Open a restaurant in Regina: zoning, the City licence question, Saskatchewan Health Authority food premises approval, and the SLGA restaurant permit.
Applies in: Saskatchewan
Zoning first, then the health authority — with the liquor permit on its own track, and the City licence question settled by where the restaurant sits. Regina works differently from most Canadian cities on the municipal licence: a restaurant operating from a premise on property the City assesses and taxes as commercial or industrial property does not need a City business licence. What every Regina restaurant does need is Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) food premises approval and the provincial health licence, plus a Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) restaurant permit if it serves alcohol. This guide walks the Regina mechanics only. The national restaurant guide covers the parts that are the same everywhere in Canada; nothing in this guide repeats it.
Confirm the address is zoned for a restaurant before you commit to it. Contact the City to determine whether the commercial use is allowable at that location, and ask the same question about any change of use if the space was something else before. A space that cannot be zoned for a restaurant is a dead end no licence can fix. If you are converting a house or another residential building to a commercial business, the City advises a pre-application meeting first, because a house built for residential use was not built to meet the extra measures a commercial building needs.
The City's Licensing Bylaw, No. 2006-86, says a person shall not carry on a resident business or a non-resident business without a licence, and then exempts a business that operates from a premise located on property the City assesses and taxes as commercial or industrial property. A restaurant in a normal commercial unit therefore falls outside the licence requirement. The City's own food truck guide states the same rule in plain words: businesses that operate from a premise that pays commercial or industrial property taxes are exempt, except for second-hand dealers, pawn brokers, and coin dealers.
That exemption does not cover every situation. A home-based food business operates from a premise that is not taxed as commercial or industrial property, so the resident business licence rules apply to it instead, including a gross revenue exemption for businesses under $5,000 a year. If your restaurant is not in a straightforward commercial unit, email the Licensing Branch at licences@regina.ca or call 306-777-7717 and ask before you proceed.
Where a licence does apply, applications go through the City's online licensing portal: create a profile, select the licence type, follow the prompts, and pay the required fees. In-person licensing services moved to Old Fire Hall #1, 1646 11th Avenue, and are no longer available at City Hall. The Licensing Branch can be reached at 306-777-7717, and Service Regina at 306-777-7000.
Before opening a restaurant or any other type of food vendor service, you must contact the Saskatchewan Health Authority to arrange for an inspection of the food preparation facilities and to obtain a provincial health licence. No person may operate a public eating establishment in Saskatchewan without a valid licence for it, under The Food Safety Regulations.
Floor plans of the business must be submitted to your local public health inspector's office, along with the food facility information and licence application forms. Send this information before you carry out any renovations, and several weeks before you plan to open — the SHA page is explicit that this timing matters if you want to avoid delays. The City's commercial building review also sends applications that include restaurants and take-out food premises to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health for review, so the health side of the project is checked twice: once on the plans, once on the finished kitchen.
Public health inspectors inspect restaurant-type facilities for compliance with The Food Safety Regulations and the supporting Food Facility Standards. The SHA can issue three types of licence: a Licence, a Licence with Conditions (for example, limiting food service to take-out where public washrooms are not available, or restricting menu items where equipment is lacking), or a Probationary Licence that sets timelines for correcting infractions. Inspection reports for restaurant-type facilities are published through Inspection InSite, so a failed inspection is visible to the public.
Any food establishment serving alcoholic beverages needs a liquor permit from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority. SLGA issues several classes of commercial liquor permit; the one for a restaurant is the Restaurant permit. It is available where the primary business and source of revenue generated in the premises is the preparation and sale of food for consumption on the premises. The other classes — Tavern, Special Use, Retail Store, U-Brew/U-Vin, and Direct to Consumer Delivery — fit different businesses, so do not apply for a Tavern permit for a restaurant.
The restaurant permit has two conditions that shape how you run the room:
The application package, last revised July 2025, states the money and timing plainly: attach a cheque or money order for $525.00 (non-refundable) made payable to the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, or call to pay by credit card, and allow about 15 business days for processing after submitting all required items. Once SLGA has the package and the fee, a representative contacts you about any further requirements, including the total permit and endorsement fee due. The annual permit fee is separate from the $525.00 application fee, and it depends on where the restaurant is: in a city it is $525 a year, in a town $263 a year, and in a village, hamlet, resort, or seasonal location $158 a year. So a Regina restaurant pays $525 a year for the permit, on top of the one-time $525.00 application fee. Permits may be issued for up to three years, and the permit and endorsement fees may be paid up front or annually — if you pay annually, the permit is only valid for years two and three once each year's fee is received. All applicants except Home Delivery and U-Brew/U-Vin permit holders must also apply for a Liquor Consumption Tax licence from the Ministry of Finance. For questions, SLGA's liquor licensing line is 306-787-5563, or toll-free at 1-800-667-7565.
Confirm zoning with the City, then send your floor plans to the SHA before you renovate. Settle the business licence question with the Licensing Branch while the SHA inspection is arranged, and start the SLGA application early — it needs the $525.00 fee up front and about 15 business days once everything is in. The expensive mistake is signing a lease on a space that cannot be zoned for a restaurant, or renovating a kitchen the health authority has not seen on paper first.
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 licences page does not publish a fee for a business licence, and the resident business licence fee has changed over time, so this guide states no City licence fee — ask the Licensing Branch for the current figure if a licence applies to you. The SHA pages do not publish a fee for the food facility licence, so this guide states no SHA licence fee. The City's commercial building permit fee schedule was not opened at build time, so this guide states no building permit fee either.
Food safety training is a separate requirement from the health licence, and this guide had not covered it until now. In Saskatchewan, subsection 26(1) of The Food Safety Regulations requires food safety training to be received from an approved safe food handling course. The Saskatchewan Health Authority and private business operators deliver the approved courses, and information on upcoming health authority courses is available from your local Saskatchewan Health Authority office. Approved courses include FOODSAFE Level 1 and FOODSAFE Level 2, SafeCheck Advanced Food Safety, the National Food Safety Training Program, and Saskatchewan Basics Safe Food Handling, with in class and online options on the approved list. One caution matters when you book online: the online FOODSAFE Level 1 Refresher Course is not approved in Saskatchewan, so a refresher certificate alone does not meet the requirement. Arrange the training before opening week, so the people preparing and serving food on your first day have already completed an approved course.
Usually not. Under the City's Licensing Bylaw, a licence is not required for a business that operates from a premise on property the City assesses and taxes as commercial or industrial property. A restaurant in a normal commercial space therefore does not need a City business licence. If your situation is different, for example a home-based food business, contact the Licensing Branch at 306-777-7717 or licences@regina.ca before you assume anything.
Before opening a restaurant, you must contact the Saskatchewan Health Authority to arrange an inspection of the food preparation facilities and to obtain a provincial health licence. Floor plans must go to your local public health inspector's office, along with the food facility information and licence application forms, before you carry out renovations and several weeks before you plan to open.
The application fee is $525.00, non-refundable, paid with the application package. Processing takes about 15 business days after all required items are submitted. A restaurant permit is available where the primary business and source of revenue is the preparation and sale of food for consumption on the premises, and you must keep at least one dollar of food sales for each dollar of beverage alcohol sales, calculated monthly.
Apply through the City's online licensing portal, then follow the prompts and pay the required fees. In-person licensing services are at Old Fire Hall #1, 1646 11th Avenue, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. For questions about business licences, email licences@regina.ca or call 306-777-7717.
If you are building, altering, or changing the use of a space, ask the City whether a building permit is needed before construction starts. The City reviews commercial building permit applications, and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health reviews applications that include restaurants and take-out food premises. Do not start work until you know which permits apply to your address.
No. Any food establishment serving alcoholic beverages needs a liquor permit from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority. Do not apply for a Tavern permit for a restaurant: the Tavern permit fits a business whose primary purpose is selling beverage alcohol, while the Restaurant permit fits a business whose primary purpose is preparing and selling food.