Equipment is where a lot of first-time operators put money they will need three months later. The cooking line is tangible, exciting, and easy to overspend on, while the working capital that keeps you trading through a slow opening quarter is neither.
The decision is not really buy versus lease. It is which pieces belong in which bucket.
The three options, honestly stated
Buy outright. Lowest total cost if you have the cash. You own the asset, there is no interest, and there is no lender in your equipment schedule. The cost is liquidity, which is the thing new food businesses run out of first.
Lease or finance. Higher total cost, but the capital stays in the business. Canadian lenders offer lease-to-own and equipment financing programs structured for food service. Approval, rate, and term depend on your business profile, your credit, and whether you have trading history. A first-time operator will not get the same terms as a third-location expansion, and it is worth knowing that before you build a budget around an assumed rate.
Buy used. Potentially large savings, genuinely risky, and highly dependent on the piece.
Which bucket for which equipment
A rough allocation that holds up in most Ontario kitchens:
- Finance or lease: refrigeration, the cooking line, dishwashing, and anything with a long service life and a resale value. These are the high-ticket items lenders are most comfortable with, and the ones where preserving cash matters most.
- Buy new outright: anything the health inspector will scrutinise closely and anything cheap enough that financing it is not worth the paperwork. Sinks, worktables, shelving, small wares.
- Consider used: stainless tables and shelving, dry storage, some prep equipment, occasionally a proven-brand oven with documented service history.
- Avoid used: refrigeration, ice machines, anything with a compressor or a sealed system, and anything gas-fired without full documentation.
Refrigeration is the recurring mistake. A used walk-in or reach-in with a tired compressor fails during your first summer, takes inventory with it, and the emergency replacement costs more than buying new would have.
The certification issue
This is not optional and it is where used-equipment savings evaporate.
Equipment installed in an Ontario commercial kitchen needs to carry a certification mark recognised for the Canadian market — CSA or an equivalent Canadian approval for electrical and gas safety, and NSF or equivalent sanitation listing for food-contact surfaces. Residential appliances and uncertified imports do not qualify, whatever the seller says and whatever the previous operator got away with.
Two specific traps:
Grey-market imports. Equipment certified for another market but not for Canada. It may be excellent equipment. It still cannot be energized without a field evaluation, which costs money and time and sometimes fails.
Missing documentation on used gear. A unit may be perfectly compliant, but if the data plate is illegible and nobody can produce paperwork, you are arguing with an inspector on a schedule you cannot afford to lose.
Verify certification before money changes hands, not after the equipment is sitting on your floor.
The costs that are not the sticker price
Equipment budgets get blown by everything around the equipment:
| Cost item | Why it gets missed |
|---|---|
| Delivery and rigging | Large units may not fit through the finished doorway |
| Utility connections | Gas, electrical, water, and drainage roughed to the specific model |
| Hood coverage | Equipment layout changes drive hood size and make-up air |
| Commissioning | Licensed gas technician for TSSA sign-off; ESA for electrical |
| Long lead times | Custom walk-ins and specialized machinery can delay a final inspection |
| Warranty and service | Local service availability varies by brand and by region |
Lead time deserves particular attention. A walk-in cooler ordered late does not just arrive late — it holds up the health inspection, which holds up occupancy, which holds up opening. Every week of that is rent you are paying against no revenue.
A practical way to decide
Work through it in this order:
- Lock the menu. Equipment follows menu. Menu does not follow equipment.
- Build the full equipment schedule including model numbers, because the drawings need them for utility rough-ins and clearances.
- Split the list into finance, buy new, and consider used.
- Check certification on every used candidate before committing.
- Confirm lead times and order the long-lead items first.
- Model cash flow for six months post-opening, not just to opening day. If financing the cooking line keeps three months of payroll in the account, finance it.
The instinct to own everything outright is understandable and frequently wrong. A restaurant that owns a beautiful kitchen and runs out of operating cash in month four is worse off than one making equipment payments and still trading.
Where this connects to the build
Equipment decisions are design decisions. The hood, the gas line, the electrical service, the drain locations, and the floor loading are all determined by which specific units you are installing. Choosing equipment after the drawings are stamped means redrawing, and often re-reviewing.
If you are at the stage of pricing a kitchen, the first consultation is free and covers the equipment schedule alongside the space itself — what your menu actually requires, what can be reconditioned, what the certification picture looks like, and how the financing option interacts with the build schedule. Call (226) 336-9954 or email info@nhfc.ca. Worth doing before the purchase orders go out.
