Starting a food business in Sidney

Business licence

All businesses operating in Sidney need a valid Town business licence, unless exempted or covered by an intermunicipal licence. Renewal is free if made on or before February 28 each year.

Fee: "Home Occupation $100.00"; "Minor Home Occupation $50.00" (a hobby shop, craft shop, instructor or private teacher)

Running it from home

Sidney’s zoning bars every home occupation from displaying or selling goods — foodstuffs named — from the property, so a home food business cannot sell from the home. The work must stay inside the dwelling or an accessory building, with only residents working on site and no fumes, smoke or odours detectable outside.

• No display or retail sale of goods, wares, merchandise or foodstuffs from the property (s. 4.2.2(a)(iv); the same in multi-unit zones).
• Only residents engaged in on-site business activities (s. 4.2.2(a)(ii)).
• Wholly inside the dwelling unit or an accessory building (s. 4.2.2(a)(i)).
• No equipment or process with impacts detectable outside the dwelling, including fumes, smoke or odours (s. 4.2.2(a)(iii)).
• Single- or two-family dwelling: at most 20% of the principal dwelling or 50 m², whichever is less; 15 m² in a secondary suite (s. 4.2.2(b)). Multi-unit zones: 30% or 50 m², one home occupation per unit, and no customer-facing ("high traffic") businesses (s. 4.3.2).
• At most two home occupations per dwelling; one that receives customers may have no more than two in the unit at a time (s. 4.2.2(a)(viii), (c)).
• Licence conditions: no parking beyond the occupant’s vehicle and one business vehicle; no outdoor storage (Business Licence Bylaw s. 10.14).

Markets and events

Seasonal or event licences ($25.00 per quarter — the application form gives a pop-up bakery as an example) and Temporary Outdoor Market licences ($100.00) last no more than 6 consecutive weeks or 42 non-continuous days a year. Markets on public property must follow the Town’s Temporary Outdoor Market Bylaw, which was not read, so the rules for vendors at Sidney markets are not covered here.

Mobile businesses

Sidney is in the Greater Victoria Intermunicipal licence, at no extra cost. Its new Inter-Community Business Licence Bylaw No. 2314 (adopted April 27, 2026) excludes mobile food vending — food carts, trailers and trucks — and sets a $170 fee.

Fee: Intermunicipal: no additional charge. Inter-Community: $170 (Bylaw 2314 and the web page); the November 2025 form says "an additional licence charge of $70" — not reconciled