A QR-first restaurant POS for Gatineau, on Quebec's rules and both sides of the river.

A Gatineau restaurant runs on Quebec permits, a bridge away from Ottawa. The alcohol permit sets your hours and what leaves in a takeout bag. Waitery puts your menu on each guest's phone through a table QR code, in French or English. Guests order and pay there, and the ticket reaches your kitchen. It costs $14 CAD per location per month, and setup is free.

Four numbers a Gatineau operator plans around.

A food permit, then an alcohol permit that takes longer.

Quebec's food permit comes from MAPAQ. You need it before you start, it is displayed for customers, and it takes 2 to 6 weeks. Check with the City first that a food business is allowed at your address. Our Quebec City page walks through that permit.

Alcohol is the longer wait. The Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) issues a restaurant permit in 90 days on average. It lets a place that mainly prepares and sells food sell drinks to have there, take away or deliver. For a new establishment:

• $289 with the application, which includes $120 for the RACJ's notice in the newspaper.
• $688 in annual duties, plus $0.75 for each person of the capacity the RACJ sets, with that part capped at $800.
• A seasonal permit (183 consecutive days or less) pays duties in proportion to its days.

The permit is posted at the main entrance. The full price list for alcohol is posted in each room and on each terrace where the permit is used, or made available another way, the RACJ's example being a menu.

Source: Québec, MAPAQ food permit for restaurants (in French)

Source: RACJ, Permis de restaurant (in French)

Source: RACJ, Frais et droits payables, alcool (in French)

Service until 3 a.m., takeout until 11 p.m.

A restaurant permit allows alcohol on site every day from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Drinks at the table don't need food, but the kitchen has to stay working and staffed while you sell alcohol. After it closes, guests already inside can still be served; new arrivals cannot.

Takeout and delivery follow tighter rules:

• Only from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Only with food the restaurant prepared, such as a meal, a starter or tapas, in a sealed container.
• No spirits, but ready-to-drink cocktails of 7% alcohol or less are allowed.
• A delivery company can carry it under a written agreement, kept for three years after it ends.

Waitery's owner panel switches menus by time of day, the way a lunch menu turns on at 11 a.m. Set your online ordering menu to drop the wine list at 11 p.m., and nobody has to remember.

Source: RACJ, Permis de restaurant (in French)

Bring your own wine, the bottle that goes home, and who can serve.

A restaurant permit can carry the “pour servir” option, the bring-your-own-wine model. Guests may drink alcohol they brought, except spirits and homemade alcohol. It can't be attached if a permit that sells alcohol runs in the same place at the same time.

If you sell wine, a guest can take home a bottle they bought from you, as long as it is tightly recorked. Under a restaurant permit, staff under 18 may sell and serve alcohol, unless the permit has the “sans mineur” option. Nobody under 18 can be sold or served a drink.

Source: RACJ, Permis de restaurant (in French)

Food hygiene training, and why an Ottawa certificate counts.

Quebec asks every food establishment to name one person in charge of food hygiene. That person holds the “Gestionnaire d'établissement alimentaire” (food establishment manager) attestation. Then you pick one of two options:

• That person is there whenever staff are working. If not, someone else with a manager or food handler attestation is.
• Or at least 10% of your staff hold one of the two attestations, and nobody trained has to be on site.

Keep a register on the premises naming trained staff and the responsible person. A trained person's name stays on it for 12 months after they leave. Exams are in French or English.

Hiring from across the river? Quebec lists Ottawa Public Health's food handler training as equivalent to the MAPAQ food handler course, and listed courses are automatically valid in Quebec. It does not replace the manager attestation. Staff with at least two years of work experience can ask to skip the food handler course, though they still pay for and pass the exam. The Time Clock & Labor add-on ($19 a month) keeps shifts in the same system as sales.

Source: Québec, Types de formation et inscription (in French)

Source: Québec, Recognition of acquired competencies and equivalents

A terrace means a request to the RACJ.

Serving alcohol on a new terrace, or changing the capacity of one you have, needs a request to the RACJ. Adding a terrace, or raising its capacity by more than half, costs $289. A smaller increase costs $169, as does a temporary terrace authorization. Check with the City of Gatineau too before you build anything outside.

Source: RACJ, Permis de restaurant (in French)

Source: RACJ, Frais et droits payables, alcool (in French)

The Quebec numbers, in one line each.

Bills carry the 5% GST and Quebec's 9.975% QST. Waitery sets sales tax per province and sends itemized receipts. Quebec's minimum wage and the rate for tipped staff are on our Montreal page. Pre-tax tip suggestions are on the Quebec City page, and who owns the tips is on the Laval page.

Source: Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST rates by province

What to ask before choosing a POS system in Gatineau.

Based in Mississauga, serving Gatineau.

Waitery is based in Mississauga, Ontario, and there is no Gatineau office. If you also run a spot in Ottawa, each location keeps its own province's tax and its own language settings. See our Ottawa restaurant POS page or the full restaurant POS overview.

Gatineau restaurant POS questions.

Sources

All from Government of Quebec, RACJ and Government of Canada pages, checked October 31, 2026. Rules and fees change, so confirm on the source before acting on them.

• RACJ, Permis de restaurant (in French)
• RACJ, Frais et droits payables, alcool (in French)
• Québec, Types de formation et inscription (in French)
• Québec, Recognition of acquired competencies and equivalents
• Québec, MAPAQ food permit for restaurants (in French)
• Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST rates by province