Restaurants for sale in Ottawa
Browse restaurants for sale in Ottawa, Ontario — every listing confidential, data-rich, and free to browse.
60 active listings in Ottawa · Free to browse — sign the NDA in one click to see the full details.
Available in Ottawa
Buying a restaurant in Ottawa: what is different here
Licensing, inspection and land-use rules are municipal, so they change at the city limits — these are the ones that attach to restaurants in Ottawa.
The licence attached to this business
Ottawa issues no general business licence — it licenses specific categories instead, and “Food premises licence” and “Mobile refreshment cart, mobile refreshment vehicle, mobile canteen & refreshment stand licence” are the ones that typically attach to a food & beverage business. The rest of the by-law covers “Second hand goods shop licence”, “Taxi Licensing”, “Limousine Service Licensing” and 5 more. Confirm which the seller actually holds and whether it is current: the licence is issued to the operator, so it does not transfer with the sale, and reapplying can surface conditions the previous owner had already satisfied.
City of Ottawa →Inspection history is public here
Ottawa Public Health inspects food premises in Ottawa and publishes the results as Public Health Inspection Results. That is diligence you can do before making an offer and without the seller's cooperation — a run of repeat infractions is both a remediation cost and, in a business whose customers can read the same record, a revenue problem.
Public Health Inspection Results →The liquor licence does not come with the restaurant
A liquor sales licence is issued by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to a person or corporation for a specific premises, and it does not transfer with the business. A buyer applies to the AGCO in their own name, which takes time and can lag closing — so who holds the licence, and from when, belongs in the purchase agreement rather than in the handover.
Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario →Confirming the use is actually permitted
A business operating today is not proof the use is legally permitted — non-conforming uses, expired variances and conditions attached to a previous owner all survive a sale quietly. In Ottawa that is confirmed before closing rather than after, through the office linked below.
City of Ottawa — Planning, Development and Construction →General information, not legal or tax advice — rules change and the authorities above are the current source. Deavo is a listings platform, not a brokerage.
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