Restaurants, cafés & food service
How to start a food truck on Vancouver Island
A food truck needs Island Health to approve the unit before it is built, a permit or approval depending on what you cook, a Technical Safety BC gas approval if it runs on propane, and usually a fire inspection. No Island municipality allows selling from any public street: trucks use private land zoned for restaurants, or designated, booked public sites.
A change is coming
- The updated Vancouver Island Inter-Community licence — proposed, no date set; it may not happen. What changes
24 changes with a date and 11 proposals for restaurants in all. See what’s coming
Only want the steps that apply to you?
What you need, in order
10 steps. Each links to its own page, with the forms and the rule behind it.
- 1
Mobile food unit approval or permit
Island Health
A food truck or cart needs its plans approved before it is built. Type A units (prepackaged or low-risk food) get an approval; Type B and C units (hot food, raw proteins) get an operating permit and need FOODSAFE and a food safety plan. Most need an approved base of operations (commissary) for storage, prep and cleaning.
- Cost:
- A flat $75 a year for a mobile unit, or $150 prorated.
- 2
Your own approval in a shared or rented kitchen
Island Health
For your base of operations
Renting time in someone else’s approved kitchen doesn’t put you under their permit — permits are personal and not transferable. Island Health tells kitchen owners that every renter must contact them “for necessary approval”. Island Health publishes no separate commissary process, so call your local office before you start.
- 3
Gas approval for a food truck
Technical Safety BC
For propane or natural gas on board
A food truck or enclosed unit that cooks with propane needs its gas system approved. If it doesn’t already carry an accredited certification mark or inspection-body label, a licensed gas contractor takes out an installation permit and a Technical Safety BC officer inspects it and fixes a decal. Enclosed units also need exhaust interlocked with the gas supply and a professional engineer’s report on NFPA 96 at the final inspection. Carts are certified by an accredited body instead. Any later change to the gas system needs a new permit and decal.
- 4
Fire department inspection of your truck
Your municipality’s fire department
Most Island municipalities want a fire inspection before they licence a food truck — Victoria, Saanich, Nanaimo, Langford and Duncan among them. Victoria’s is yearly and comes with a decal. Nanaimo’s applies to enclosed units with propane or wood-fired appliances or grease-laden cooking, and an enclosed unit that makes grease-laden vapour needs an NFPA 96 hood and suppression system.
- Cost:
- Victoria: $100 a year.
- 5
Food safety plan and sanitation plan
You write them; Island Health approves them
Written procedures showing how you keep food safe (critical control points and limits) and how you clean and sanitise. Required of every food service establishment and every premises where food is processed or prepared, and approved before a permit or approval is issued.
- 6
FOODSAFE Level 1
BC FOODSAFE Secretariat
Type B and C units
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:
- $69 online (Open School BC) or $115 by distance education; classroom fees vary by provider. Valid 5 years.
- 7
Where a food truck may park and sell
Your municipality
No Island municipality lets a food truck sell from any public street. Private land is allowed almost everywhere if it is zoned for restaurant or commercial use and the owner agrees in writing. Public land means designated sites: Saanich’s seven parks, Nanaimo’s parks and three streets (street sites are first come, first served), parks in Courtenay and Comox, Campbell River’s seven City sites, Langford Station and Parksville’s park pad. Victoria, Esquimalt and Colwood allow public land only at permitted events, and CRD regional parks need a park use permit.
- Cost:
- Examples: Saanich parks $27.75 a day or $1,030 a year; Nanaimo’s licence for public sites $365.
- 8
Municipal business licence
Your municipality
Business licences are issued by each municipality, and every one of the twelve checked requires one — home-based food businesses included. Fees differ: most charge about $100 a year for a home-based licence, Nanaimo $165, and Oak Bay $100 to $200 by type under new rules reported adopted in September 2026; Courtenay’s rises from $75 to $150 in 2027. Langford and Colwood charge once, and the licence then carries on. Mobile businesses can share one licence across municipalities — the Greater Victoria Inter-Municipal licence or the Vancouver Island Inter-Community licence ($170 on top of the local licence under the newest bylaws) — but the updated Inter-Community bylaw several municipalities have adopted excludes food trucks, carts and trailers — it starts once all participating municipalities have adopted it — and North Cowichan’s mobile food licence cannot be used intermunicipally.
- 9
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.
- 10
GST registration
Canada Revenue Agency
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.
When you’re ready to sell
Selling on Local Pass
A truck moves; your menu page doesn’t. Customers who found you once can find you again and order from you on Local Pass.
Your own restaurant page
Your menu, photos and hours on a restaurant page built to be found on Google, with ordering built in.
Delivery and pickup
Local Pass drivers or your own, across several delivery zones — and customers follow their order live.
Live orders
Accept, decline and manage incoming orders in real time on your phone or tablet.
Local Pass is a platform that connects Island businesses and customers through its app and website — it is not a regulator. Every seller is responsible for the permits, licences and labels their food needs, and this guide is here to help you work out which ones.