Commercial Kitchens for Rent
Start-up food entrepreneurs often lack the capital resources to invest in their own production facilities. Renting an approved food handling establishment such as an inspected commercial kitchen can provide entrepreneurs the space needed to produce value-added food products for sale.
If the food product is to be sold only at a farmers' market, review the Farmers' Market Guidelines (PDF 70 KB) to see if the food product must be processed in an approved food handling establishment.
Before you can rent a commercial kitchen, the facility must have a valid Food Service Establishment permit issued by Manitoba Health.
How to get a permit to operate in an inspected commercial kitchen
To produce a food product for sale in an inspected commercial kitchen, you will need to get a permit from Manitoba Health. To get a permit, follow these steps:
- Locate a commercial kitchen approved as a food service establishment by Manitoba Health, who is willing to rent their kitchen.
- Apply for your own Food Service Establishment permit by contacting Manitoba Health.
- Collect all information needed for the permit application (PDF 93 KB):
- Location address of the commercial kitchen.
- Layout of the facility - provide a detailed drawing of the floor plan of the facility indicating size and where equipment is or will be located if adding additional equipment (layout should be obtained from the intended facility).
- List of all the products you will be producing.
- List the ingredients for each product. The ingredients must be from an approved source.
- List the processing and sanitation steps you will be using to produce each product. An example would be a product that is being thermally processed (ex: pasteurization) for safety reasons or a product that is hermetically packaged (ex: canning).
- To maintain your permit, inspection for processing your products should be done on an annual basis. Inspection should also be done if you add any additional products to process in this facility.
Depending on the product, you may need to provide additional validation to ensure your processes are safe. For example, you may need to determine pH levels of your product (ex: salsa).
Rent a commercial kitchen
The Commercial Communitiy Kitchens App includes a map and listing of inspected community kitchens available for rent in Manitoba. This interactive GIS app features a filter function, which allows you to filter for kitchens based on your unique food processing equpment needs. You will need to contact each location for availability, fees and other requirements.
To be added to this directory, please email mbagrifood@gov.mb.ca.
Other related links