Running a business

Registering your business name

Trading under your own name needs no registration. Any other name means reserving it and registering within 3 months of first using it; a partnership registers within 3 months of forming. Incorporating is the alternative, and only a corporation, co-op or society gets exclusive use of its name.

Who issues it
BC Registries
Cost
Name request $30 (reserved 56 days); sole proprietorship or partnership registration $40; incorporation $350, then a $43.39 annual report.
Forms and pages

Do you need it?

You need it if

  • You trade under any name other than your own legal name.

You don’t need it if

  • You trade under your own name — no registration needed.
Where this comes from

Sources

How to get it

  1. 1

    Request the name

    Through BC Registries’ Name Request ($30). Priority service costs $100 and answers in one or two business days.

  2. 2

    Register the business

    Online in the BC Business Registry ($40), logging in with a BC Services Card account, or in person at Service BC.

  3. 3

    Do it before the name expires

    An approved name is held for 56 days.

Where this comes from

Sources

Once you have it

  • Want exclusive use of the name, or limited liability? That means incorporating instead ($350), with a yearly report.
Where this comes from

Sources

What comes next

GST registrationCanada Revenue AgencyMunicipal business licenceYour municipality

Which businesses need it

Restaurants & cafésOpening or running a restaurant, café, take-out or coffee shop.BakeriesA commercial bakery, with or without a counter.Caterers & personal chefsCooking for events, offices or private clients.Food trucks & cartsSelling from a truck, trailer or cart.Delivery-only & ghost kitchensCooking for delivery and pickup only, with no dining room.Packaged food makersMaking sauces, preserves, snacks, frozen meals or other packaged food to sell.Kombucha, juice & coffee makersMaking non-alcoholic drinks, or roasting coffee.Breweries, wineries, cideries & distilleriesMaking beer, wine, cider, mead or spirits.Grocers & specialty food shopsRunning a grocery, market store, deli counter or specialty food shop.Butchers, delis & fishmongersCutting and selling meat, fish or deli foods.Farms & market gardensGrowing fruit, vegetables, grains or microgreens.Meat, poultry & egg producersRaising animals for meat, or hens for eggs.Fishers & seafood sellersCommercial fishers selling their catch. (Shellfish farms follow separate aquaculture rules this page doesn’t cover.)BeekeepersSelling honey and other bee products.

The rules behind this page

Last checked 5 November 2026. We check this guide regularly against Island Health, provincial and municipal sources, but regulations and laws change often and we can’t guarantee it is complete or current. Confirm with Island Health and your municipality before you apply, build or sell.

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