How to start a catering business on Vancouver Island

1. 1

   Your own approval in a shared or rented kitchen

   Island Health

   If you rent a kitchen

   Renting time in someone else’s approved kitchen doesn’t put you under their permit — a permit can’t be transferred. Island Health tells kitchen owners who rent to others that every renter must contact it “for necessary approval”. It publishes no separate process for renters, so call your local office before you start.

2. 2

   Zoning for a shop, café or kitchen

   Your municipality

   If you set up your own kitchen

   Before you sign a lease, check that the zoningZoningThe municipal rules that say what each property may be used for. A café, a bakery or a food processor needs a property zoned for that use before any permit is worth applying for — check it before you sign a lease.All terms in the glossary at that address allows your use. Cities split food businesses into separate uses — restaurant, take-out, drive-through, food processing, retail — and a use a zone doesn’t list is not allowed there; making food with no counter is often an industrial use. Victoria’s 2018 zoning bylaw bans drive-throughs in every zone it covers.

   Cost:

   Looking it up is free. A written confirmation costs $80 to $210 where a municipality sells one — see the table on this page.

3. 3

   Island Health plan approval

   Island Health

   If you build your own kitchen

   Before you build, renovate or fit out a restaurant, café, bakery, food processor, commissary, food truck or food shop, Island Health must approve your floor plan and equipment. You send the plans first, build only once they are approved, and an inspector checks the finished space before you open. A shop selling only whole fresh produce, or prepackagedPrepackagedSealed in its package before it reaches the customer, the way it will be sold. Prepackaged food must carry the federal food label.All terms in the glossary foods that aren’t potentially hazardousHigher-risk foodFood that bacteria can grow in, or produce toxins in, unless it is kept cold or hot — meat, fish, dairy, eggs, cut fruit, most cooked meals. The law calls it “potentially hazardous food”. It must come from an approved kitchen, never a home one.All terms in the glossary, is exempt.

4. 4

   Building permit for a renovation or change of use

   Your municipality

   If you build your own kitchen

   Altering a commercial space — or only changing its use, say a shop becoming a café — needs a building permit from your municipality, even with no construction; painting and other cosmetic work don’t. You can’t open until the building inspector’s final inspection and occupancy permit. A change of use can bring seismic, fire-separation, accessibility and sprinkler upgrades, and most municipalities want Island Health’s approved plans with it.

   Cost:

   Set by each municipality, from a percentage of the construction value to a fee per $1,000 — see the table on this page. Starting work without a permit usually doubles it.

   Time:

   Most municipalities publish no processing time. Victoria expects four to six months for extensive changes; Nanaimo targets 8 weeks for a tenant improvement.

5. 5

   Grease interceptor

   The CRD in Greater Victoria; your municipality elsewhere

   If you build your own kitchen

   A food business that sends fat, oil or grease down the drain needs a grease interceptorGrease interceptorA tank on a kitchen’s drain line that catches fats, oils and grease before they reach the sewer. Most food businesses on a municipal sewer need one, sized, installed and pumped out under the local sewer rules.All terms in the glossary — a tank that catches it before it blocks the sewer. In Greater Victoria the CRD’s bylaw requires one and wants its Waste Discharge Assessment Form before you choose it; Victoria wants the CRD’s answer before it issues your building permit. Nanaimo, Courtenay, Duncan and North Cowichan have their own bylaws requiring one. Food trucks are exempt.

   Cost:

   CRD fines reach $10,000 a day.

6. 6

   Gas and propane work

   Technical Safety BC

   If you cook with gas or propane in your own kitchen

   Installing or altering a gas range, fryer, line or propane tank must be done by a licensed gas contractor under a Technical Safety BC installation permit — on the Island, no municipality issues its own, and the homeowner permit isn’t open to a business. Every new appliance must carry a certification mark or a Technical Safety BC approval mark. A business that owns a propane tank also needs an operating permit for it; refillable cylinders don’t.

7. 7

   Fire inspection and kitchen fire safety

   Your fire department

   If you build your own kitchen

   Two things. First, your municipality’s fire department may inspect a new restaurant, café, shop or kitchen — some before they issue your business licenceBusiness licenceYour municipality’s permission to do business there, renewed each year in most towns. It is separate from Island Health’s permits and from zoning: you usually need all three.All terms in the glossary, others on a yearly or risk-based schedule after you open. Second, any cooking that gives off grease-laden vapour — fryers, grills, woks, ranges — needs a hood, duct and automatic fire-suppression system built to the NFPA 96 standard, which the BC Building Code requires.

8. 8

   Food safety plan and sanitation plan

   You write them; Island Health approves them

   Two short written documents: a food safety planFood safety planYour written account of where food could become unsafe in your kitchen and how you prevent it — cooking and cooling temperatures, for example, and what you do when one is missed. BC requires one from every food premises, alongside a sanitation plan.All terms in the glossary, saying how you keep each food safe and what you do when something goes wrong, and a sanitation planSanitation planYour written routine for cleaning and sanitizing, pest control and garbage: what is cleaned, how, how often and with what. BC requires one from every food premises, alongside a food safety plan.All terms in the glossary, saying how you clean and sanitise. Every restaurant, caterer, food processor and kitchen needs both, and Island Health approves them before it issues your permit or approval.

9. 9

   FOODSAFE Level 1

   BC FOODSAFE Secretariat

   Required by law of every operator of a food service establishment, and of at least one person on shift when the operator is away. Island Health asks for the certificate with a permit application.

   Cost:

   Online $69–$88 (FOODSAFE’s own pages differ), distance $105–$115, classroom fees vary by provider. Valid 5 years.

10. 10

    Health operating permit

    Island Health

    The permit a “food service establishment” needs — anywhere food is prepared and served to eat right away: restaurants, cafés, take-outs, caterers, and food trucks that prepare higher-risk food. Island Health issues it after a pre-opening inspection, and it can’t be transferred: a new owner or a new address needs a new one.

    Cost:

    $150 a year for up to 50 seats, take-outs and caterers; $250 over 50 seats; a food truck chooses $150 or a flat $75. Opening part-way through the April–March year, you pay by the month. No fee if you operate 14 days or fewer in that year.

11. 11

    Temporary Food Service Permit

    Island Health

    For serving at public events

    The permit to prepare and serve food at a fair, festival, fundraiser or other public event — or to cook, reheat or give samples of higher-risk food at a farmers’ market. Anything prepared ahead must come from an approved kitchen; home-prepared food is not allowed.

    Cost:

    No permit fee if you operate 14 days or fewer in the April–March year. Island Health charges a $50 administration fee for applications, or date changes, received less than 14 days before the event.

    Time:

    Apply at least 14 days ahead. Island Health issues them for at most 14 days per calendar year per applicant.

12. 12

    Municipal business licence

    Your municipality

    Every municipality on the Island requires a business licence — for a restaurant, café, shop or kitchen, for a business run from home, and for a food truck. For a storefront it is usually $100 to $200 a year, set by floor area; Nanaimo charges $165, Campbell River $150, and Courtenay’s fees rise in 2027. It is normally the last approval you get: most municipalities issue it only once zoning, building, fire and Island Health have signed off, and you can’t open before it’s issued.

13. 13

    Registering your business name

    BC Registries

    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.

    Cost:

    Name request $30 (reserved 56 days); sole proprietorship or partnership registration $40; incorporation $350, then a $43.39 annual report.

14. 14

    Food primary liquor licence

    Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch

    Only if you serve alcohol (catering endorsement)

    Lets a restaurant or café serve alcohol when food is the main business, with a varied menu cooked in its own kitchen. Take-out-only restaurants, food trucks and food courts are not eligible. You need a CRA business number and a Business BCeID; the floor plan needs your municipality’s occupant-load stamp, and the municipality signs off only for service past midnight, dancing or karaoke, or a temporary use area. The licence also allows sealed alcohol for takeout or delivery with a meal — sold before 11 p.m., delivered by 11:30 p.m., by drivers 19 or older with Serving It Right. A catering endorsement adds off-site events.

    Cost:

    $950 for the application and first year ($475 + $475); renewal from $325 a year, by liquor purchases. Adding a catering endorsement: $330, then $130 a year.

15. 15

    GST registration

    Canada Revenue Agency

    Catered food is taxable

    Most groceries are zero-rated, but candy, snacks, carbonated drinks, hot food, catering and sweet baked goods sold in packs of fewer than six are taxable at 5%. You must register once your sales pass $30,000 in a quarter or over four quarters — and zero-rated grocery sales count toward it.

What you can sell

Rules where you are

Business licences, zoning and home-business rules differ by municipality.

• City of Victoria
• District of Saanich
• City of Langford
• Township of Esquimalt
• District of Oak Bay
• City of Colwood
• Town of Sidney
• City of Nanaimo
• City of Duncan
• Municipality of North Cowichan
• City of Courtenay
• City of Campbell River