Bubble Tea and Dessert Shop Premises in Ontario: Sinks, Dairy, Licences, Zoning and the Lease

By Jatin Dua · Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty · Updated 18 October 2026 · 8 min read — what a bubble tea, gelato, waffle or dessert unit needs in Ontario: sinks and sanitizing, dairy and ice rules, grease and power, licence, zoning, late hours, franchise terms and the lease.

Looking for bubble tea or dessert shop space in Toronto or the GTA? Tell me what you need and I will send you units that fit, with the zoning and the lease checked before you commit.

Why a bubble tea shop is not treated like a coffee counter

Bubble tea owners often assume they can open with the lighter rules that apply to a coffee kiosk. The exemption in s. 3 of the Food Premises Regulation covers premises that sell only hot beverages or pre-packaged low-risk food. A shop shaking iced milk tea, cooking tapioca and scooping fruit is outside it. The s. 3.1 exemption for low-risk food fails too, because milk, cream, cut fruit, custards and most toppings need time and temperature control. They are “potentially hazardous food” under the regulation.

Design for the full rules: hot and cold running water under pressure where drinks are made and utensils are cleaned (s. 7(3)(b)), enough staff-only handwashing stations (s. 7(3)(c)), and refrigeration with accurate thermometers that holds potentially hazardous food at 4°C or lower (s. 7(3)(d), 27, 30). Section 27 allows up to two hours out of temperature control while you prepare, so plan the bar so that toppings go back into the fridge between rushes.

What the unit must have

Dairy, eggs and making your own base

Most shops buy pasteurized milk, cream and soft-serve mix and never pasteurize anything themselves. If you plan to make gelato, ice cream or a custard base from raw ingredients, read Part VII of O. Reg. 493/17 before you design the back room. Milk products with less than 10 per cent milk fat must be pasteurized at 63°C for 30 minutes (batch) or 72°C for 15 seconds (high temperature short time). Products with 10 per cent fat or more need 66°C for 30 minutes or 75°C for 15 seconds. They must then be cooled to 4°C or lower (s. 39, 40).

The pasteurizer needs indicating and recording thermometers, and you have to keep signed records of each batch for at least a year (s. 41, 42). If you repackage someone else’s milk products, the containers must identify the original processor, packing date and batch, or you need records that do (s. 46). Ungraded and Grade C hen eggs are prohibited on any food premises (s. 47). Buy graded eggs for waffles, crêpes and custards.

Grease, water and the hood question

Toronto Chapter 681 (§ 681-10B) requires a grease interceptor wherever food is cooked, heated, processed or prepared, and the City’s installation rules require utensil sinks to connect to it. The maintenance rules allow a premises with low grease volume and no stove or fryer to service its own interceptor, with weekly skimming and monthly cleaning. Add a waffle fryer or a hot line and you move to four-week servicing by an approved waste carrier. In Mississauga and Brampton, Peel’s Wastewater By-law 53-2010 imposes the same interceptor duty.

Toronto’s Chapter 851 lists restaurants, including coffee shops, as a moderate backflow hazard that needs a premise-isolation backflow preventer, tested every year. Treat a drinks shop the same way and ask the landlord whether one is already installed.

Under Ontario Fire Code Article 2.6.1.12, cooking that produces smoke or grease-laden vapour needs an NFPA 96 hood and suppression system. Cooking that produces only insignificant amounts, controlled by other approved measures, is excluded. Simmering pearls on an induction burner is usually a different conversation from deep-frying waffles or cooking Korean corn dogs. Bring the equipment list to the permit stage and let the officials decide.

Zoning, licence and late hours

Toronto Zoning By-law 569-2013 treats a shop where customers sit and eat as an eating establishment. A counter that sells only for consumption off the premises is a take-out eating establishment. Some plaza units allow one and not the other. Adding a dozen stools to a take-out unit can mean a zoning problem, a new washroom count and a different licence.

The licence follows the use. A dessert café with seating needs an Eating or Drinking Establishment licence, and a take-out-only tea counter needs a Take-out or Retail Food Establishment licence. Both usually require a zoning review first. Franchisees can submit a Franchise Agreement Declaration in place of a business name registration.

Late hours are common for dessert shops. Under the categories in force since 1 January 2025, opening past 11 p.m. on most days is only one of four criteria for the Expanded Activity licence, and you need three. The others are a liquor licence, entertainment and an occupant load over 150. A late-night dessert café with no alcohol normally stays in the standard category. The lease and any plaza rules on hours are often the tighter limit.

In Mississauga, the restaurant or retail food business licence covers both seated and take-out food businesses. It needs a Zoning Certificate of Occupancy or a building permit and a Peel health clearance, and Peel Public Health wants 14 days’ notice before you open.

Parking is rarely a zoning obstacle in Toronto. Chapter 200 of By-law 569-2013, as amended by By-law 89-2022, sets only maximum parking rates for eating establishments and retail stores. The real constraint is the plaza. Evening dessert crowds and delivery drivers compete for the same stalls as your neighbours’ customers, so ask the landlord how many spaces sit in front of your unit and whether any tenant has reserved parking rights.

Franchise brands: the extra layer

Many GTA bubble tea and dessert shops are franchises. The franchisor usually has its own build standard, equipment package and lease rider, and sometimes wants to hold the head lease. Read the franchise agreement and the lease together. The territory or radius in the franchise agreement, and any exclusive in the lease, should protect the same trade area. Once a brand has 20 or more food service premises in Ontario under the same name, the Healthy Menu Choices Act, 2015 requires the number of calories of every standard food item to be posted, so menu boards have to be planned for it.

The lease clauses that matter for a bubble tea or dessert shop

1. Use clause: “Bubble tea, tea-based and blended beverages, frozen desserts, baked and prepared desserts and light snacks, for consumption on and off the premises.” A broad clause leaves room to change brands later. See the use clause guide.
2. Exclusive: Bubble tea and frozen dessert exclusives are common in GTA plazas. Ask for one, and check the plaza’s existing exclusives first.
3. Hours: Make sure the lease permits late evenings and weekends, with HVAC, lighting and the parking lot available.
4. Plumbing and drains: Get the right to add a sink, ice machine and floor drain, and to cut the slab if needed.
5. Grease interceptor and backflow: State who owns, services and replaces each device.
6. Electrical: Put the panel size in the lease, or make the landlord responsible for an upgrade.
7. Franchisor rights: Include a collateral agreement or step-in rights if your franchisor requires them, and confirm the landlord will sign the franchisor’s rider.
8. Signage: Get storefront and pylon signage approvals that suit the brand, subject to the municipal sign by-law.
9. Assignment: Allow assignment to a new franchisee or back to the franchisor without a new landlord approval process.

Deal-killers to check on a viewing

• No drain or water line where the bar has to go.
• A panel too small for blenders, sealers, freezers and air conditioning together.
• An existing bubble tea or frozen dessert exclusive in the plaza.
• Lease hours that end at 9 p.m. when your trade peaks later.
• No back-of-house room for dry storage, cases of cups and recycling.
• A franchisor build standard that the unit cannot meet without a hood, and no route for a duct.

The restaurant premises hub covers the full kitchen and permit rules. The café and coffee shop guide explains the hot-drinks exemption, and the sweet shop and mithai guide covers production-heavy dessert kitchens.

Where I fit

I help bubble tea and dessert operators, franchise and independent, find plaza and main-street units across Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham and the rest of the GTA. I check zoning, power and plumbing before you commit, and I read the lease against your franchise agreement for exclusives, hours and assignment. If you are buying an existing shop, my restaurant valuation tool gives a starting number.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Government of Ontario (e-Laws) — O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises — s. 3 scope, sinks, sanitizing, ice, dairy pasteurization, eggs
• City of Toronto — Grease interceptor installation — utensil sinks must connect to the interceptor
• City of Toronto — Grease interceptor maintenance — self-servicing for low-volume premises without stove or fryer
• Government of Ontario (e-Laws) — O. Reg. 213/07: Fire Code — 2.6.1.12 hood rule and insignificant-smoke exception
• City of Toronto — Eating or drinking establishment licence — eating or drinking licence, franchise declaration, waste containers
• City of Toronto — Changes to licensing and zoning by-laws for restaurants, bars and entertainment venues — Expanded Activity criteria from January 2025
• City of Toronto — Zoning By-law 569-2013, Chapter 800 Definitions — eating establishment vs take-out eating establishment
• Government of Ontario (e-Laws) — Healthy Menu Choices Act, 2015 — calorie posting for chains of 20 or more
• City of Mississauga — Restaurant or retail food business licensing — Mississauga licence documents

Related reading

• Restaurant premises in Ontario (food hub)
• Café and coffee shop premises
• Sweet shop and mithai premises
• Bakery premises requirements
• The use clause in a commercial lease
• Retail store valuation tool
• The use clause in a commercial lease