A QR-first restaurant POS for Kingston, from licence day to Homecoming weekend.

A Kingston restaurant year runs on the City's licence and patio dates, and on the Queen's calendar. Waitery puts your menu on each guest's phone through a table QR code; they 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 Kingston operator plans around.

Sources checked October 31, 2026.

Kingston's Food Premises licence is priced by the seat.

Kingston licenses every food premises where meals are made to eat in or sold to take away. The 2026 fee is $267 for 0 to 99 seats and $360 for 100 seats or more. The rules sit in Business Licensing By-law 2025-34, passed November 18, 2025.

Call a licensing agent before you apply online: 613-546-4291 ext. 3150, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Your application must show that you gave notice to the medical officer of health that you plan to open. The final review usually takes about 20 business days.

• The licence runs to December 31 and is renewed every year.
• It can't be transferred. If you buy a restaurant, you apply before you open.
• It must be displayed at the premises.
• Serving alcohol? Your AGCO application needs a Municipal Information Form signed by the City Clerk.

Set up your POS tables from the same floor plan you give the City, one QR code per table.

Source: City of Kingston, Business Licences

Source: City of Kingston, Starting a New Business

Source: City of Kingston, By-law 2025-34

Before the fire inspection: the hood reports and a cold line.

Fire inspections are part of licensing. The City's food premises checklist asks for:

• Semi-annual inspection reports for the commercial cooking fire suppression system.
• Cleaning reports for the kitchen hood, duct and upblast fan.
• Annual inspection reports for fire protection equipment, plus sprinkler or standpipe reports if the building has them.

Tenants may need these reports from the landlord, so ask early. Every inspection includes a commercial cooking audit, and cooking systems must be shut down one hour before the scheduled time. While the line is cold, send test orders to the kitchen screen.

Source: City of Kingston, Starting a New Business

Kingston street patios: the type sets the season.

The City's Street Patio Program covers sidewalks and on-street parking spaces; private-property patios go to Planning. The type sets your season and whether staff can serve:

• Café-style patio: tables, chairs and umbrellas only, all year, on a sidewalk over 3 metres wide. Non-serving, furniture in every night, fees by number of tables.
• Frontage patio: fenced and served, April 1 to September 30, plus an optional October 1 to November 30. Over 4 metres of sidewalk, fees by area, building from the Monday of the last full week of March.
• Parking space or pedestrian bypass patio: May 15 to September 15. A parking space patio must be open at least five days a week.

Every layout keeps a 1.83-metre clear path with no 90-degree turns; hand-drawn plans are not accepted. Inside the Downtown Kingston BIA, you need its letter of support. Insurance is $5,000,000, with the City as additional insured. No cooking on the patio.

For alcohol, get the City's approval, then notify the AGCO through iAGCO before serving. A licensed street patio runs eight months a year at most. Winter café patios are cleared of snow and ice within 12 hours of a storm ending.

The guide asks for a mix of two- and four-seat tables. On a served patio, a QR code on each table lets guests order without waving for a server.

Source: City of Kingston, Street Patio Program

Source: City of Kingston, Street Patio Standards guide (PDF)

Two calendars: Queen's and the summer visitors.

In 2026, Queen's move-in ran September 4 to 5, and Homecoming was October 16 to 18. Around both, the City ran its University District Safety Initiative: August 28 to September 13, then October 15 to November 1.

Homecoming also brought parking bans on both sides of parts of Aberdeen, William, Earl and Division streets, from October 16 to 18 and October 23 to 25. Expect slower pickups near campus. Check the City's notices each August.

Summer is for visitors. The City permits over 800 events a year in its parks and Springer Market Square, and in 2026 the square hosted Canada Day and an August 20 concert for The Tragically Hip. Hotel guests pay a 5% Municipal Accommodation Tax that helps fund Tourism Kingston; it applies to the room, not meals.

In Waitery, time-based menus switch on their own and sold-out dishes can be 86'd. The Reservations & Waitlist add-on ($49 a month) handles busy weekends.

Source: City of Kingston, move-in weekend notice (Aug 2026)

Source: City of Kingston, Homecoming notice (Oct 2026)

Source: City of Kingston, 2026 special events

Source: City of Kingston, Municipal Accommodation Tax

Southeast Public Health inspects Kingston kitchens.

Kingston's health unit is Southeast Public Health (613-549-1232 in Kingston; it also lists Belleville and Brockville numbers). Notify it before opening. Ontario's Food Safety Protocol has each routine inspection summary posted online within two weeks. The City can ask to see your inspection records.

Source: Ontario, Public health unit locations

Source: Ontario, Food Safety Protocol, 2019 (PDF)

Two Ontario figures, set once.

Ontario charges one 13% HST, printed as a single line on every bill.

The general minimum wage is $17.95 an hour from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027. The Time Clock & Labor add-on ($19 a month) keeps staff hours in the same system as sales.

Source: CRA, GST/HST rates by province

Source: Ontario, ESA guide: minimum wage

What to ask before choosing a POS system in Kingston.

Based in Mississauga, shipping to Kingston.

Waitery is based in Mississauga, Ontario, and there is no Kingston office. Running a second spot elsewhere in Ontario? See our Ottawa restaurant POS page or the Oshawa page, or start with the full restaurant POS overview.

Kingston restaurant POS questions.

Sources

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

• City of Kingston, Business Licences
• City of Kingston, Starting a New Business
• City of Kingston, By-law 2025-34
• City of Kingston, Street Patio Program
• City of Kingston, Street Patio Standards guide (PDF)
• City of Kingston, move-in weekend notice (Aug 2026)
• City of Kingston, Homecoming notice (Oct 2026)
• City of Kingston, 2026 special events
• City of Kingston, Municipal Accommodation Tax
• Ontario, Public health unit locations
• Ontario, Food Safety Protocol, 2019 (PDF)
• CRA, GST/HST rates by province
• Ontario, ESA guide: minimum wage