The name changes at every border. In British Columbia the Food Premises Regulation says a person must not operate a food service establishment without a permit issued under it. In Alberta, no person may operate a food establishment without a valid and subsisting permit. Nova Scotia issues a Food Establishment Permit, valid for one year. Newfoundland and Labrador issues a Food Establishment Licence, which cannot be transferred. In Quebec a MAPAQ permit must be obtained before operations begin.
Almost all of that is provincial or regional rather than federal. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency states that you do not need a Safe Food for Canadians licence to trade food within your province or to prepare food that will be sold or consumed in your province; the federal licence enters on import, export or food sent to another province, and certain commodity categories such as dairy, eggs and fish are treated differently. So a tenant cooking for sale inside one province is answering to the authority that issues that province’s permits.
A kitchen’s licence is also not your licence. In Nova Scotia a permit is not transferable to another person or to another food establishment, which means each operator in a shared kitchen holds their own; that is Nova Scotia’s published rule and should not be assumed elsewhere. Before you book, ask the operator for the current permit and the most recent inspection record, and check that what you plan to do is an activity the space is permitted for. Food Web lists kitchens with the terms each operator sets.
