A QR-first restaurant POS for St. Catharines, inside and out on the patio.

In St. Catharines, the City handles your licence and patio, and Niagara Region handles public health. Waitery puts your menu on each guest's phone through a table QR code. 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 St. Catharines operator works with.

Each card links its official source (checked October 31, 2026).

The City licence depends on how many tables you have.

St. Catharines wants a business licence before you open, and you renew it every year. It depends on a fire inspection, a health inspection and zoning approval. For food, the by-law has two categories:

• Restaurant: three or more tables, with meals made and sold for guests to eat while seated.
• Refreshment Stand: two tables or fewer, for food or drinks eaten there or taken away.

Both list an annual fee of $249.10, and Council waived 25 per cent of business licence fees for 2026. A coffee bar that adds a third table becomes a Restaurant.

Serving alcohol adds City paperwork beside the AGCO application: the City's liquor licence form, the AGCO Municipal Information Form, and scaled drawings with a seating plan and occupant load. Over 30 seats, the City wants an architect. You call Fire Services and Niagara Region Public Health (905.688.3762) to book inspections. Build your POS table map from that same seating plan.

Source: City of St. Catharines, Business Licences

Source: City of St. Catharines, Liquor Licences

STCPatio: April to October, inside the seats you already have.

Under the City's STCPatio program, patios run from April 1 to October 31, and every piece comes off by 4:30 pm on November 1. You apply or renew every year, and review takes 10 to 15 business days.

• 2026 application fee: $260.10 on municipal property, $208.08 on private property.
• Municipal property lease: $47.65 per square metre. Council reduced patio fees by 25% for 2026, so ask the City what you owe.
• On City land: $5 million in liability insurance naming the City, and a 2-metre clear path for people walking by.
• On Ontario Street, Geneva Street or Welland Avenue, Niagara Region must approve too, since those are Regional roads.

The rule that matters most for your floor plan: a patio does not add to your approved capacity. Outdoor seats come out of the occupancy you already have, so in your POS you move tables outside for the season, then back in November.

Signs are limited to a temporary menu display at the patio entrance, and outdoor amplified music isn't allowed. With a QR code on each table, guests read the full menu on their phone. For alcohol outside, hold a valid AGCO licence when you apply, then notify the AGCO through iAGCO after City approval.

Source: City of St. Catharines, Seasonal Temporary Commercial Patio Program

Source: City of St. Catharines, 2026 STCPatio Guidelines and Requirements (PDF)

Niagara Region Public Health: a free consult first, results online fast.

Restaurants, bars and cafés in Niagara must consult Public Health before opening or renovating, and the consult is free. You also notify Public Health before you start operating. If you'll serve alcohol, you request a health inspection as part of the liquor licence.

After that, inspectors come without advance notice, and critical problems have to be fixed right away. Reports go on the Region's website, usually within 24 to 48 hours. The Region did 9,695 general food inspections in 2024. A closure stays listed for six months after reopening, and an order for six months after the problem is fixed.

Keep food purchasing and pest control records on site for at least one year. No POS changes an inspection result, but it keeps orders off paper slips at the pass.

Source: Niagara Region, Opening or renovating a business

Source: Niagara Region, Food premises

Source: Niagara Region, How health inspections work

Source: Niagara Region, Closures, convictions and orders

Niagara's food handler by-law covers the owner too.

Niagara Region has its own Mandatory Food Handler Certification By-law (78-2010). Every food premises needs both of these:

• At least one person with a food handler certificate on the premises at all times while you're open.
• At least one owner or operator holding a current certificate of their own.

Show the certificate with photo ID when Public Health asks. Low-risk and pre-packaged-only premises are exempt. The Region's seven-hour course costs $64.57; the refresher or the exam alone is $26.01. The pass mark is 70 per cent, and a certificate lasts five years.

Schedule a certificate holder on every shift, late patio closes included. The Time Clock & Labor add-on ($19 a month) keeps staff hours in the same system as sales.

Source: Niagara Region, Food handler certification

Tax and wage, one line each.

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.

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

Source: Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: minimum wage

What to ask before choosing a POS system in St. Catharines.

Based in Mississauga, shipping to St. Catharines.

Waitery is based in Mississauga, Ontario, and there is no St. Catharines office. Running a second spot along the QEW? See our Hamilton restaurant POS page or the Burlington page, or start with the full restaurant POS overview.

St. Catharines restaurant POS questions.

Sources

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

• City of St. Catharines, Business Licences
• City of St. Catharines, Liquor Licences
• City of St. Catharines, Seasonal Temporary Commercial Patio Program
• City of St. Catharines, 2026 STCPatio Guidelines and Requirements (PDF)
• Niagara Region, Food premises
• Niagara Region, Opening or renovating a business
• Niagara Region, Food handler certification
• Niagara Region, How health inspections work
• Niagara Region, Closures, convictions and orders
• Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST rates by province
• Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: minimum wage