As patio weather approaches, some Ottawa restaurant owners say the rising cost of permits for street-level outdoor seating is putting a squeeze on their business. John Borsten runs many of Ottawa’s best-known eateries, including Zak’s Diner, The Grand Pizzeria, Metropolitain Brasserie and Starling Restaurant. At Zak’s Diner in the ByWard Market, the monthly rate for […]
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As patio weather approaches, some Ottawa restaurant owners say the rising cost of permits for street-level outdoor seating is putting a squeeze on their business.
John Borsten runs many of Ottawa’s best-known eateries, including Zak’s Diner, The Grand Pizzeria, Metropolitain Brasserie and Starling Restaurant. At Zak’s Diner in the ByWard Market, the monthly rate for the 80-seat street patio jumped from $11.45 per square metre in 2024 to $15.91 per square metre this year – an increase of nearly 40 per cent.
Borsten estimates the rise in fees will cost the restaurant hundreds of dollars over the course of the summer. Though it’s the ByWard Market District Authority that collects the fees from some of his restaurants instead of the city, he said he’s not sure why there is a charge for the permits in the first place.
“I believe that money stays in the ByWard Market as opposed to going to city coffers. I don’t know really what the cost is to (the City of Ottawa). They don’t have to clean the sidewalk. We take care of it,” he said.
As ByWard Market businesses come and go amid ongoing issues with homelessness, crime and parking, a frustrated Borsten said the escalating cost of running a patio is just another hassle he has to deal with.
“The City says, ‘What can we do to help the ByWard Market?’ and the thing they come up with is to raise costs,” he said.
This will have a domino effect for some businesses, Borsten added, explaining that some restaurateurs may be forced to reduce their operating hours, raise prices and hire fewer people.
“It costs me more money to run (my business). It just starts to squeeze everything – like nobody is open Mondays anymore,” he said.
Borsten said the big price tag on a patio permit has prompted him to remove the street patio at the Starling Restaurant on York Street, keeping his rooftop patio as the establishment’s only outdoor seating option.
Dave Longbottom, owner of Flora Hall Brewing in Centretown, said his 20-to-25-seat street patio will cost him “at least a grand or more” in additional fees this summer than it did a year ago.
He said he doesn’t understand why the fee has gone up as he feels city services that benefit businesses during patio season leave a lot to be desired.
“The City has this vision to try and enliven the streets. I would argue we’re seeing a decrease in the services that support downtown businesses in the sense the streets could use a little more policing. They could probably use a little bit more cleaning and paving. I don’t see any kind of justification for such a radical increase,” he said.
Though Longbottom said that the team that runs the patio permit program at the City is “outstanding,” he said rising costs are discouraging businesses from participating in a more vibrant downtown.
“(The patio permit fee) is just money that I don’t have to invest in other aspects of the business. It’s a tax, and we already pay a pretty hefty tax to have a downtown establishment,” Longbottom said.
Ottawa summers bring cooler, rainy days along with sunny days, meaning opening a patio is taking a financial risk, Longbottom added.
“The fact that the weather is not a guarantee. You’re paying this fee in the hopes that you have a great summer of sunshine, but that may not happen. I’m sure there will be some small businesses who just can’t quite fit it into their budget this year,” he said. “Then, it has this secondary effect that the streets don’t look quite as attractive and the City doesn’t achieve its objective, which is to try and draw people outside and downtown.”
Dan Rogers, co-owner of Glebe Central Pub, said he was “taken aback” to find that his three-table patio went from costing him about $76 every month it opened in 2024 to $266 per month of operation this year, including processing fees.
“Each one of those chairs needs to make an awful lot of money in sales to actually make any money,” Rogers said.
In an email to OBJ, the City of Ottawa said the right-of-way patio permit fees help to “cover the costs of program administration, including application review, inspections and enforcement.”
The permit fee was waived for business owners from 2020 to 2022 at the height of the pandemic and was reinstated at 50 per cent of the standard pre-COVID fee in 2023 and 75 per cent in 2024.
The fee increase for the upcoming patio season reflects the “return to the standard rate, adjusted for inflation, and all operators were notified in advance to support planning and budgeting,” Kevin Lamer, program manager of inspection at the City of Ottawa, said in an email.
“The City of Ottawa recognizes the value patios bring to our communities and the important role they play in supporting small businesses and activating our main streets. We understand that affordability is top of mind for many operators, and we appreciate the feedback being shared,” he added.
The email also states that city staff remain committed to working with Ottawa’s business improvement areas (BIAs) to “ensure the program continues to be accessible, responsive and supportive of a vibrant public realm.”
While Borsten said the Market is still thriving, he said hurdles like these hurt its chances at gaining more vibrancy.
“The Market is still pretty good. It’s all Ottawa’s got. It’s really the core of the core. It’s the essence of the whole city. Everybody seems to know that and everyone seems to want to do something, but they never really do,” he said.
