Food & Drink · 6 min read · Last updated
A caterer serves food in other people's rooms, so the obvious question is what exactly gets licensed. The answer is the kitchen. Hamilton licenses caterers under the same food premise schedule as restaurants and shops, and the application requires you to identify the licensed kitchen where the food is prepared. Everything else in the process follows from that address.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “FOOD PREMISE (FOODSHOP), By-law 07-170, Schedule 21. CATERER. Must indicate licensed kitchen for food preparation.”
Who needs this licence?
The caterer class covers businesses that prepare food for service somewhere other than their own dining room. The City's requirement is stated in one line: you must indicate the licensed kitchen used for food preparation.
That single line does a lot of work. It means you cannot hold this licence in the abstract. There has to be a real, identified, licensed kitchen behind the business, and that kitchen is what the City inspects and what the licence is tied to.
It also means the venues you cater at are not part of your licence. A hall, a backyard, a corporate boardroom or a marquee is somebody else's premise or nobody's. Your obligation is that the food left a licensed kitchen and was handled properly on the way.
If you also run a public counter or dining room from the same address, that is a separate class question. The caterer class is built around production for service elsewhere, not around walk-in trade.
What documents do you need?
You file the same five-item food premise package as the other Schedule 21 classes, but read every item as applying to the kitchen.
- Completed Business Licence Application Form.
- Business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year of the application.
- Zoning Verification Certificate for the kitchen address, or a Zoning Addendum where the same category of business was licensed there within the past year.
- Premise Plan of the kitchen, drawn to scale.
- Completed Food Premise Questionnaire describing your preparation.
The questionnaire carries the most weight in this class. Catering is the classic cook-cool-hold-transport chain, and Public Health inspects a caterer against exactly those steps. A vague answer produces an inspection that goes looking for the detail you left out.
If you are renting time in a shared or commissary kitchen, sort out your paperwork with the kitchen operator before you file. You need to be able to show the City which kitchen is yours to use and that the use is permitted there.
Zoning and premises requirements
Zoning attaches to the kitchen address, and that is the point most new caterers get wrong. Weddings and corporate events happen wherever the client wants; your zoning obligation stays with the building where the food is produced.
Obtain a Zoning Verification Certificate for that address. If the same category of business was licensed at the address inside the past year, a Zoning Addendum may be accepted instead, which is often the case when you take over an existing commercial kitchen.
A home kitchen is not a substitute for a licensed commercial kitchen, and residential zoning rarely permits food production for sale. If your plan depends on cooking at home, resolve zoning first, because it is the item most likely to end the application.
The scaled Premise Plan uses the standard food premise headings, covering parking areas, queuing areas, walkways, smoking areas, patios, seating areas, offices, cloak rooms, dance areas, disc jockey areas, kitchen facilities, bar areas, washrooms, storage areas and entrances and exits. For a caterer the meaningful entries are kitchen facilities, storage, washrooms, loading and parking.
Inspections and approvals
Two inspections are circulated by the Licensing Team once your application is received.
- Health Inspection: scoped at the full food preparation level, the same level applied to a sit-down restaurant. Expect attention to cooking and cooling procedures, hot and cold holding, separation of raw and ready-to-eat food, hand washing stations, sanitizing and the condition of equipment and surfaces.
- Parking Inspection: confirms the parking at the kitchen address is consistent with the plan and the use, which for a caterer includes room for the vehicles that load and leave.
There is no fire inspection in the caterer package. That surprises people who assume a commercial kitchen automatically triggers one; the City sets the inspection package class by class, and for a caterer it is health and parking.
Both inspections happen after the application is received, so the kitchen has to be ready to be seen at short notice. If you share the space with another operator, make sure they know an inspector is coming.
How much does it cost?
The City publishes amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them during your application. The structure is what you can plan around.
- A processing fee at application, with HST.
- A licence fee for the caterer class, no HST.
- A health inspection fee, with HST, at the full preparation scope.
- A parking inspection fee, with HST.
- A zoning verification or addendum fee where required, no HST.
The health inspection line is the largest single inspection charge in the caterer package, which follows directly from the fact that you prepare food rather than just sell it.
Renewal is billed as a licence fee plus a health inspection fee. There is no repeat processing fee and no repeat parking inspection. A licence allowed to lapse carries a reinstatement fee with HST before it can be brought back.
How to apply
Secure the kitchen first. Every other step depends on having a specific address you can name, and a right to use it, whether that is a lease, a licence agreement or a booking arrangement with a commissary.
Confirm zoning for that address, by certificate or by addendum, and have a scaled premise plan of the kitchen drawn up.
File the package with Licensing and By-law Services: application form, current corporate documents, zoning document, premise plan and completed Food Premise Questionnaire, along with the application fees.
Wait for the circulated health and parking inspections, pass them, and pay the licence fee. Only then are you licensed to prepare food for catering in Hamilton.
Renewals and staying compliant
The caterer licence renews annually with a completed Declaration B.
The health inspection repeats every renewal year, at the same full preparation scope as the original. For a caterer this is the meaningful check, because the risk in catering is in process rather than in fixtures, and processes drift.
If you change kitchens during the year, that is not a renewal-time detail to mention in passing. The licence is tied to the premise you identified, so a new kitchen needs its own zoning confirmation, plan and inspection.
Renew before expiry. A late renewal triggers a reinstatement fee charged with HST, on top of the ordinary renewal charges.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. For a Hamilton caterer licence, which address is licensed and inspected?
The class requires you to indicate the licensed kitchen used for food preparation, and that premise is what the City zones, plans and inspects.
2. Which inspections are circulated for a caterer licence application?
Hamilton sets the inspection package by class, and the caterer class carries health and parking inspections only.
3. You want to run your catering business out of your home kitchen. What is the first obstacle?
The caterer class is built on an identified licensed kitchen, and zoning verification for that address is part of the application.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.