Commissary and shared kitchen rules in Alberta: a layout guide

In Alberta, a commissary for food trucks is what Alberta Health Services (AHS) calls a base of operation: "an approved food establishment" where a mobile's food preparation, storage and cleaning happen. Its rules are short and specific, starting with "cleaning areas are separate from storage/processing areas", according to AHS's Mobile Food Establishments guide (updated September 2026). Any commercial kitchen, shared or not, also needs its plans approved before it's built, under section 16 of Alberta's Food Regulation, AR 31/2006 (current as of 21 June 2024).

Which food trucks need a commissary in Alberta?

AHS sorts mobile food establishments into five types by how much food handling they do, and the type decides whether a base of operation is required (AHS, September 2026). The guide's Table 1, as of October 2026:

Note: AHS minimums from the September 2026 guide. There's no Type C in the current guide. Any type may use a base, and your public health inspector confirms the type.

A Type B mobile must do any handling beyond heating, hot holding and portioning at the base, or at another AHS-approved facility. So a commissary serving carts is a full prep kitchen for them, not a parking lot.

What does AHS require of the commissary itself?

AHS lists eight conditions for a base of operation. Each one lands on the floor plan:

Note: Requirements from AHS's Mobile Food Establishments guide, updated September 2026. The public health inspector approves the plan.

A mobile that uses the base for dishwashing "must return to the base each day" to wash, rinse and sanitize. That puts a daily drop-off at the dish area, so the route from the door where trucks unload to the wash sinks should not cross the prep tables. The flow the rules imply:

Storing the truck at the base is optional. If you don't, AHS accepts a fully enclosed mobile parked outside, a garage or shed (with the mobile covered if the garage has other uses), or a washable, waterproof cover over the whole unit.

How bright, how high and how cold?

The Food Retail and Foodservices Code is part of the Food Regulation (s.2(6)), and it carries the numbers a shared kitchen's lighting and storage plans follow:

Note: Values from the Code dated October 2003, amended June 2020, as of October 2026. The lighting values read "should" in the Code, while the 15 cm storage height is a "must".

The cooling rule is the one that sizes equipment in a commissary. Batch cooking for several trucks means a lot of hot food cooling at once, and the Code notes that commercial refrigerators are designed to hold cold food, not to cool large masses of it. Plan cooling capacity, or bench space for shallow pans, before you sign up the trucks. The Regulation itself keeps high-risk food at 4°C or less, or 60°C or more (s.25).

How do shared and ghost kitchens work under the rules?

Each operator needs a permit tied to an approved establishment. Under the Food Regulation, no one may operate a food establishment without a valid permit naming it, a permit covers only one establishment, and food may be handled only in an approved one (Food Regulation, s.3 and 4(7)). A caterer's permit must require all food handling, except serving, to happen in an approved establishment (s.9(6)).

AHS's Permission to Use an Approved Food Establishment form (revised July 2025) is how a kitchen owner lets a food truck, event vendor, farmers' market vendor or caterer use the space as a base. The owner ticks what each user may do: prepare food, clean equipment and utensils, store food and utensils, or store a mobile food cart. The form also records the days, hours and effective dates. For the layout, that means each tenant's storage and schedule should be visible on the plan.

The rest of the Regulation's construction list applies to every commercial food establishment (s.17). Food areas are kept apart from living quarters and incompatible activities. Handwashing stations must be "adequate in number" and convenient for every food handler. The space needs safe hot and cold running water, a proper sewer connection, adequate lighting, and ventilation where odours, steam or smoke build up.

Grease goes to an interceptor. Alberta's plumbing bulletin quotes the National Plumbing Code: a fixture discharging fats, oils or grease in a public kitchen or restaurant drains through a grease interceptor, and notes that CSA B481.3-12 sends dishwashers to a dedicated grease trap (STANDATA 20-PCB-008, April 2023). The AHS sink rules for restaurants also apply to a kitchen's own menu; the restaurant layout guide covers them, and the office layout guide covers exits and washrooms.

What does Calgary require of a commissary?

Calgary's Land Use Bylaw has two delivery-only kitchen uses (1P2007, s.163 and 164). Both prepare, store and deliver food for eating off the premises, with no pick-up by customers there. A Catering Service, Minor is entirely inside a building, with only the delivery vehicles it needs. A Catering Service, Major may keep cooking equipment, refrigeration and delivery vehicles outside the building. A ghost kitchen that hands orders to customers at the door doesn't fit either definition, so ask the City which use applies before you sign.

The City's rules for the trucks themselves shape the yard (The City of Calgary, mobile food vendors), as of October 2026:

• A food truck is less than 10 m (32 ft 10 in) long, carries a commercial plate and needs a licence per unit.
• Each truck carries at least $2,000,000 in liability insurance, with the City named as an additional insured.
• Trucks pass an annual fire inspection, with plumbing, gas and HVAC checks at the same time, and every truck licence now expires on March 31.
• Food prepared in a commercial-grade kitchen inside a home needs an AHS consultation, and may need a Home Occupation, Class 2 development permit and a commercial building permit.

Calgary's permit data has no commissary class. The two classes closest to a production kitchen declared:

Source: City of Calgary building permits open data, permits issued in 2025 excluding cancelled ones, retrieved 2026-09-25. The median is of the construction value declared on the permit application. It isn't a quote and usually runs below what the work really costs. New homes and commercial work pay permit fees on this value; most home alterations pay a flat fee.

The declared value is the applicant's figure, which sets the permit fee and runs below the full cost. A change-of-use development permit costs $190 for a permitted use and $624 for a discretionary one, as of October 2026 (The City of Calgary).

Walk the commissary at full size before you build

A commissary works or fails on its routes: trucks unloading dirty inserts, a cook carrying stock pots, a delivery arriving at the same door. At 1to1 Plans Calgary, your plan is lit at full size on a walkable LED floor with room names and dimension lines, so you can walk each of those routes and see where they cross.

Freestanding walls mark off the dish area from prep, and a table stands in for a prep station. Changes go onto the floor on the spot, and you keep the session recording for your inspector or your tenants. Commercial sessions are quoted by the size of the space, and the quote is free (pricing). Book a session, see how architects and designers use the studio, or read the other commercial layout guides.