Restaurants, Cafes, Bars & Pubs

Restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs and other eating and drinking establishments with seating must have a licence.

Individuals, partnerships or corporations.

Please review application requirements outlined below and complete any required forms.

Visit the Licence & Permit Issuing Office at East York Civic Centre located at 850 Coxwell Ave, 3rd floor as applications must be processed in person.

Note: As of June 3, 2019, applications will not be accepted unless all documents are submitted.

Preliminary Project Review for Business Licence

Prior to submitting an application, you must provide an approved Preliminary Project Review for Business Licence.

This is not required if an applicant is taking over an existing business that has a valid business licence or is expired less than one year prior to the time of new application (for the same licence category). However, you must complete and sign the Occupancy Declaration Form.

Apply for Preliminary Project Review

Identification Requirements

Original documents required for all applications (and renewal transactions).

Include two pieces of government-issued identification (one must be photo ID):

  • Canadian Passport
  • Driver’s Licence
  • Canadian Birth Certificate
  • Citizenship Card
  • Permanent Resident Card
  • SIN Card (Social Insurance Number)
  • Valid Work Permit

Note:

  • First and last names must match on all identification.
  • We do not accept Health Cards.
  • Identification is required for all officers/directors listed on the Articles of Incorporation, Corporate Profile or Federal Form 6

Business Requirements

All applicants must also provide the following:

Corporations must also provide:

  • a copy of Articles of Incorporation (Note: If there has been a change to the list of officers and directors, please also provide a current Corporate Profile Report or a Federal Form 6)
  • the Annual Return for Corporation Form which lists all current directors & officers of the Corporation. This must be:
    • original as copies will not be accepted
    • signed by an officer/director of the Corporation. The Form cannot be signed by a designate of the Corporation.

If a director of the corporation is unable to apply in person at the Licence and Permit Issuing Office, a designate may apply on their behalf. The designate must:

  • have an original letter advising of their signing authority on corporation letterhead, signed by a director of the corporation dated within 30 days
  • provide two pieces of identification for themselves
  • provide two pieces of identification for each officer and director of the corporation, or, if original identification is not available, notarized photocopies of the identification will also be accepted.

Criminal Record & Judicial Matters Check

Applicants must provide an original Criminal Record and Judicial Matters Check issued by a Canadian Police Service within 280 days prior to the application.

A designate applying on behalf of a corporation must also provide a Criminal Record & Judicial Matters Check for each officer and director of the Corporation.

$510.65

These businesses must also provide:

  • adequate supervision of dining rooms, including outside eating areas
  • a sufficient number of attendants to ensure that outside eating areas are kept clean and free of garbage at all times
  • a sufficient number of appropriate containers for garbage, recycling and organics.

Accreditation for staff who handle food

Staff who handle food in these establishments must have Accredited Food Handler Certification. This includes waiters, waitresses, hosts, hostesses, bartenders, cooks and every other person serving or making available food or drink.

ML&S shall deny an application for, or a renewal, for all businesses required to be licenced under this chapter that has:

    1. Been convicted at any time of a sexual offence against a minor or a person with a disability under any of sections 151 to 153.1 of the Criminal Code;
    2. Been convicted of any sexual offence under the Criminal Code in the preceding ten years;
    3. Been convicted of an offence under the following Criminal Code sections in the preceding five years:
      1. 84 to 117.15 (Firearms and Other Weapons);
      2. 264.1 to 286.1 (Offences Against the Person);
      3. 321 to 378 (Offences Against Rights of Property);
      4. 379 to 462 (Fraudulent Transactions, Wilful and Forbidden Acts of Certain Property, Offences Relating to Currency);
      5. 462.3 to 462.5 (Proceeds of Crime).
    4. Been convicted at any time of an offence under the following Criminal Code sections:
      1. 83.01 to 83.33 (Terrorism);
      2. 219 to 248 (Major Offences Against the Person);
      3. 267, 268, 270.01, 272, 273 (Major Assaults or Major Sexual Assaults).
    5. Been convicted of an offence under the following Controlled Drugs and Substances Act sections in the preceding ten years:
      1. 5 (Trafficking);
      2. 6 (Importing and exporting);
      3. 7 (Production);
      4. 7.1 (Possession for use in production or trafficking).
    6. Been convicted of any offence under section 4 (Possession or obtaining) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in the preceding five years;
    7. Been convicted of five or more offences under Chapter 545 or 546 of the Toronto Municipal Code in the preceding three years;
    8. Any overdue by-law fines, unless the applicant provides proof that such fines have been subsequently paid.

Despite these screening criteria, if a licence has been previously issued or renewed and the applicant’s or licensee’s record discloses no new breach of the screening criteria, the licence may be issued or renewed without the matter being referred to the Toronto Licensing Tribunal.

These screening criteria do not apply to any offence for which a licensee or applicant has been granted a criminal record suspension (i.e. a pardon) by the Parole Board of Canada.

Your licence will expire annually on the anniversary of the date that the licence was first issued.

The renewal fee is $307.80

A renewal notice, identifying any documents required to renew the licence, will be mailed to the address on file.

Payments received after the licence expiry date are subject to late fees in addition to the annual licence fee.

If you fail to renew your licence according to the bylaw, your licence will be cancelled and you will have to reapply.