How to Start a Coffee Shop Business in Canada
Start a coffee shop in Canada: pick the format and location first, clear food premises and municipal rules for the exact shop, and build the menu and staffing around repeat morning trade.
How to Start a Restaurant Business in Canada
Start a restaurant in Canada: pick the format and kitchen first, clear food premises, municipal, and liquor rules for the exact site, and build staffing and suppliers around service.
Applies in: across Canada
The short answer
A restaurant is a daily-service business on a lease, a kitchen, and a team. The format, the menu, and the location decide whether it works. The paperwork decides whether it can open: food premises rules through your local public health authority, a municipal business licence and zoning for the exact site, building and fire permits for the fit-out, and a liquor licence from your provincial regulator if the dining room serves alcohol. Pick the format and the kitchen together, clear the health, municipal, and liquor layer before you sign, and build the menu around dishes the kitchen can cook well every service. Decor and branding are easy once service runs well.
Step 1: Pick the format and the kitchen to match it
There are three common formats, and they need different space and staff:
- Full-service dining room. Table service, a larger kitchen, and floor staff through the whole service. It earns on dwell time, drinks, and higher average spend, and it needs a location with evening and weekend trade.
- Fast-casual counter. Counter ordering, a smaller dining area, and a kitchen built for speed. It earns on volume at lunch and dinner peaks, and it suits busy streets and food halls.
- Takeaway and delivery kitchen. Little or no dining room, a kitchen built for packing and dispatch, and delivery or pickup as the core channel. It earns on order volume, and it needs a location with good delivery coverage, not foot traffic.
Write the menu before you lease. The menu decides the cooking line, the refrigeration, the ventilation, and the storage. A menu with grilled, fried, and baked dishes needs three kinds of equipment and three kinds of ventilation. A menu built around one cooking method needs less, costs less to fit out, and is easier to staff. Count the covers the dining room must serve per service to cover rent, labour, and food cost, and check that count against the trade the location actually produces.
Step 2: Clear food premises and municipal rules for the exact site
This section is administrative process, not legal advice: your local public health authority, your city, and your provincial liquor regulator are the sources for your site.
Contact your local public health authority before you open. It will tell you whether you notify, register, or apply, what the premises must have for handwashing, food storage, and cleaning, and when it inspects. In Ontario, the rule is concrete: under Ontario Regulation 493/17, every operator of a food service premises must ensure at least one food handler or supervisor on the premises has completed food handler training during every hour the premises is operating. Other provinces set their own training rules, so ask yours.
At the city, check the business licence list, the zoning, and the building and fire permits for the exact address. A restaurant fit-out touches ventilation, grease handling, washrooms, seating, signage, and hours, and each of those can carry a condition. Get the health and municipal answers in writing before you sign a lease, and before you order a kitchen.
Step 3: Decide on alcohol early, and treat it as a separate licence
A liquor sales licence is not part of the food or business licence. In Ontario, it comes from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, with its own eligibility, premises, and responsible-service conditions. Other provinces use their own liquor regulators, with their own licence classes and fees. Decide before the fit-out whether the dining room serves alcohol, because the licence affects bar layout, locked storage, and staffing, and because a dining room built without a bar is expensive to retrofit.
If you serve alcohol, train staff on responsible service and on the licence conditions for your premises, and keep the licence, the conditions, and the training records where a manager can find them during service. If you do not serve alcohol, skip the licence and its cost, and build the drinks menu around non-alcoholic options that carry their own margin.
Step 4: Register the business and set up tax and insurance
Register the business name in the province where the restaurant sits: $60 for five years in Ontario, $40 plus a $30 name request in British Columbia, with other provinces in the same range. Get a Canada Revenue Agency business number, which is free, and register for GST/HST when you pass the $30,000 threshold, or voluntarily before it so you can claim input tax credits. Most restaurants pass the threshold quickly, so plan on registering from the start. If you operate in Quebec, you also deal with QST.
Insurance is not optional in practice. Liability coverage for customers on the premises, property coverage for the kitchen and fit-out, liquor liability coverage if you serve alcohol, and coverage for food-related claims are the baseline, and a leased site will usually require the landlord to be named on the policy. If you hire staff, workers compensation registration in your province comes with the first hire.
Step 5: Fit out the kitchen and set up suppliers
Build the kitchen to the menu and to the inspection checklist. Cooking line, refrigeration, ventilation, handwashing, and storage come before decor, and each must be placed so staff can work without crossing paths between raw and ready-to-eat food, or between dirty and clean dishes. Set up supplier contracts for food, drink, and disposables, with delivery days that match service and with a backup supplier for the items that would stop service if they ran out. Write recipes with portion sizes and plating, and cost each dish from supplier quotes. A dish that looks good on the menu and loses money on the plate is a quiet loss repeated every service.
Step 6: Hire, train, and open with service routines
Hire kitchen and floor staff for the services you actually run, not for a full week of hypothetical covers. Train on the written menu, on allergen handling and on what to say when a customer reports an allergy, on the till and tax split, and on the cleaning routine. Set opening, service, and closing checklists, and a supplier order routine with par levels for the items that stop service. Open with a soft period if you can: a few services at lower volume let the kitchen and floor find their rhythm before a full room tests it.
Related guides: How to Start a Catering Business in Canada, How to Get a Responsible Alcohol Service Certificate in Canada, How to Start a Home Bakery Business in Canada, Food Truck Permits and Licences in Canada, and How to Register for GST/HST in Canada.
Starting a restaurant in Canada, in six steps
- Pick the format and the kitchen to match itA full-service dining room, a fast-casual counter, and a takeaway kitchen need different space, equipment, and staff. The format decides the lease and the menu, not the other way around.
- Clear food premises and municipal rules for the exact siteNotify or register with your local public health authority before you open, and check the municipal business licence, zoning, and fire and building permits for the exact address. In Ontario, at least one certified food handler or supervisor must be on site during every hour the premises operates.
- Decide on alcohol early, and treat it as a separate licenceA liquor sales licence comes from your provincial liquor regulator, with its own application, conditions, and responsible-service training. Decide before the fit-out whether the dining room serves alcohol, because the licence affects layout, storage, and staffing.
- Register the business and set up tax accountsRegister the business name provincially, get a Canada Revenue Agency business number, and register for GST/HST once taxable supplies pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or in a single calendar quarter.
- Fit out the kitchen and set up suppliersCooking line, refrigeration, ventilation, handwashing, and storage come before decor. Supplier contracts for food, drink, and disposables, with delivery days that match service, come before opening week.
- Hire, train, and open with service routinesKitchen and floor staff trained on the written menu, allergen handling, and the till routine are what carry opening week. Open with opening, service, and closing checklists, and a supplier order routine that never leaves the kitchen short.
What a restaurant costs to enter, in verified figures
| Ontario business name registration | $60 for 5 years |
|---|---|
| British Columbia business name registration | $40 plus a $30 name request |
| Canada Revenue Agency business number | $0 — free |
Municipal business licence, food premises, and liquor licence fees vary by city and province, so this table lists only the verified registration figures. Get your city's licence fee, your health authority's requirements, and your provincial liquor regulator's fee schedule in writing before you budget, and price the lease, kitchen, and fit-out from quotes for your site.
Questions people ask
Do I need a food handler certificate to open a restaurant in Canada?
In Ontario, yes, in a specific form: under Ontario Regulation 493/17, the Food Premises Regulation, every operator of a food service premises must ensure at least one food handler or supervisor on the premises has completed food handler training during every hour the premises is operating. Other provinces and territories set their own rules through their health authorities, and some require food safety training for operators or for all food handlers, while others rely on inspection and operator education. Contact your local public health authority before you open and ask what training it requires, who must hold it, and what proof it wants on site. A restaurant with a long menu and a large team should certify more than the minimum, so a sick day does not leave a service without a trained person on site.
How is a restaurant different from a catering business?
A restaurant sells meals from a fixed premises to customers who come to it, on a daily service routine, with a dining room or counter, a kitchen built for that menu, and regular health inspections of that premises. A catering business sells food prepared for events at other locations, with transport, holding, and service at the event site as the core work, and a commissary or home kitchen as the base. The restaurant faces the lease, dining room staffing, and daily service costs every day, whether the room fills or not. The caterer faces event-by-event demand, transport and holding equipment, and staffing that scales with each event. Many owners run both from one kitchen, but the licences, the staffing, and the cash flow are different, and the restaurant licence does not automatically cover catering from the same kitchen.
Do I need a liquor licence, and how do I get one?
Only if you serve alcohol, and it is a separate licence from the food and business licences. In Ontario, liquor sales licences come from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, with eligibility, responsible-service, and premises conditions set by the regulator, and applications made through its portal. Other provinces use their own liquor regulators, with their own licence classes, fees, and conditions. Decide before the fit-out whether the dining room serves alcohol, because the licence affects bar layout, locked storage, and staffing, and because a dining room built without a bar area is expensive to retrofit. If you do not serve alcohol, say so plainly in the plan and skip the licence, rather than carrying its cost and conditions for no revenue.
Do I need GST/HST registration for a restaurant?
Once your taxable supplies pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, you must register for GST/HST and charge it on your taxable sales. Registration is free through the Canada Revenue Agency, and you have 29 days from the day you pass the threshold to register. Most restaurants pass the threshold quickly, so plan on registering from the start and claiming input tax credits on food, equipment, rent, and supplies. If you operate in Quebec, you also deal with QST. Keep the tax account separate from the start: a restaurant takes many small payments a day across till, card, and delivery, and cash mixed into operating cash without a tax split is a bookkeeping problem that grows with every service.
What does a restaurant kitchen need to pass inspection?
Ask your local public health authority, because the inspection checklist is theirs, but the common elements are the same across provinces: handwashing sinks staff can reach during service, refrigeration that holds food at safe temperatures, cooking and holding equipment that reaches and holds safe temperatures, food storage off the floor and away from chemicals, pest control, and cleaning routines with records. In Ontario, the Food Premises Regulation sets the underlying rules, and the health unit inspects against them. Build the kitchen to the checklist before opening, not after the first inspection, because moving a sink, a fridge, or a cooking line after the fit-out costs far more than placing it right the first time.
What are the biggest risks in a restaurant?
Rent first: a dining room lease that needs a full room every night in a location that fills twice a week is hard to fix after the fit-out. Labour second: a restaurant lives on kitchen and floor staff who show up, cook the menu consistently, and serve well under pressure, and losing a cook or a lead server at the wrong week hurts service for a month. Food cost third: a menu priced from a competitor's board rather than from supplier quotes and portion costs loses money on every plate, quietly. And consistency fourth: regulars return for the same dish made the same way, so recipes, portion sizes, and plating must be written down, not held in one cook's head. Start with a menu the kitchen can cook well every service, track food cost by dish, and cut what does not sell.
Sources
- Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17, Food Premises Regulation, section 32 — at least one trained food handler or supervisor on site during every operating hour —
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Keep your customers safe and comply with federal food regulations — Safe Food for Canadians licence for import, export, or interprovincial trade, preventive controls, traceability —
- Canada Revenue Agency, Business Registration Online — business number and GST/HST account registration, free —