Starting a food business in Courtenay

Business licence

Every business in Courtenay — permanent, mobile, home-based or non-resident — needs a valid business licence, or a valid intermunicipal licence, before it starts operating. A new Business Licence Bylaw (No. 3212) takes effect January 1, 2027, with new fees and a $50 application fee.

Fee: 2026: Home Occupation $75.00; Restaurant $150.00; Snack Bar $50.00. From 2027: Home Occupation $150; a restaurant or snack bar is a Resident Business at $350 new, $250 to renew; plus a $50 application fee

Running it from home

Courtenay allows a home occupation run by a resident with no employees, and has no clause specific to food. It may sell only goods related to the business or produced on the parcel, may not be a retail outlet, and may use only mechanical equipment like that in an ordinary household or hobby — a limit that matters for commercial kitchen equipment. Its ban on manufacturing (“the production of articles and goods”) sits awkwardly beside selling goods produced on the parcel, so confirm your plans with Planning.

• Carried on only by a person living in the dwelling, with no employee (s. 6.3.1).
• No manufacturing or other industrial use (s. 6.3.3).
• Sell only goods directly related to the business or produced on the parcel; no odours, vapours, heat or glare crossing a parcel line beyond a normal dwelling (s. 6.3.4).
• No mechanical equipment beyond what is ordinarily used in a private household or for recreational hobbies (s. 6.3.5).
• At most 50.0 m² or 50% of the dwelling, whichever is less; an accessory building no larger than 50.0 m² (ss. 6.3.6, 6.3.9).
• No warehouse or retail outlet, except a produce sales stand (s. 6.3.7).
• One unlit fascia sign of up to 0.5 m²; all vehicles parked off-street, and the front yard doesn’t count toward the required parking (ss. 6.3.8, 6.3.10).
• A business licence is required (s. 6.3.11).

Markets and events

In 2026, exhibitions, circuses, carnivals and door-to-door sales are licensed at $100.00 a day. Each food truck needs its own Mobile Food Vending licence ($150.00 on private property, $450.00 on public property, not prorated); on private property the site must be zoned for restaurant use and at least 30 metres from a permanent food service, and on public land only listed sites or a special-event permit will do. From January 1, 2027 (Bylaw 3212): food trucks pay $250 on private property or $450 in a City park, pro-rated by quarter for new licences; the $100-a-day category, the restaurant-zoning rule and the 30 m rule are gone; and vendors at a special event are covered by the organizer’s licence.

Mobile businesses

Courtenay’s page still describes the 2013 Central Island Inter-Community licence (Bylaw No. 2769), covering Campbell River, Comox, Cumberland, Duncan, Lake Cowichan, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, North Cowichan, Parksville, Port Alberni and Qualicum Beach, at $250 a year. That conflicts with the $170 set by the 2025–2026 bylaws adopted by Duncan, Sidney, Esquimalt and North Cowichan, and no newer bylaw — which would exclude food trucks — was found for Courtenay. (Its $150 “Intermunicipal” licence is a separate Courtenay–Comox licence, ending with 2026.)

Fee: “the yearly fee is $250.00” (Courtenay’s page, Bylaw No. 2769, 2013)