Hello Everyone,

Curious to know if there are any fellow Canadians out there who are considering starting a cake decorating business out of their home? Are things equally as complicated in Canada as it appears they are in the US?

I would love to do it, but here in Alberta I need to have a separate kitchen that has it's own access and is cut off from the rest of the house. Not possible where I live now but maybe my next house.

Me too I would love an answer to this question. I don't even know where to begin to look for answers. I live in Ontario if anybody has any advise.

You can start reading on the Ontario Gov't website, though it doesn't quite specify anything about a home based (food) business.
Based on my research (and I don't know if it has changed at all recently), in Toronto, you will need a separate commercial kitchen. If you live in a house - depending on the zoning bylaw of your area, you may be able to convert your basement into a separate kitchen and that would be acceptable. There are tons of info on the gov't website on how to start a business, links to the Toronto Business Development Centre and the food incubator

Note: The food incubator is a waste of our time because they will only rent their kitchens to members, and it only makes sense to be a member if you're thinking of manufacturing en mass (producing for distribution to other stores)

HTH

I'm in NB and it varies per province. Call your local health department, Health Canada, they'll get you in touch with an actual inspector, least that's what they did here, and he called me back and answered all my questions. Here I can have a home business as long as it's a seperate kitchen, like in the basement, with two sinks, and a door, not to the outside, but just a door, and soap dispenser and paper towel dispenser. He even gave me his e-mail and was extremely helpful.

Though I don't need to go through any of this if I want to sell at the Farmer's Market.

Thanks, though I wish it was easy! Because it is so easy to sell food at the Marke the waiting list to get into the Market has been booked full for 6 months and I can't even get on it! So frustrating. In the meantime I'm thinking of renting out my Church's kitchen just to see if I have what it takes, and if I truly love it, before re-doing my basement to put in a kitchen. Though I was lucky to get this info before we started building our house a few months ago and have put in the drainage and water lines into the basement where the kitchen will hopefully go.