Commercial kitchen requirements in Alberta: a restaurant layout guide

In Alberta, a restaurant or cafe kitchen needs a scaled plan approved by Alberta Health Services (AHS) before you build, with sinks set by your menu and how you wash dishes, according to AHS's Starting a Food Business guide (January 2026). In Calgary the plan goes to the City at least six weeks before construction, and the building code counts 1.20 m² (12.9 sq ft) of dining space per person to size your washrooms. Here's each rule on a floor plan, as of September 2026.

What does AHS need before you build a restaurant or cafe?

AHS needs to approve your plan before you build a new food business or make a major alteration to one (AHS, January 2026). Major alterations include structural changes, new major equipment and changes to plumbing or ventilation. Redecorating, cosmetic repairs, rearranging seats or cutting seats don't count.

Draw the plan to scale with room dimensions, showing every food area from the bar to the garbage room, each piece of equipment, plumbing and lighting details, finishes, the dining areas and their seat count, your menu and the utensils customers will use. Floors, walls and ceilings in food handling and storage areas must be impervious, washable, durable and light-coloured.

In Calgary you submit plans at least six weeks before you want to start construction, to the City's planning department, which sends a copy to AHS Environmental Public Health. You can build once both have finished their review.

Which sinks does your menu need?

AHS sets your minimum sinks by what you serve and how you wash customers' dishes (AHS, January 2026). As of September 2026, the guide's table reads:

Note: AHS minimums from the January 2026 guide. Your public health inspector confirms the sinks on plan review and can ask for more.

A kitchen with a separate food preparation area adds a second hand sink and a 1-compartment prep sink. Washroom hand basins, dishwasher slop sinks and mop sinks don't count.

For a cafe, read the coffee row. With reusable mugs and no dishwasher, the 3-compartment sink also serves for handwashing, since there's no food preparation.

Where do the hand sinks, drainboards and mop sink go?

Hand basins must stay accessible and in sight, and AHS recommends one within 8 m (26 ft 3 in) of every area where food or drinks are handled, prepared or served (AHS, January 2026). A bigger kitchen can need more basins, and a basin near food can need a splash barrier. The other sinks have set places too:

• Sanitation (dishwashing) sinks should have 450 mm (1 ft 6 in) self-draining drainboards on both sides, with raised edges.
• You need a food preparation sink if you rinse, wash, drain or thaw raw meat, poultry or seafood. It must be stainless steel with at least one 457 mm (1 ft 6 in) self-draining drainboard.
• A dishwasher should have its own slop sink and drain racks, with the slop sink on the dirty side.
• AHS recommends a dump sink near the glass washer in a bar.
• Every food business needs at least one mop sink, or a curbed cleaning area with a floor drain, with backflow prevention.
• Wastewater bylaws and the National Plumbing Code call for a properly sized grease interceptor, AHS notes.

The approval inspection checks for separate plumbed sinks for handwashing, dishwashing, food prep and mopping.

How many people does the code count in your dining room?

The National Building Code, 2023 Alberta Edition, sets no square feet per seat. It sets an area per person that gives your occupant load, the head count the City uses to size exits and washrooms (NBC(AE) 2023, Table 3.1.17.1). Restaurants are Group A, Division 2 assembly occupancies. The rows that matter:

Note: Code values as of September 2026; the last column is arithmetic. Occupant load is a head count for exits and washrooms, not a seating plan.

Your occupant load is the number of people you design for, but not less than the table gives unless you can show fewer will use the space; if it differs from the table, you post a sign stating it (3.1.17.1). The City decides which row fits your dining room.

In a 10 m (32 ft 10 in) square dining room, one person's share at 1.20 m² is a patch 1 200 mm by 1 000 mm. At 0.95 m², it's 950 mm by 1 000 mm:

In a building that isn't sprinklered throughout, a licensed restaurant with an occupant load over 150 needs a fire alarm system (3.2.4.1). Ask the landlord before you sign.

How many washrooms do those seats need?

A restaurant's water closet count comes from the code's assembly table, by persons of each sex (NBC(AE) 2023, 3.7.2.2). The code splits your occupant load evenly between males and females unless you can show a different proportion:

Note: Code minimums from Table 3.7.2.2.-A as of September 2026; the table runs past 400. The City confirms your count.

The 100 m² dining room counts as about 83 people, or about 42 of each sex: 1 water closet for men and 2 for women, before the kitchen adds its own count. Other washroom rules:

• An occupant load of 10 or fewer can share one water closet for both sexes (3.7.2.2.(2)), which suits a small cafe.
• Urinals can replace up to two thirds of the men's water closets (3.7.2.2.(3)).
• A room with one or 2 water closets needs at least one lavatory (3.7.2.3).
• Where washrooms are on a storey that needs a barrier-free path, one must be a universal washroom with a 1 700 mm (5 ft 7 in) turning circle (3.8.2.8 and 3.8.3.13). See barrier-free bathroom sizes.
• Standard stalls are at least 1 400 mm (4 ft 7 in) deep and 800 mm (2 ft 7 in) wide (3.7.2.2.(16)).

Which Calgary permits and fees apply to a restaurant fit-out?

In Calgary you need a building permit for any construction, including changes to structural or non-structural walls, and when a new business changes the building code classification or occupant load (Calgary's changes to existing buildings page). Adding or changing cooking equipment can call for more ventilation, trade work can need its own permits, and AHS must review a restaurant's application.

A restaurant moving into a former shop or office changes classification. Shops are Group E and offices Group D, while restaurants are Group A, Division 2 (NBC(AE) 2023, Note A-3.1.2.1.(1)).

Planning approval comes before the building permit. If a restaurant isn't the approved use for the space, you need a change-of-use development permit. The fees, as of September 2026:

Note: Published fees as of September 2026. They're permit fees, not fit-out costs.

What did Calgary restaurant fit-outs declare in 2025?

Calgary restaurant and cafe fit-outs declared these values on 2025 building permits:

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 what the applicant wrote on the permit application. It sets the permit fee and runs below the full cost of the work, so read these medians as a low marker, not a quote.

Why walk the kitchen line before AHS approves the plan?

AHS is plain: "Any changes to your plans will require new approval from the appropriate departments" (AHS, January 2026). The time to move a hand sink, turn the dish pit around or widen the line is before you submit.

At 1to1 Plans Calgary, your plan is shown at full size on a walkable LED floor, room by room, with room names and dimension lines. Your chef and servers can walk the line from storage to the pass, pace 8 m from each hand sink, and carry a tray between the studio's movable dining table and chairs. Freestanding walls stand in for partitions. Changes are made on the spot, and you keep the session recording. A plan bigger than the floor is walked a section at a time.

A standard session is two hours. Commercial sessions are quoted by the size of the space, with nothing to pay at booking (get a quote), a small fraction of the 2025 median declared for a restaurant fit-out. Send the plan as a PDF or DWG at least three days ahead, then book a session or read how a session works. More commercial layout guides: daycares, medical clinics and dental offices.