October 28, 2026

How a Restaurant Renovation Works in Toronto in 2026

A restaurant renovation in Toronto is a building project with a food business attached to it. Before you can open, you need a City building permit for the work, a Toronto Public Health inspection of the finished kitchen, and a business licence that can’t be applied for until the City has confirmed the zoning allows a restaurant at that address. The kitchen exhaust, the gas service, the grease interceptor and the electrical capacity decide most of the budget and most of the schedule, and whether a unit already has them decides more than anything else. That’s why the most useful work on a restaurant build-out happens before the lease is signed.

Before you sign the lease: what to check in the space

The biggest difference between two restaurant units with the same rent is what’s already in them. A second-generation space, one that was a restaurant before, may come with a hood, exhaust duct, grease interceptor, gas line and a kitchen-sized panel. A unit that has never held a restaurant has none of those, and in a multi-storey building the exhaust route alone can decide whether a restaurant is possible.

Inherited equipment is only worth something if it works, fits your menu and meets today’s rules. Walk the unit with your designer and a mechanical contractor before you sign, and check these:

1. Zoning. Confirm the zoning permits an eating establishment at the address, and whether it limits the size, the patron area or a patio. A licence history from the last three years can save you a zoning review.
2. The exhaust route. Where would a kitchen exhaust duct go, and can it reach the roof inside a fire-rated shaft? If there’s a hood already, ask for its cleaning records.
3. Fire suppression. Is there a suppression system over the existing hood, when was it last serviced, and is it tied into the building’s fire alarm?
4. The grease interceptor. Is there one, what size, and can it be reached for cleaning?
5. Gas. Is there a service and meter large enough for your equipment?
6. Electrical. Is the panel and service big enough for refrigeration, dish machines and any electric cooking?
7. Washrooms and accessibility. Are there customer washrooms, are they barrier-free, and is the entrance level with the sidewalk?
8. Rooftop and structure. Is there roof space and structural capacity for an exhaust fan, a make-up air unit and refrigeration condensers?

The landlord’s work letter says what the landlord delivers and what you build. On a restaurant, the items that matter most are the ones above: who supplies the exhaust shaft, interceptor, gas service, electrical capacity and roof penetrations, and who pays to bring an inherited system up to current requirements. Our guides to tenant improvement allowances and retail store build-outs cover the landlord’s contribution and shell or “as is” delivery.

Two lease points are specific to restaurants. First, a hood, a duct and a grease interceptor are usually leasehold improvements that stay with the building, while your cooking line may be a trade fixture you can take with you; the article on leasehold improvements in Ontario explains the difference and why the restoration clause matters. Second, base rent starts on a fixed date in the lease, open or not, so ask for a fixturing period long enough to cover a restaurant’s approvals.

Restaurant permits in Toronto, in order

A Toronto restaurant needs approvals from several parts of the City and, for alcohol, from the province, and some can’t start until another is finished. The City’s starting a food business page lists who is involved: Toronto Public Health, which you notify before you operate; Toronto Building, for zoning and the building, HVAC, plumbing and sign permits; Municipal Licensing and Standards for the business licence; and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for alcohol. It also says to check zoning before you sign a lease.

Zoning and the business licence

The City’s eating or drinking establishment licence requires an approved Zoning Review for Business Licence before you apply. You don’t need one if you’re taking over a business with a valid licence, or one that expired less than three years ago, in the same licence category. The zoning review costs $248.67 per application from January 1, 2026, and needs a site plan based on a current survey and floor plans showing the use of every space. The City doesn’t publish a review time, so apply as soon as the plan is fixed.

The licence costs $536.64 in total ($268.32 to apply, $268.32 on approval), as listed in October 2026, and needs ID and criminal record checks for the owners, an occupancy declaration signed by your landlord, and an operating questionnaire. A patio on private property also needs a zoning compliance letter or a building permit that approves it.

Toronto Public Health

Under Ontario’s Food Premises Regulation, O. Reg. 493/17, anyone intending to operate a food premises gives notice to the medical officer of health first. Toronto Public Health’s requirements page says this includes buyers of an existing premises.

The step that saves money is the plan review. Toronto Public Health asks you to submit your plans before construction so they can be checked against the Food Premises Regulation, by email to DineSafe@toronto.ca or through Toronto Health Connections. The plans show the kitchen equipment and canopies, sinks, dishwasher, hand basins, food and waste storage and staff washrooms. When construction is finished, a public health inspector inspects the premises before it opens, on a date you arrange.

The regulation’s design points are worth giving your designer at the start:

• Enough handwashing stations for food handlers, with hot and cold running water, used only for handwashing.
• Utensil washing by mechanical dishwasher or by a three-compartment sink (a two-compartment sink is allowed only in limited cases).
• Written approval from a public health inspector before you change the floor space, or the number of toilets or washbasins, in a sanitary facility.
• At least one person who has completed food handler training on the premises during every hour you operate.

The building permit

A restaurant fit-out needs a building permit, and the City’s food business page lists HVAC and plumbing permits alongside it. The City’s guide to interior alterations in non-residential buildings lists what an application needs, and from January 1, 2026 the fee is $12.45 per square metre for Groups A, B and D and $11.53 for Groups C, E and F. A restaurant is generally an assembly occupancy (Group A) under the Ontario Building Code, O. Reg. 163/24, though the City groups restaurants under 30 seats with business and retail uses for Express Services. A 2,500 square foot restaurant is about 232 square metres, so the building permit fee is roughly $2,890 at the Group A rate.

Expect the drawings to include the kitchen exhaust and make-up air, the grease interceptor, the kitchen electrical loads, and an occupant load from the seating plan, with exits and washrooms to match.

Toronto has three review streams. For a complete application, the City targets 15 business days in the small building stream, 20 in the large building stream and 30 for complex buildings, according to its page on building permit review streams. A small restaurant may qualify for Express Services, with an examiner’s review within three days, if it has fewer than 30 seats, is up to 600 square metres, involves no change of use and no change to the patron area, has no active permit for the building shell and doesn’t need heritage approval. A unit in a new condo podium often has an active shell permit, which rules Express out.

Signs, alcohol and patios

A new sign needs a first party sign permit, covered in the retail guide. A liquor sales licence from the AGCO costs $1,055 for a two-year term or $1,355 for four, according to its application page. It needs floor plans with each licensed area marked and its capacity, which comes from the Building Code, and the AGCO suggests getting approval letters from the building department, fire and public health early. It may also require a public notice posted at the location. Design the dining room and the licence together.

For outdoor seating, Toronto’s CaféTO program covers curb lane cafés, sidewalk cafés and private patios. For 2026, curb lane applications opened on January 7 and closed on February 11. If you want a patio, put that window in the schedule at lease signing.

The systems that set the budget

Each of these can carry long-lead equipment.

Kitchen exhaust and make-up air

The Ontario Building Code requires the exhaust from commercial cooking equipment to meet NFPA 96, the standard for ventilation control and fire protection of commercial cooking operations. The City of Oshawa’s bulletin on commercial cooking equipment, dated December 2025, gives a plain summary of what that means under the 2024 Code (the 2014 edition of NFPA 96, through Division B Articles 3.3.1.2, 6.3.1.6 and 9.10.1.4):

• A welded, liquid-tight steel grease duct with cleanouts, not connected to any other ventilation system.
• Where the duct passes through floors or a roof, a continuous fire-rated enclosure, rated at least 1 hour in buildings under four storeys and 2 hours in buildings of four storeys or more.
• Discharge at least 1.02 metres above the roof and 3.05 metres from adjacent buildings, property lines and air intakes.
• Replacement (make-up) air, and a fire-actuated damper where outside air is ducted into the hood.

In a one-storey plaza, the duct goes straight up through the roof. In a unit with offices or homes above, it has to rise inside a rated shaft through every floor, which is why the exhaust route is the first thing to check. The air the hood pulls out also has to come back in, heated in winter, so make-up air is sized with the exhaust. The hood, fan and make-up air unit are often custom built and among the first items to order.

Cooking equipment that is listed to ANSI/UL 197 for reduced emissions may not need a hood at all, according to the same bulletin. A café with a ventless oven is a much smaller project than a kitchen with a fryer and a grill line, and the menu decides which one you’re building.

Fire suppression

The hood, the duct and the grease filters need an approved fire suppression system, installed to its listing. According to the Oshawa bulletin, when it discharges it has to shut off the fuel and electrical power to the cooking equipment under the hood, and it ties into the building’s fire alarm where there is one. Expect witnessed tests during construction (Oshawa’s bulletin has a smoke test before the duct is wrapped), so ask Toronto Building early which inspections your permit carries.

Gas service

If you cook on gas, the gas supply has to be large enough for every appliance running at once. A unit with no gas, or a meter too small for your line, needs work by Enbridge Gas before your contractor can connect. Have your mechanical engineer calculate the gas load during design so the request goes in early.

The grease interceptor

Toronto’s Sewers By-law requires food service establishments to install, operate and maintain a grease interceptor on any fixture or drain that discharges fats, oils and grease, such as dish sinks and self-cleaning hood drains. The by-law is Chapter 681 of the Municipal Code, and the City says a missing or failed interceptor can lead to fines of up to $100,000, with the cost of a grease-blocked sewer charged back. The interceptor goes on the plumbing drawings for the permit. Your plumbing designer sizes it from the fixtures it serves; put it where it can be opened and pumped out.

Electrical capacity and refrigeration

Walk-ins, reach-ins, a dish machine with a booster heater and any electric cooking add up to a high load that runs all day. Older plaza units often have a panel sized for a shop, and a service upgrade can involve the landlord’s switchgear and the utility. Walk-in refrigeration needs a condenser location, usually on the roof, and a refrigeration contractor.

Washrooms and accessibility

The number of washrooms follows from the occupant load, which follows from the seating plan. The Building Code’s barrier-free requirements apply to the parts of the restaurant the public uses, including the entrance and the customer washrooms. A step at the door or a washroom too small to make accessible is a common surprise in older units, and cheaper to solve at design.

What a restaurant renovation costs in Toronto

There is no published, sourced figure for what a restaurant fit-out costs per square foot in Toronto. The Altus Group 2026 Canadian Cost Guide, the standard Canadian benchmark, gives GTA interior fit-out rates for office space and prices retail units as shell. It has no restaurant fit-out rate. The ranges online are unsourced. Where your unit sits depends on the lines below.

To get a real number, put a test fit and an outline mechanical scope in front of a cost consultant or two contractors before you sign, with the walk-through findings attached.

Size the contingency to what you don’t know. A reused hood with no maintenance record, an interceptor nobody has opened, or a slab that hasn’t been scanned are all reasons to carry more. Our article on how much contingency is enough explains how to set it.

If you buy the equipment yourself, the contractor still needs cut sheets for every piece, because the plumbing, gas, electrical and exhaust are designed around them. Fix the list before the drawings go for permit.

How long a restaurant build-out takes

No one publishes a lease-to-opening duration for Toronto, because it depends on the unit. What gates each stage is predictable.

1. Before the lease. Walk-through, zoning check, test fit, outline budget, and the landlord’s work letter agreed.
2. Design. Menu and equipment list fixed, then architectural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical drawings. Gate: a fixed equipment list.
3. Submissions. Building and mechanical permits, the zoning review for the business licence, the plan review with Toronto Public Health, landlord drawing approval, and the gas request to Enbridge. Gate: the City’s review and any comments to answer.
4. Pricing and contract. Tender or negotiate, level the bids, sign. This can overlap with the permit review.
5. Long-lead orders. Hood and fans, make-up air unit, walk-ins, the dish machine, the interceptor and any electrical gear. Gate: approved shop drawings.
6. Construction. Demolition, rough-in, inspections, the exhaust smoke test and suppression commissioning, then finishes and equipment. Gate: each inspection passed.
7. Pre-opening. The public health inspection, business licence, AGCO inspection if you’ll serve alcohol, staff training. Gate: a passed inspection and the licences in hand.

The usual way a restaurant opening slips is through steps 3 and 5 rather than the construction itself. An exhaust design changed after submission, a moving equipment list or a late gas request can each hold up trades who are ready to work, so put long-lead equipment and the Enbridge request on the critical path from day one. Our article on what developers get wrong about schedules covers the same pattern on larger projects.

Choosing the team and the contract

A restaurant fit-out needs a designer, mechanical and electrical engineers, often a kitchen equipment supplier, and a contractor who has built commercial kitchens. All of them work from the same equipment list.

There are two common ways to contract it:

• Design-bid-build. Your designer completes the drawings and two or three contractors price them. You get comparable bids and a fixed price for a defined scope, usually on the CCDC 2 stipulated price contract. The design has to be complete for the price to hold.
• Design-build. One firm designs and builds, often faster to start and with one point of contact. You give up some independent checking of the design and price. The article on design-build vs design-bid-build sets out the trade-off.

Whichever you choose, ask each contractor to price the same scope with the same exclusions, and ask specifically what’s included for the exhaust, suppression, interceptor and gas connections, since these are where bids differ most. Our guide to reading a construction estimate shows what to look for line by line.

On a tenant fit-out you’re usually the “owner” under Ontario’s Construction Act. You hold back 10% of each payment, and you pay a proper invoice within 28 days unless you give notice of non-payment within 14. Our article on construction liens and holdback explains the mechanics.

Two provincial rules apply before work starts. Under O. Reg. 278/05, you must have an asbestos report prepared before tendering alteration work in an older building and give it to the contractors pricing it. Under O. Reg. 213/91, the constructor must notify the Ministry of Labour before work starts on any project where labour and materials exceed $50,000, which nearly every restaurant fit-out does.

Renovating a restaurant while you trade

In an operating restaurant, the plan is built around service hours.

Phasing and closures

Front of house work can often be phased by section of the dining room. Kitchen work rarely can. Replacing the hood, changing the exhaust or moving the dish area usually means the kitchen is out of service, so it’s planned as a single closure with everything ordered, delivered and pre-assembled before the doors close.

Night work is limited. Toronto’s noise by-law, Chapter 591, prohibits construction noise that is clearly audible between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays, before 9 a.m. and after 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and all day on Sundays and holidays, unless you have a noise exemption permit. Plan demolition and coring for daytime closures, and check the landlord’s rules, which may be stricter.

Our team’s experience here was built at PCL Constructors and Oxford Properties, including the Square One renovation and expansion in Mississauga, with its Food Central transformation, delivered while the centre stayed fully open. On a single unit, agree the closures and quiet hours with the landlord before the contract is signed, and give the contractor your service times to price against.

Health and inspections when you reopen

If the renovation changes the kitchen, send the plans to Toronto Public Health before you start, the same as a new premises, and expect an inspection before you reopen. Changing the floor space, or the number of toilets or washbasins, in a sanitary facility needs a public health inspector’s written approval first, under section 24 of the Food Premises Regulation. Any work under a building permit needs its inspections closed before the space is used. If the work changes your licensed areas or capacity, check with the AGCO first. Book those inspections into the plan, with time to fix anything an inspector raises.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a permit to renovate a restaurant in Toronto?

Almost always. New walls, plumbing, kitchen exhaust, sprinkler or fire alarm changes and a grease interceptor all need a building permit, with HVAC and plumbing permits alongside. A new sign needs a sign permit. Toronto Public Health asks for plans before construction and inspects before you open, and changing the size of a washroom or its number of toilets or basins in an existing food premises needs its written approval.

How much does it cost to renovate a restaurant in Toronto?

There’s no reliable published figure for Toronto, and the range is wide. The biggest factors are whether the unit already has a working hood, exhaust duct, grease interceptor, gas service and enough electrical capacity, and how large your cooking line is. Get a test fit and an outline mechanical scope priced before you sign.

How long does a restaurant build-out take?

It depends on the unit, but the stages are predictable: design, permits and health plan review, pricing, long-lead orders, construction and inspections. The City targets 15 to 30 business days to review a complete permit application, or about three days in Express for small restaurants under 30 seats. Long-lead equipment and gas service upgrades are usually what set the opening date, so order them early.

What does a grease interceptor need?

Toronto’s Sewers By-law requires every food service establishment to install and maintain a grease interceptor on drains that carry fats, oils and grease, such as dish sinks and self-cleaning hood drains. It goes on the plumbing drawings for the permit, and your plumbing designer sizes it from the fixtures it serves. Put it where it can be opened and pumped out regularly, because a missing or failed interceptor can bring fines of up to $100,000.

Where to start

Before you sign, get a walk-through, a test fit, a priced outline scope and a schedule set against the lease dates.

We’ve spent more than 20 years on construction projects across four sectors, with experience built at PCL Constructors and Oxford Properties. If you’re looking at a restaurant unit or planning a renovation, our construction project management service can walk the space with you, price the build, line up the approvals and run the work through to opening.