Food & Drink · 5 min read · Last updated
Foodshop Basic is the lightest class in Hamilton's food premise schedule. It is for shops that sell food exactly as it arrives, in the packaging it came in, with no preparation on site and nowhere for customers to sit. Because nothing is prepared, the health inspection is scoped at the lowest level used across the food premise classes, and the whole application is correspondingly simpler.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “FOOD PREMISE (FOODSHOP), By-law 07-170, Schedule 21. FOODSHOP BASIC. No seating. Prepackaged foods, no food preparation.”
Who needs this licence?
Foodshop Basic is for a shop with no seating that sells prepackaged food and does no food preparation. That second half is the whole boundary of the class.
Preparation is a wider idea than cooking. Slicing, portioning, assembling, reheating or opening bulk product to repackage it are all preparation. If any of that happens on your floor, you are outside Foodshop Basic and into one of the heavier classes, where the health inspection is scoped and priced differently.
The practical version of the test: does the product leave your shop in exactly the state it arrived, in the manufacturer's packaging? If yes, this class fits. If a member of staff touches unwrapped food for any reason other than stocking a shelf, it does not.
Schedule 21 of By-law 07-170 carries the binding definition, requirements and restrictions. If your concept sits near the line, read the schedule before you choose the class, because moving classes after you have paid means starting the fee package again.
What documents do you need?
The checklist is the same five items used across the food premise classes, but two of them do different work here.
- Completed Business Licence Application Form, naming Foodshop Basic as the class.
- Business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year of the application.
- Zoning Verification Certificate, or a Zoning Addendum if the same category of business was licensed at the address within the past year.
- Premise Plan drawn to scale.
- Completed Food Premise Questionnaire.
The premise plan is where you demonstrate the absence of a kitchen and the absence of seating. It is easier to draw a plan that shows a preparation area you never intend to use than it is to explain it away afterwards, so leave out anything you are not actually building.
On the questionnaire, describe your storage honestly. Cold and frozen prepackaged product still has to be held at temperature, and the health inspector attends knowing exactly what you declared.
Zoning and premises requirements
Zoning is confirmed before the licence is issued, using a Zoning Verification Certificate obtained from the City for your specific address and use.
Small retail units change hands often, which makes the addendum route more useful in this class than in most. Where the same category of business held a licence at your address inside the past year, a Zoning Addendum may take the place of a full certificate. Ask before you pay for the certificate, because it is the more expensive of the two paths.
Your Premise Plan must be to scale and follows the same standard used for every food premise class, 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 Foodshop Basic most of those headings simply do not apply. Draw what exists: display, storage, refrigeration, queuing space at the till, washrooms and the exits.
Inspections and approvals
Once your application is in, the Licensing Team circulates two inspection requests.
- Health Inspection: for this class the focus is storage and display rather than preparation. Refrigeration and freezer temperatures, product rotation, damaged packaging, pest control and general cleanliness.
- Parking Inspection: confirms parking at the site is consistent with the plan and the use.
Because nothing is prepared on site, the health inspection is scoped at the lowest level used across the food premise classes, and the fee reflects that. It is still a real inspection that has to be passed before the licence issues.
No fire inspection is circulated for this class. That is the clearest structural difference between Foodshop Basic and the restaurant and take-out classes, which both carry one.
How much does it cost?
Amounts are set by the City in its fee schedule and confirmed during your application. What is useful in advance is knowing which lines appear on the bill.
- A processing fee, charged once at application, with HST.
- A licence fee for the class, with no HST.
- A health inspection fee, with HST, scoped at the lowest level in the food premise family because there is no preparation.
- A parking inspection fee, with HST.
- A zoning verification or addendum fee where one is required, with no HST.
This is the least expensive of the food premise classes to open, and the gap comes almost entirely from the health inspection line and the absence of a fire inspection.
Renewal charges a licence fee and a health inspection fee only. A late renewal adds a reinstatement fee with HST, and that single charge is larger than the annual health inspection line, so the deadline is worth a calendar reminder.
How to apply
Start by proving to yourself that you really are Foodshop Basic. Write down every task staff will perform with food. If none of them amount to preparation, proceed.
Order the zoning document, or confirm the addendum route with Licensing, and get the premise plan drawn to scale. Those two items set the pace of the whole application.
File the application form, corporate documents, zoning document, premise plan and Food Premise Questionnaire with Licensing and By-law Services, and pay the processing and licence fees.
The Licensing Team circulates the health and parking inspection requests after the file is received. Once both clear, the licence is issued. Do not stock the shop and open on the assumption that it will.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renewal is annual and requires a completed Declaration B.
A health inspection is repeated each renewal year. There is no repeat parking inspection and no new processing fee, so the renewal package is genuinely light compared with the first application.
If your operation has drifted into preparation during the year, such as adding a sandwich station or a coffee machine that involves handling unwrapped product, renewal is the moment to change class rather than the moment to hope nobody notices. Inspectors see the shop as it is, not as it was described a year ago.
Missing the expiry date triggers a licence reinstatement fee before the licence can be put back in good standing.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Which activity would take a shop out of the Foodshop Basic class?
Foodshop Basic is limited to prepackaged food with no food preparation, and slicing or portioning is preparation.
2. Why is the health inspection fee lower for Foodshop Basic than for other food premise classes?
The City scopes and prices the health inspection by class, and a shop that prepares nothing gets the lightest scope.
3. What does a Foodshop Basic renewal require?
Renewal in this class is a Declaration B plus a repeat health inspection; the parking inspection and processing fee are not repeated.
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.