What Is a Restaurant Electrical Upgrade?
A restaurant electrical upgrade sizes and installs the service and distribution a commercial kitchen actually needs. It starts from the equipment schedule: every range, fryer, combi oven, dishwasher, walk-in, hood and make-up air unit, with nameplate ratings and phase requirements, assembled into a load profile with the right demand factors applied.
That profile decides two things. Whether the existing service carries the fit-out or a 400A upgrade is needed, and how the distribution is laid out so each appliance lands on a correctly sized feeder. Commercial kitchen equipment is unforgiving about this: an undersized feeder shows up as nuisance tripping during service, which is the worst possible time to discover it.
The second half of the job is sequencing. Rough-in has to happen before millwork and equipment arrive. Terminations happen once equipment is on site. The ESA inspection, which confirms the installation meets the Ontario Electrical Safety Code (OESC), and the hood and suppression interlocks have to be complete before the occupancy and fire inspections. We work to the general contractor’s programme rather than around it.
For the commercial range, see commercial electrical panel upgrades.
Typical Scopes
- Distribution upgrade only. The base-building service is adequate but the panel layout is not. New distribution panels and appliance feeders.
- 400A service upgrade with kitchen distribution. The usual full fit-out scope where the existing service was sized for a retail unit. See 200A to 400A service upgrades.
- Three-phase conversion. Where three-phase supply is available and the equipment schedule justifies it.
- Phased upgrade around an operating restaurant. Distribution work after hours, final cutover on a closed day.
When a Restaurant Needs Electrical Work First
- A new fit-out in an existing unit. Previous tenant’s service was almost never sized for your kitchen.
- Adding a combi oven, fryer bank or larger dishwasher. Single pieces of equipment that can exceed remaining capacity on their own.
- Refrigeration expansion. Walk-in and reach-in compressors are continuous loads that consume calculated capacity disproportionately.
- Hood and make-up air replacement. Interlocks, shunt trips and motor loads all touch the electrical scope.
- Nuisance tripping during service. The clearest signal that the distribution was never sized for the equipment actually installed.
- A patio or second service area. Outdoor heating, lighting and point-of-sale loads on a service with no headroom.
What Drives the Cost Between $5,000 and $15,000
Whether the service itself changes is the biggest factor. A distribution-only upgrade is materially cheaper than a full 400A service change with a CT cabinet. Phase configuration is second, as three-phase distribution costs more in equipment and conductors. Appliance count and spread is third, because every dedicated feeder is a conduit run and a termination. Operating constraints are fourth: after-hours work and temporary power to keep refrigeration running both add cost.
The commercial ESA plan review and the utility coordination are itemised separately so you can see them in the quote rather than finding them in a labour line.
What to Expect Through the Build
Early on, the work is documentation and lead times. We assemble the load profile from your equipment schedule, prepare the single-line diagram, submit the commercial ESA plan review, and file the utility service application if the service is changing. Those timelines drive the project schedule.
Rough-in happens before millwork: feeders pulled, distribution panels set, appliance circuits run in conduit to their positions, and hood, make-up air and suppression interlock wiring pulled ready for the mechanical trades. Once equipment is delivered, terminations are made to nameplate requirements, interlocks are commissioned with the hood and suppression contractors, and each feeder is tested.
The ESA inspector attends, and where the service changed the utility energizes and sets metering. You receive panel schedules labelled by appliance, the final single-line diagram, the Certificate of Inspection, and the itemised invoice, which is the package the landlord and the occupancy inspection both want to see.
Electrical Load Demands of a Commercial Kitchen: Cooking, Refrigeration, Ventilation, Interlocks
A commercial kitchen carries a different load profile than any other tenant type. Cooking equipment is high-amperage and largely continuous during service hours, refrigeration runs 24 hours a day, and the hood-and-suppression system has to be interlocked with the cooking equipment for occupancy sign-off.
Cooking equipment loads
- Electric range or combi oven: a Vulcan, Wolf or Rational combi oven pulls 30-60A on a three-phase 208V or three-phase 600V circuit depending on size.
- Convection ovens and pizza deck ovens: an Alto-Shaam or Middleby Marshall unit at 30-50A per oven on a three-phase circuit.
- Deep fryers: commercial fryers at 30-40A per well, often two or three wells on parallel circuits.
- Induction ranges in high-end kitchens: 30-50A per burner station on a 208V three-phase feed.
Refrigeration and walk-in loads
- Walk-in cooler compressor and evaporator: typically 15-30A on a 208V single-phase or three-phase circuit, running continuously.
- Walk-in freezer with defrost cycle: 20-40A of continuous load with periodic defrost heater draw.
- Reach-in refrigerators, prep tables and merchandiser cases: 5-15A each on dedicated 120V circuits, common enough that a kitchen has ten to twenty such circuits.
- Ice machines: 8-15A on a dedicated 120V or 208V circuit.
Ventilation and interlocks
- Exhaust hood fan motor: 5-15A on a 208V or 600V circuit sized to the fan capacity.
- Make-up air unit: matched to the exhaust hood capacity, typically 15-30A.
- Ansul or Amerex fire suppression interlock: wired to shut down cooking equipment when the suppression system discharges, and to shut down gas solenoids at the same time.
- Hood-mounted lighting: dedicated 120V circuit separate from the cooking equipment feeds.
Panel sizing implication
- A small quick-service kitchen: typically 200A three-phase 208V, with 30-40 breaker positions on the kitchen subpanel.
- A full-service restaurant kitchen: 400A three-phase, with a dedicated kitchen subpanel and separate front-of-house lighting and receptacle panel.
- A high-volume production kitchen: 400-600A service, sometimes with 600V distribution to the largest equipment.
Upgrading Service for a Restaurant Build-Out: Toronto Hydro Coordination, ESA Plan Review, Landlord Approvals
A restaurant tenant improvement in a Toronto plaza or main-street unit usually needs a service upgrade to carry the new kitchen load. The upgrade sits inside a chain of landlord approvals, utility applications, and ESA plan review that has to be sequenced correctly.
Landlord and lease coordination
- Landlord approval for a service increase: the lease usually requires written consent for any service upgrade, especially where the existing service is shared or fed from a common building main.
- Common area load impact: if the building main is at capacity, the landlord may need to upgrade the base building service before the tenant service can grow.
- Meter and metering room: the meter position, meter room access, and any main service switchgear affected by the tenant upgrade needs the landlord’s technical sign-off.
Utility service application
- Toronto Hydro, Alectra Utilities or Oakville Hydro new service application: filed against the property, submitted with the load profile, the single-line diagram, and the site plan.
- CT cabinet arrangement for services over 200A: the utility specifies the CT cabinet, the position, and the metering configuration.
- Utility disconnect and cutover coordination: scheduled to minimise disruption to neighbouring tenants or the base building.
- Utility lead times: typically 4-12 weeks depending on the utility and the scope.
ESA plan review
- Commercial ESA plan review for a service size change: a single-line diagram, load calculation, and equipment schedule filed for review.
- Review turn-around: typically 2-4 weeks, with responses to any comments filed by the licensed contractor.
- ESA Notification of Work filed on plan-review sign-off: the permit against which the on-site inspection is booked.
Build sequence
- Rough-in before millwork and equipment delivery: feeders and appliance circuits pulled to their positions, hood and suppression interlock wiring stubbed to the mechanical trades.
- Equipment terminations after appliance delivery: each nameplate feeds a specific circuit, and terminations happen once the equipment is in position.
- Commissioning with the hood, suppression and gas trades: interlocks tested end to end before ESA final.
- ESA final inspection and Certificate of Inspection: the electrical sign-off that the City of Toronto occupancy inspection references.
