How to Start a Restaurant in Calgary

The short answer

Location approval first, then plans, then build, then the licence — with the AHS permit and the AGLC licence running alongside. To open a restaurant in Calgary you need approvals from three bodies: the City of Calgary for location approval and the business licence, Alberta Health Services (AHS) for the food handling permit, and Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) for a Class A liquor licence if you serve alcohol. This guide walks the Calgary mechanics only. The national restaurant guide covers the parts that are the same everywhere in Canada; nothing in this guide repeats it.

Step 1: Check location approval before you sign a lease

All businesses operating in Calgary are required to register with the City and get location approval for their business location, and all businesses that prepare, sell, or allow on-site consumption of food or alcohol require a business licence. Location approval confirms your business is allowed to operate from your chosen location. The Land Use Bylaw specifies a list of allowable uses for each land use district, listed as either permitted or discretionary. If the use is not listed in a land use district, the business will not be allowed to operate from that location.

How your business operates decides which use or uses fit it. A restaurant that restricts minors is considered a drinking establishment; a take-out-only operation is considered take-out food service; a dance floor or entertainment space larger than 10 square metres makes the use a night club. Types of planning approval include Tenancy Change, Permitted Change of Use, Permitted with Relaxation Change of Use, and Discretionary Change of Use. Taking over a previously occupied space may need a Tenancy Change if the use is not changing, or a Development Permit if the use is changing, for example from retail to restaurant, plus a Building Permit if you are doing construction or the space needs a safety review under the National Building Code — Alberta Edition. If the use is not listed, you can apply for a Land Use Redesignation or look for another location. The City's advice is blunt: do not sign lease agreements until you have checked your location approval, and apply for location approval and building safety approvals before applying for the licence.

Start the application at apply.calgary.ca, selecting the "Start New Business Licence and/or Land Use Approval" tile, which launches both workflows. You pay for the licence when you submit the application. If you run the business from more than one location, you need a separate business licence for each location.

Step 2: Submit your plans to AHS and the City

AHS's January 2026 step-by-step guide for starting a food business sets out ten steps, and the plan step comes before construction. Operators must develop a plan for approval before constructing a new food business or making any major alterations to an existing food establishment. Submit your plans at least six weeks before you want to start construction, to allow time to make alterations in response to the local public health inspector's assessment of the plans.

For businesses within the City of Calgary, submit your plans directly to the City's planning department, which circulates a copy to your local Environmental Public Health (EPH) office — you do not submit plans directly to AHS in Calgary. The plan must be drawn to scale with room dimensions, show the location of all equipment, give plumbing and lighting details including sewer lines, grease traps, and hot water systems, and list all food items for sale with a copy of the full menu. Any changes to your plans require new approval. Once you have a completed plan review from both EPH and the City, you may build or renovate.

Step 3: Train staff, apply for the food handling permit, and pass the approval inspection

Alberta's Food Regulation requires that at least one person in the care and control of a food facility be certified in food safety. If your restaurant has six or more food handlers, including serving staff, working on a shift, a certified person must be on site at all times. Register in an approved food safety training course before opening.

Complete the Food Handling Permit application on the AHS Environmental Public Health website. Once submitted, the public health inspector aims to schedule an approval inspection within 7 business days of receiving the required documentation. Before the inspection, make sure all construction is complete, all equipment and fixtures are in place and operating, and the premises are clean. The approval checklist includes coolers holding food at 4°C or less, freezers below 0°C, a probe thermometer, separate plumbed sinks for handwashing, dishwashing, food preparation, and janitorial use, hot and cold running water, an approved ventilation or exhaust canopy, and a written cleaning schedule and pest control plan. A public health inspector may make unannounced inspections once you hold a permit.

After the establishment passes the approval inspection, EPH emails you an invoice for the food handling permit fee. EPH emails the permit after you have paid, and the permit is valid for one year. The fee schedule is Class I $100, Class II $175, Class III $250, and Class IV $500. A restaurant that does extensive handling of raw ingredients and high-risk food falls in Class III at $250; charitable organizations and businesses that only sell prepackaged low-risk food do not pay permit fees but still receive a permit. The permit is not transferable: if you buy an existing restaurant, you must apply for a new food handling permit at least 7 days before taking over, and a public health inspector must complete an approval inspection before you begin operating.

Step 4: Apply for the City business licence

The licence types depend on your business activities. If you will only be serving food, you need a Food Services – Premises licence. If you will be serving both food and alcohol, you need a Food Services – Premises licence and an Alcohol Beverage Sales licence. These licence types are generated as part of your application when you apply; you do not need to apply for them separately. If your business fits into more than one licence type, you only need one fire inspection even if it is required by all of your different licence types.

The 2026 fees, from the City's 2026 Business Licence Fee Schedule, are $330 new and $248 on renewal for Food Services – Premises, and the same $330 new and $248 on renewal for Alcohol Beverage Sales. When applying for multiple licence types at the same time, the fee is calculated based on all approvals required, using the highest fee in the schedule, and all fees are charged only once — so a restaurant serving alcohol pays $330 for the City licence in total. Business licence fees are non-refundable and non-transferable and may change in the next calendar year, and they do not include the costs of land use approvals, required permits, or third-party approvals or inspections.

Step 5: Apply for the AGLC Class A liquor licence, if you serve alcohol

Class A licences are issued for the sale and consumption of liquor in premises open to the public that provide food service satisfactory to AGLC. There are normally four steps in the licensing process for new premises, and the required information includes the location, a floor plan with kitchen equipment details, details of the applicant, the food menu, the application fee, and a current criminal record check from the RCMP or local police for all directors, shareholders, and the manager. All initial applications are posted on AGLC's website for 7 calendar days. A Minors Allowed licence is the restaurant form: it is issued where food is the primary source of business, and food service must be available during all hours of liquor service. All staff at licensed premises, excluding kitchen staff and bus persons, must complete AGLC ProServe training within 30 days of their employment start date; the training is valid for five years.

Under the AGLC fee schedule, effective June 1, 2026, the application fee for a liquor licence other than a special event licence is $200, and a Class A liquor licence costs $400. The City's restaurant page states the AGLC application takes approximately three weeks to process, that applicants can start the AGLC application before their municipal business licence, and that the AGLC liquor licence will not be issued until Land Use Approval has been obtained. Start the AGLC application early, but do not plan an opening date around it until the land use approval is in hand.

Step 6: Mind the wastewater bylaw from day one

Under the City's Wastewater Bylaw 14M2012, all food service establishments that prepare, process, or serve food or beverages containing fats, oils, and grease must install a properly sized grease interceptor approved and certified to ASME A112/CSA B481 standards or equivalent. All fixtures that generate fats, oils, and grease — sinks, dishwashers, wok ranges, floor drains, soup kettles, and glass rinsers — must be connected to a grease interceptor. Businesses must clean and maintain grease interceptors at least once every four weeks and keep service records on site for a minimum of two consecutive years. The specified penalties on the City page include $500 for failing to keep a service record, $2,000 for failing to install a properly sized interceptor, $1,500 for failing to clean interceptors monthly, and $1,000 for using emulsifiers, enzymes, bacteria, solvents, or hot water to push fats, oils, and grease through an interceptor. Put the four-week cleaning cycle on the opening checklist, not on a list to sort out later.

Planning a patio? It needs its own permits

A patio is not covered by the restaurant licence alone. Calgary treats outdoor cafés — food and beverages served for consumption on part of the premises not inside a fully enclosed building — as a separate approval, and there are three types: a development permit for a seasonal or permanent patio on private property; seasonal permission for a patio on public property, in the parking lane or on the public sidewalk; and a licence of occupation for a permanent, year-round patio on public property.

The seasonal window runs from mid-May to mid-October, or until 3 mm or more of snow is forecast. Most new outdoor patios require a development permit, and an outdoor café on private property is a discretionary use: it needs circulation, a notice posting, and a 21-day appeal period, with about 6 weeks to a decision. A building permit may also be required, and extra permits, licences, and inspections can apply depending on the construction, the seating, and whether alcohol is served. A pre-application is always encouraged — contact the Planning Services Centre and the City will be in touch within 7 days to discuss the plans. If you only want to extend an existing licensed patio for a special event, no development permit is usually needed if the addition is set up for three days or less; more than three days needs a Special Function Class 2 development permit.

The order that avoids rework

Check location approval, submit plans to the City planning department for AHS review, build to the approved plan, pass the AHS approval inspection and pay the permit fee, and hold the City business licence and the AGLC licence until the approvals they depend on have landed. The expensive mistake is signing a lease on a space whose land use district does not list a restaurant, or building a kitchen to a floor plan AHS has not approved and then rebuilding it after the inspection.

What the opened pages do not state

Two figures a reader would reasonably want are not stated on the official pages opened for this guide, so they are not carried here. The City's restaurant page does not publish a processing time for a business licence application — the timeline varies significantly depending on the permits and approvals required. The AHS guide does not publish a dollar figure for the food safety training course, which is bought from an approved course provider. Ask the City for its current licence timeline when you apply, and confirm the training course fee with the provider you choose.

Related guides

• How to Start a Restaurant Business in Canada — the national restaurant guide: format, kitchen, suppliers, hiring, and opening routines that are the same everywhere in Canada.
• How to Get a Liquor Licence in Alberta — the Alberta liquor licence guide, for the full AGLC picture beyond the Class A licence covered here.
• How to Register a Business in Alberta — trade name registration through Service Alberta, which comes before the City licence application.
• How to Incorporate in Alberta — incorporation through a registry agent, for owners who incorporate before opening.
• How to Get a Food Handler Certificate in Canada — food handler certification, which sits alongside the AHS food safety training requirement in this guide.
• How to Start a Bakery Business in Canada — the national bakery guide, for readers weighing a bakery against a restaurant.

Sources

• City of Calgary, Open a restaurant or brewery — the Food Services – Premises and Alcohol Beverage Sales licence types, location approval and the Land Use Bylaw, Tenancy Change and Development Permit routes, the grease interceptor rules and penalties under Wastewater Bylaw 14M2012, and the AGLC three-week processing time and land use condition.
• City of Calgary, 2026 Business Licence Fee Schedule — Food Services – Premises at $330 new and $248 renewal, Alcohol Beverage Sales at $330 new and $248 renewal, and the highest-fee rule for multiple licence types.
• Alberta Health Services, Starting a Food Business — the ten-step AHS process, the six-week plan submission rule, plans submitted through the City planning department in Calgary, the food safety training rule, the 7-business-day inspection aim, the one-year permit validity, and the Class I to IV fee schedule.
• Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis, Fee Schedule — the $200 liquor licence application fee and the $400 Class A licence fee, effective June 1, 2026.
• Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis, Class A Licences — Class A as the licence for sale and consumption of liquor in premises open to the public with satisfactory food service, the four-step process, the documents required, and the 7-day public posting of initial applications.
• City of Calgary, Adding an outdoor patio to your business — the three patio permit types, the mid-May to mid-October seasonal window, the discretionary development permit with its 21-day appeal period, the pre-application route, and the three-day event rule.