Ontario, Canada Regulations - Home Bakery - Page 4

That's a great link. It's exactly what I thought. No tax on whole cakes whether or not you're selling more than 30K.

Well helllooooooooo neighbour!

hey neighbour, pm me some time if you want to meet for coffee or something.

Ok - here's a question for you ...
If you had a commercial kitchen in your area available for rent, would you use it?
How far would you be willing to go? And how much would you be willing to spend?

There are so many cakers looking for space and I know that I have as yet been able to find one. I wondered if it would be feasible to start up a location that would be usable for other cakers in my area or would there not be enough interest. Would you see that as "helping the competition"?

Personally I think there are enough cakes to go around so I think starting a commercial kitchen would be a good idea. I'd consider renting one if I could and or needed to. I'm not putting one in my house because I don't have enough years in me to make it worth my while. LOL Plus I'm teaching so much now I don't do as many cakes mostly flowers and figures so renting might be very appealing. I'm beginning to sell some things on my website now because around here we can't buy very much retail. I forget where you are kaat.

I'm in Markham (York Region)

I did run a business from home which I just recently closed. You will find you will get conflicting information. First of all call your municipality if they say no then you don't go any further. Some will say yes but you have to meet certain requirements a big one is a greese interceptor and then the fire codes. Then the local health dept will have their say. I did it it cost a total of about 20,000 by the time I was done to start it up.

Mudpuppy!! This is pretty much exactly what I had to do too!

Gotcha.!

I just found this on the list of Businesses that require a licesne:

Food Premises (restaurant, butcher shop, bakeshop)

I also saw that any business requiring a business license MAY NOT operate as a home-based business in Ottawa.
My question though, as all of this is VERY conflicting and even more confusing, is selling 1-3 decorated cakes a month a "bakeshop"?

I wouldn't think so, but who knows? We don't have those regs in the Valley that I can find.

Just to add my 2 cents as an Ontario, fully licenced, etc baker...

every municipality has its own regulations... there really are no "across the board" rules; some places allow home bakers, some only if you have a separate kitchen, and some don't allow it under any circumstances.

Call your local health department. If you don't get a clear answer, call back tomorrow and try to talk to someone else. If you DO get the answers you want, write it down immediately so you get the verbiage correct, and note the time, date and who you spoke to. ASK how to spell their name... THEN ask if they will confirm it in writing. If they hum and haw about it, don't push, just make sure you keep record of what you were told.

If you find someone sympathetic, ask for their direct extension so you can talk to them again next time!

If you expect the rules to make sense... shake your head. This is government regulations you are dealing with! I rent a church kitchen which is already licenced and inspected for the church's use, but I have to have my own inspections... health department, fire, building and zoning. Everyone but Health comes in... looks around... asks me why they are there, and then signs the paperwork. The health inspector looks at the same things that she did when she was inspecting the church, looks at my own fridge, reminds me of the usual stuff, and leaves. It costs me almost $500 a year for the inspections (they all come with the business licence here) to waste everyone's time.

I'm just starting a reno-process for a home kitchen and my first call was to municipal office where they advised to go to the health department. They were quick to say it was fine and that was that, so be careful, call your local health unit.

The health unit had a specific person I could speak with. He was super informative and went over everything with me on the phone and left a brochure and information packet for me to pick up at the front desk. He also said to call anytime.

We've had a planner in to do a basic sketch that is submitted to the building inspector and then to the health inspector. Once it's approved we get the permits and follow the regulations outlined, build and have them come back to inspect again.

A few things he mentioned:

-Separate kitchen - cannot be shared oven/sinks (absolutely nothing)
-Separate plumbing - 3 sinks
-Separate Entrance
-No signage unless you obtain a sign permit (although you can't get one here because we aren't zoned for it)

Although it's costly, I phoned everywhere, churches, restaurants, legions etc.. and no one would say yes to let me come in and rent. I thought they'd love the chance to make some extra money towards their mortgage/lease. I got some very rude "NO!"s during the process and my husband figured it's just much easier to use an area of our home than fight to find space somewhere in this small town.

I live in Hamilton, Ontario and received the following email from a health Inspector:

There are general requirements for proper setup to sanitation (ie. sinks), set up etc.

Unless this has been verified, it is deemed to be a contravention of the Ontario Food Premises Regulation.

It is strongly recommended one would have a separate kitchen which is not subject to pets, children etc interfering with the quality of the product; however it would be possible to have one sole kitchen. This would be subject to prior inspection and approval As I mentioned, this item should be discussed via telephone and potential physical inspection.

As a minimum, kitchen has to be in an overall state of good clean/sanitary repair equipped with separate handwash basin and additional two to three compartment sink for disinfection of utensils. Hot and cold running water and adequate mechanical refrigeration. Any vented hoods for stoves/ovens would be subject to Building Code
'
Also to be clarified..a dog or animal would have to be clearly shown that it has no access to the kitchen at any time. Typically speaking premises that have animals would not be approved as simply the dog would be roaming through the kitchen at certain times

Just as in a restaurant, it would not be allowed.

I wish I had read these earlier. I was told by a GTA health inspector home baking is not legal and I need to rent a Commercial kitchen and was told my a York region inspector that I'd need a separate kitchen and thats that.

I live in Toronto but I am eager to start my home based cake business. So I decided to bake from my aunt's basement kitchen in Markham and decorate and deliver from Toronto. It is tough!