Most restaurant owners picture the menu first. The law, unfortunately, needs you to think about the ventilation hood, the zoning by-law, and the wording of a lease long before the first plate goes out. By the time an owner worries about licences, the most expensive decisions have often been locked in.
Opening a restaurant in Brampton means dealing with several separate authorities, and none of them coordinates with the others on your behalf. A City licence relies on zoning and health sign-off. Liquor licensing requires letters from building, fire, and health officials. Public health wants to see floor plans before you build. The list below puts those requirements in a workable order.
Please treat it as general information only, not legal advice. Requirements, fees, and by-laws change, so confirm current details with the City of Brampton, Peel Public Health, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) when you apply.
Stage One: Before You Sign Anything
Choose a structure. Sole proprietorships are the simplest to set up, but a restaurant has real liability exposure, from slip-and-fall claims to food-borne illness, and usually long-term lease obligations. Many owners incorporate for that reason, though a landlord or lender will probably ask for a personal guarantee anyway. See our page on business formation and organization for how those choices compare.
Sort out ownership on paper. Restaurants are often opened by friends or relatives, with one putting up money and another running the kitchen. Decide now who owns what, who gets paid a salary, who can sign cheques, and what happens if someone wants out in the second year. A shareholder or partnership agreement signed in month one is cheaper than almost any dispute in month eighteen.
Pick and clear the name. If you will trade under a name other than your corporation’s legal name, register it under the Business Names Act. Also search the trademarks database, because a similar restaurant name elsewhere in Canada could be a real problem, and a registration in the Ontario business records offers no defence against it.
Check the zoning for the exact unit. Do this before you commit. A restaurant use may not be permitted in every plaza or unit, and parking standards, patio rules, or restrictions on the number of restaurants in a given building could apply. Ask the City’s zoning staff directly, and get an answer in writing if you can. A former retail unit may also need a change of use building permit even if it looks ready.
If you are buying an existing restaurant, do not assume that its licences, patio, or liquor licence come with it, or that its equipment is free of liens. Run searches on the seller, and review what can actually be assigned. Our page on the purchase and sale of businesses explains that process further.
Franchise? If you are buying a franchise, you are entitled to a disclosure document under Ontario’s Arthur Wishart Act, and you must receive it at least 14 days before signing or paying. Have it reviewed before you sign any deposit agreement, however minor it seems.
Stage Two: The Lease
The lease is usually the most consequential contract a restaurant owner signs. It can outlast the business, and its terms affect nearly every approval that follows. Pay close attention to the following points, which go beyond a general review:
- A use clause wide enough to cover your actual concept, including liquor, late hours, takeout, catering, delivery, and any entertainment
- Exclusivity, so that the landlord cannot lease the next unit to a direct competitor
- Conditions allowing you to back out if zoning, building permits, health approval, or a liquor licence are not obtained
- A fixturing period and rent-free time matched to a realistic construction schedule
- Who pays for and maintains the HVAC system, hood, grease trap, and exhaust ducts
- Rights over the patio, signage, garbage areas, and parking
- Assignment rights if you later sell the business, since your exit often depends on the landlord’s consent
- The reach of the personal guarantee, and whether it can be capped or limited in time
Restaurants have heavy utility, ventilation, and plumbing needs, so ask for evidence of the building’s existing capacity. Discovering after signing that the unit lacks adequate gas service or a practical exhaust route can be a major expense.
Stage Three: Construction and Public Health
Peel Public Health is one of your first calls, not the last. It requires notice at least 14 days before opening a food premises, and its staff must approve your floor plans. Submit them before construction, as moving a sink is much cheaper on paper than it is after the tile is laid.
Peel also requires a plan review for renovations to an existing food premises, with notice 14 days before construction starts. So buying a going concern and renovating still triggers this step.
The governing rules are in the Food Premises regulation (O. Reg. 493/17) made under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. Among other things, it covers sanitation, equipment, handwashing stations, food temperature, refrigeration, and pest control. A key staffing requirement is that a food service premises must have at least one food handler or supervisor on-site who has completed food handler training during every hour it operates. So plan your schedule around that: having only one certified manager who works days will not satisfy the rule during the dinner shift.
Peel posts inspection results publicly through its Food Check program, with a sign displayed for customers. A closure or conviction is a legal issue as well as a reputational one, so make sure your daily logs and staff training are in place before opening day.
Other construction items to raise with your contractor, architect, or the relevant department:
- Building permits from the City, particularly for structural work, change of use, and mechanical systems
- Fire code compliance, including exhaust suppression systems, exits, and occupancy limits
- Sewer-use requirements relating to grease and wastewater handling
- Accessibility requirements in the Ontario Building Code for any significant renovation
- Sign permits, because the City’s sign by-law can limit what you may install
- Construction contract terms, including deadlines and holdbacks under the Construction Act, which can protect you from lien claims from your contractor’s unpaid suppliers
Stage Four: City of Brampton Licensing
Restaurants need a business licence under the City of Brampton’s stationary business licensing by-law, with restaurants classified among fixed food premises. Applications are made online. The published requirements at the time of writing include:
- The online application with business and owner information
- Zoning review of the location, carried out by the City
- A certificate of insurance showing at least $2,000,000 in commercial general liability coverage
- Health approval from the Region of Peel, including an inspection
- Articles of incorporation, and a business name registration where you operate under another name
- Payment of the prescribed fee
The City may issue a conditional licence, valid for 90 days without a health inspection, and issue the licence without conditions once Peel has confirmed it has no objection after inspection. Licences have an annual expiry date, so add renewal to your calendar. Operating without a required licence can lead to charges, and enforcement staff do visit premises.
Stage Five: Liquor
If you plan to serve alcohol, build this stage into your timeline from the start. A liquor sales licence is issued by the AGCO under the Liquor Licence and Control Act, 2019. Only the business owner can apply, and the AGCO will look at the suitability of the applicant and those behind it. Expect to provide:
- Disclosure about officers, directors, partners, owners with a 10 per cent or greater interest, and any on-site manager
- Tax compliance verification from the Ontario Ministry of Finance
- Scaled floor plans clearly showing the proposed licensed areas, including any patio
- A Municipal Information Form from the City Clerk’s office
- Compliance letters from the building department, the fire department, and public health
The AGCO’s process also includes public notice, which allows residents and the municipality to object. Patios, proximity to residences, and late hours can generate extra attention, so talk with the City early if your unit abuts a residential neighbourhood.
Staff involved in selling or serving liquor must have completed approved training, most commonly the Smart Serve program, and owners should verify and keep copies of certificates. Once you are licensed, the rules continue to apply: no service to minors or to anyone who appears intoxicated, set service hours, and a licensee’s potential civil liability to third parties for over-serving, which is one more reason to check that your liability insurance includes liquor coverage. Transfers of ownership of a licensed business have their own requirements.
If you intend to wait until you have opened to apply for a licence, make sure your lease permits you to do it, and plan your cash flow as if alcohol revenue will start late.
Stage Six: People
Restaurants employ a lot of people on variable schedules, which leads to frequent mistakes. Before your first hire:
- Register for payroll source deductions with the CRA
- Register with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board within 10 days of hiring your first worker, since WSIB lists restaurants among the businesses that must register
- Use written contracts, and be careful with termination wording, which must meet the Employment Standards Act, 2000
- Track all hours accurately, as well as overtime, breaks, and public holiday pay
- Pay at least the general minimum wage; the former lower rate for liquor servers no longer exists
- Follow the ESA’s tip rules: employers generally cannot withhold or deduct from employee tips, although pooling arrangements are permitted within limits, and owners or directors can share only where they regularly perform the same work as those who get tips
- Comply with health and safety obligations, which include training and a written policy for many employers, along with workplace violence and harassment programs
- Comply with requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, including customer service training
- Screen workers for legal authorization to work in Canada, especially when hiring those on study or work permits, with attention to the conditions of each permit
Many kitchens and front-of-house teams rely on casual, shift-based staff. Classifying someone as an independent contractor to avoid payroll generally does not work when that person is really an employee, and it can bring liability for unpaid amounts and for premiums.
Stage Seven: Everything Else
A few items are easy to miss until a complaint or a letter shows up:
- GST/HST registration, once you pass the small supplier threshold, which most restaurants will
- Insurance covering property, liability, liquor liability, and business interruption
- Smoke-Free Ontario Act compliance, including patios, signage, and the rules on vaping
- Music and broadcast licensing, since playing music in a restaurant usually requires tariff licences under the Copyright Act
- Menu labelling if you are part of a chain, since the Healthy Menu Choices Act, 2015 applies to food service chains with 20 or more locations
- Privacy obligations, if you maintain a customer loyalty program, online ordering platform, or surveillance cameras
- Delivery platform contracts, which should be read for commissions, indemnities, and control over customer data
A Sensible Order
If you take away only one thing from this list, it should be the sequence: settle your structure and ownership, confirm zoning, negotiate the lease with conditions, get plans approved by Peel, build, get inspected, get licensed, apply for liquor, hire and train, then open. Many first-time owners do the lease first and only later find that the use, the patio, or the exhaust does not work.
A lawyer can be most helpful early, ideally before the offer to lease is signed, while conditions can still be added. If you are planning a restaurant in Brampton or elsewhere in Peel, contact Sawan Law House LLP to go through your lease and your opening plan.