Restaurants, cafés & food service
How to start a delivery-only kitchen on Vancouver Island
A delivery-only kitchen is still a food service establishment: it needs an Approved kitchenA kitchen Island Health has approved to make food for sale: its plans were approved before it was built, and it holds an operating permit or approval. A home kitchen is not one, unless it is a separate kitchen that went through the same approval.All terms in the glossary, an Island Health Operating permitIsland Health’s permit to run a restaurant, café, food truck or other food service business. You get it after the pre-opening inspection, pay its fee each year, and post it where customers can see it.All terms in the glossary, FOODSAFEBC’s food handler course. The operator of a restaurant, café, food truck or other food service business must hold a FOODSAFE Level 1 certificate or an equivalent.All terms in the glossary Level 1 and a Food 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 that covers how food is kept hot or cold on its way to the customer.
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What you need, in order
13 steps. Each links to its own page, with the forms and the rule behind it.
- 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
Zoning for a shop, café or kitchen
Your municipality
If you set up your own kitchen
Before you sign a lease, check that the ZoningThe 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
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 PrepackagedSealed 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 Higher-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
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
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 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
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
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 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
Food safety plan and sanitation plan
You write them; Island Health approves them
Two short written documents: a food safety plan, saying how you keep each food safe and what you do when something goes wrong, and a Sanitation 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
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
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
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.
- 12
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.
- 13
GST registration
Canada Revenue Agency
Hot and prepared 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 it costs, and what to start early
Government and course fees only. Rent, building work, equipment and insurance aren’t here — they depend on your project.
| Set fees | First year |
|---|---|
| FOODSAFE Level 1 | $69–$115 |
| Health operating permit | $150–$250 |
| Registering your business name | $40–$350 |
| Set fees, first year | $259–$715 |
Set by your municipality
Each municipality sets these. Choose yours to see its figures, or compare them on Local rules.
No set price
Some are free; others depend on who you use or what you need.
Your own approval in a shared or rented kitchen · Island Health plan approval · Gas and propane work · Food safety plan and sanitation plan · GST registration
Start these early
- Building permit for a renovation or change of use
Most municipalities publish no processing time. Victoria expects four to six months for extensive changes; Nanaimo targets 8 weeks for a tenant improvement.
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 kitchen with no dining room lives on orders nobody walks in for. Local Pass sends Vancouver Island delivery and pickup orders your way.
Delivery and pickup
Local Pass drivers or your own, across several delivery zones — and customers follow their order live.
Kitchen printer support
Connect a network kitchen printer, and each ticket prints when you accept the order — every item and option on it.
POS integration
Orders go straight into your point-of-sale, so nobody re-keys a ticket — Square today, with more systems on the way.
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.