise will be located, and section 5 of Ontario Regulation 493/17 says the notice must include your name, contact information, and the location of the food premise, according to Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises.
Find your health unit by the address of the kitchen, not by where your clients live — the kitchen is the food premise, and the health unit for that address is the one that inspects it. Health units publish their own notification forms: in the Region of Waterloo, for example, you contact the municipality first for zoning, construction, and business licence requirements, then notify Public Health with the Food Premise Notification Form and a copy of your floor plan, after which a public health inspector reviews the form and floor plan to confirm you meet all aspects of the regulation, according to Region of Waterloo, Restaurants and Food Services Health Standards.
Do this before the first paid event, and before you build. The inspector reviews the plan before construction or renovation, and getting the layout reviewed first is cheaper than rebuilding after a failed inspection. Inspection results must be posted as the inspector requests, under section 6 of the regulation, on the same regulation page — so expect a public disclosure sign in the kitchen, and expect repeat inspections for as long as you operate.
If you rent time in someone else's approved kitchen instead of building your own, you still notify: anyone using a shared kitchen space is also required to notify Public Health of their intent to operate, according to Region of Waterloo, Restaurants and Food Services Health Standards. The kitchen's approval does not cover you.
Ontario Regulation 493/17, made under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, is the rulebook your kitchen is inspected against. It covers how the premises are operated and maintained, cleaning and sanitizing, sanitary facilities, food handling, and which food may be on the premises, according to Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises. A "food service premise" under the regulation is any food premise where meals or meal portions are prepared for immediate consumption or sold or served in a form that will permit immediate consumption on the premises or elsewhere — which is exactly what a caterer is, on the same page.
Three parts of the regulation matter most to a new caterer:
The home kitchen limit. When a residential kitchen in Ontario is used to prepare food that will be served to the public, it must fully comply with Ontario Regulation 493/17 during the times it is used for such purposes, and only low-risk food items can be prepared in a residential kitchen, according to Northeastern Public Health, Home-Based Food Business Info. Potentially hazardous foods — foods that require time-temperature control to keep them safe — are not permitted to be prepared in a home-based food business, on the same page. While the kitchen is acting as a commercial space, only the food handlers for the business should be using it, and the space is not permitted to be used as a home kitchen by family members during that time, on the same page. You also need adequate and separate storage for business food, with personal food kept separate, on the same page. And check zoning before anything else: some municipalities prohibit commercial use of residential kitchens, and others prohibit adding commercial equipment in a residential area, on the same page. A menu built on hot mains, meat, dairy, or anything that needs temperature control cannot legally be cooked in a home kitchen in Ontario — that menu needs a commercial kitchen.
The exemptions that do not cover you. The regulation does not apply to boarding houses that provide meals for fewer than 10 boarders, to food premises run by religious organizations, service clubs, or fraternal organizations for special events or bake sales, or to farmers' market food vendors, according to Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises. A commercial caterer is none of those. Do not plan around an exemption that belongs to a church hall bake sale.
The records rule. Food that is liable to inspection by the Government of Canada or Ontario must be obtained from a source subject to inspection by that entity, and the operator must retain records of food purchases on the premise at least until the first anniversary of the purchase date, on the same page. Meat at a food premise must come from an animal inspected and approved for use as food under Ontario Regulation 31/05 or the federal Meat Inspection Act, and must be stamped and labelled accordingly, on the same page. Buy from inspected suppliers and keep the invoices — the inspector can ask for a year's worth.
Section 32 of Ontario Regulation 493/17 requires every operator of a food service premise to ensure there is at least one food handler or supervisor on the premise who has completed food handler training during every hour in which the premise is operating, according to Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises. "Food handler training" means training provided by a local board of health, an agency of a board of health, or a program the Ministry has recognized as equivalent to the Ministry's food safety training standards, on the same page.
In practice: get certified yourself before the first event, and make sure at least one certified person is present whenever food is being prepared, held, or served — including at the venue, not just in the kitchen. Ontario's food handler training is provided by local public health units or by certain approved commercial providers, and all public health units in Ontario accept certifications issued by the recognized providers, according to Government of Ontario, Food handler training and certification. Contact your local public health unit for the courses available in your area, on the same page.
The one carve-out: food premises that prepare only low-risk food items and serve only low-risk or pre-packaged ready-to-eat food are exempt from the food handler training requirement under section 3.1 of the regulation, according to Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises. That exemption fits a baker selling only shelf-stable goods; it does not fit a caterer serving hot food. Train anyway — the certificate is cheap compared with a failed inspection, and the health unit expects the person in charge at the event to be able to answer for the food.
Section 33 adds the personal rules every food handler must follow: no tobacco while engaged as a food handler, clean outer garments, hair kept from contaminating food, hands washed as often as necessary, and no handling food while carrying an infectious agent that may be spread through food, on the same page. Write these into your event routine, not just your memory — the inspector at a public event checks them.
Catering is a transport business as much as a cooking business, and Ontario's temperature rule is written for exactly that. Section 27 of Ontario Regulation 493/17 requires potentially hazardous food to be distributed, maintained, stored, transported, displayed, sold, and offered for sale only under conditions in which its internal temperature is 4°C or lower or 60°C or higher, according to Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises. The exception is time necessarily spent preparing, processing, or manufacturing the food, up to two hours, on the same page. Refrigeration and hot-holding equipment must be of sufficient size to store the food and maintain it at those temperatures, and must contain accurate indicating thermometers that may be easily read, under section 30, on the same page.
That gives you the operating routine:
At a public event, the health unit applies the same numbers: cold foods at 4°C or colder, hot foods at 60°C or hotter, with thermometers on site to check the food and the holding units, on the same page. A vendor that cannot meet the temperature requirements may be ordered to close or given a ticket, on the same page.
The health unit covers food safety. The municipality covers where you may operate and under what licence. Three checks, in this order:
Zoning first. Contact your local municipality for information about zoning, construction, and business licence requirements before you sign a lease or start building, according to Region of Waterloo, Restaurants and Food Services Health Standards. A home-based catering kitchen needs the municipality's approval as well as the health unit's: the area must be approved by the local municipal zoning and bylaw department, the municipal building department, and the municipal fire department. A kitchen in a zone that does not permit a food business is a dead end no health inspection can fix.
Register the business name. If you trade under a name other than your own, register it through the Ontario Business Registry. A Business Name Registration, formerly known as a Master Business Licence, expires every 5 years and must be renewed within 6 months before to 60 days after the expiry date, and the cost to register or renew a sole proprietorship or general partnership is $60, according to Government of Ontario, Ontario Business Registry: all services. A business name registration is not a trademark — it does not give you exclusive rights to the name. The national guide linked below covers the business number and GST/HST steps.
The municipal business licence. Cities set their own licence categories, and the category turns on what happens at the premises. Toronto's licence finder separates two cases: preparing or serving food for consumption on site, and offering food or drinks only for consumption off site, according to City of Toronto, Restaurants, Bars and Entertainment Establishments Business Licence Finder. A catering kitchen that only sells food for consumption off site falls under the Take-out or Retail Food Establishment category; a space where patrons sit and eat needs an Eating or Drinking Establishment licence, on the same page. Use the finder for your own premises rather than guessing the category — a caterer who adds a tasting room or a counter where clients eat on site has changed categories. Other Ontario cities have their own equivalents; check the city where the kitchen sits.
Where the food is eaten decides which rules apply on the day.
Public events. A special event is a temporary event where food is sold, given, or offered to the public, whether charitable or commercial, according to Middlesex-London Health Unit, Special Events. As a food vendor at one, you must submit a Notice of Intent to Operate as a Special Event or Market Vendor to the Middlesex-London Health Unit at least 14 days before the event, while the organizer files its own notice at least 30 days before, on the same page. Food must be prepared in an approved kitchen or on site — no home-prepared foods — and a certified food handler must be on site with a copy of the certificate to show the inspector, on the same page. Lead times are set by each health unit, not by the province: the Northwestern Health Unit, for example, requires its temporary food premises notification at least 10 business days before the event and will not accept applications submitted within 5 days of it, according to Northwestern Health Unit, Special Events, Farmers' Markets, and Wild Game Dinners. Check the health unit for the event's location, not your kitchen's, and file early — the date does not move because a form is late.
Private events. Invitation-only events such as weddings, birthday parties, and family picnics do not generally fall into the definition of a food premises due to their private nature, and do not normally require notification, according to Northwestern Health Unit, Special Events, Farmers' Markets, and Wild Game Dinners. That is about the event, not the kitchen: your catering kitchen still needs its notification and inspection, and the food still has to be prepared in an approved kitchen and held at the section 27 temperatures. Do not treat "private event" as permission to cook in an unapproved kitchen.
Alcohol. Food and liquor are separate licences. A caterer's endorsement is an add-on to a liquor sales licence that allows you to sell and serve liquor at places where your liquor sales licence does not apply, and you must apply for or hold a liquor sales licence to get one, according to Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, Apply for a caterer's endorsement. There is no fee for a caterer's endorsement, on the same page. The catered event must be sponsored by someone other than the licence holder, cannot last more than 10 days, and cannot be held in a residence, on the same page. Liquor not sold during the event must be returned to the licence holder's inventory, and you cannot promote an event where you are offering liquor for sale, on the same page. If the event is not in an area under your exclusive control, you must give the AGCO, local police, fire, health, and building departments the event details — the nature of the event and the sponsor's name, the address, the dates and hours, the estimated attendance, and the boundaries of the area where liquor will be sold and served — at least 10 days before the event begins, on the same page. If the venue already holds its own liquor sales licence covering the event, you do not need the endorsement — check the venue's licence before you quote a bar.
How to Start a Catering Business in Canada, How to Get a Liquor Licence in Ontario, How to Register a Business in Ontario, How to Register for GST/HST in Canada, How to Start an Event Planning Business in Canada, and Food Truck Permits and Licences in Canada.
A notification, not a permit. Section 16(2) of the Health Protection and Promotion Act requires every person who intends to commence to operate a food premise to give notice of that intention to the medical officer of health of the health unit where the food premise will be located, and section 5 of Ontario Regulation 493/17 says the notice must include your name, contact information, and the location of the food premise, according to [Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises](https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/170493). A public health inspector then reviews the notification and floor plan and inspects the premises, according to [Region of Waterloo, Restaurants and Food Services Health Standards](https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/programs-and-services/public-health/health-standards-for-businesses/restaurants-and-food-services-health-standards/). There is no permit document to wait for — but you must not serve the public until the health unit has assessed the premises.
Only for low-risk foods, and only if the kitchen meets the regulation while it is in use. When a residential kitchen in Ontario is used to prepare food that will be served to the public, it must fully comply with Ontario Regulation 493/17 during the times it is used for such purposes, and only low-risk food items can be prepared in a residential kitchen, according to [Northeastern Public Health, Home-Based Food Business Info](https://www.neph.ca/uploads/health-professionals/Home-Based%20Food%20Business%20Detailed%20Information%20-%2020260616%20-%20EN.pdf). Potentially hazardous foods, which require time-temperature control to stay safe, are not permitted to be prepared in a home-based food business, on the same page. You also need separate storage for business food and personal food, and you must check municipal zoning first — some municipalities prohibit commercial use of a residential kitchen outright, on the same page. A caterer whose menu includes potentially hazardous food needs a commercial kitchen or a rented approved kitchen instead.
At least one person, on site, at all times. Section 32 of Ontario Regulation 493/17 requires every operator of a food service premise to ensure there is at least one food handler or supervisor on the premise who has completed food handler training during every hour in which the premise is operating, according to [Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises](https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/170493). Ontario's food handler training is provided by local public health units or by commercial providers the Ministry of Health has recognized as equivalent, according to [Government of Ontario, Food handler training and certification](https://www.ontario.ca/page/food-handler-training-and-certification). One exception: food premises that prepare only low-risk food items are exempt from the food handler training requirement under section 3.1 of the regulation, on the same regulation page — but training is still strongly recommended even where it is not required.
Cold food at 4°C or lower, hot food at 60°C or higher. Section 27 of Ontario Regulation 493/17 requires potentially hazardous food to be distributed, maintained, stored, transported, displayed, sold, and offered for sale only under conditions in which its internal temperature is 4°C or lower or 60°C or higher, according to [Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises](https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/170493). The only exception is time necessarily spent preparing, processing, or manufacturing the food, up to two hours, on the same page. Build the transport plan around those two numbers: insulated carriers, a probe thermometer, and a serving window short enough that food never sits between them.
It depends on what the kitchen does. Toronto's licence finder distinguishes between preparing or serving food for consumption on site and offering food or drinks only for consumption off site, according to [City of Toronto, Restaurants, Bars and Entertainment Establishments Business Licence Finder](https://www.toronto.ca/app_content/mls_brevlicencefinder_dt). A catering kitchen that only sells food for consumption off site falls under the Take-out or Retail Food Establishment category; a space where patrons sit and eat needs an Eating or Drinking Establishment licence, on the same page. Every city sets its own categories and fees, so check the municipality where the kitchen sits — and confirm zoning allows a food business at that address before you sign a lease.
Yes, with a caterer's endorsement — and only under its conditions. A caterer's endorsement is an add-on to a liquor sales licence that allows you to sell and serve liquor at places where your liquor sales licence does not apply, and you must apply for or hold a liquor sales licence to get one, according to [Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, Apply for a caterer's endorsement](https://www.agco.ca/en/alcohol/apply-caterers-endorsement). There is no fee for a caterer's endorsement, on the same page. The catered event must be sponsored by someone other than the licence holder, cannot last more than 10 days, and cannot be held in a residence, on the same page. Liquor not sold during the event must be returned to the licence holder's inventory, and you cannot promote an event where you are offering liquor for sale, on the same page. If the event is not in an area under your exclusive control, you must give the AGCO, local police, fire, health, and building departments the event details at least 10 days before it begins, on the same page.