Electrical work for restaurants and retail stores

Two inspectors, one opening date

Most restaurants in Southern California answer to the city building department for the electrical permit and the county environmental health department for the food facility. The two agencies review different things, and a food business cannot open without both. In Los Angeles County, the health department requires plans for a new food facility, for a conversion of an existing building, and for a remodel that needs a building permit. It also wants the local building department’s final approval before it will do its final inspection, and it asks for at least three working days’ notice for that visit.

An electrician on a restaurant job therefore works from a floor plan that already shows the equipment layout the health reviewer approved. Moving a sink or a prep table later means moving its circuit. The permits guide covers the basic path, and the tenant improvement page covers the lease side of a build-out.

Kitchen equipment circuits

Every cooking and refrigeration unit has a nameplate that gives its voltage, phase and amps. The electrician sizes each circuit from those numbers, then totals them in a load calculation to size the panel and feeder. Gas ranges and fryers still need power for controls and igniters. Dishwashers and booster heaters are often the largest single loads.

The 2025 Energy Code added electric-ready requirements for commercial kitchens, per the Energy Commission’s January 2026 release. A designer can ask the building department which provisions apply to a given permit, since the 2025 edition covers applications from January 1, 2026.

GFCI protection in kitchens

The 2023 National Electrical Code moved kitchens to their own item in the GFCI list for non-dwelling buildings. The text now calls for protection of 125V through 250V receptacles in kitchens, covering any area with permanent provisions for cooking or food and beverage service. Plan checkers and inspectors in different cities apply this in different ways, especially for refrigeration and equipment receptacles, so ask what your inspector expects. The GFCI page explains how GFCI devices work and where they go.

Hoods, makeup air and the fire system

A Type I hood over a fryer or range is a system, not a fan. The exhaust fan, the makeup air unit and the fire suppression system must work together. The California Mechanical Code requires makeup air in a commercial cooking area to prevent negative pressure, with a limit of 0.02 inch of water column, and when the suppression system activates, makeup air supplied internally to the hood must shut off. Beyond that, interlock rules change by city and fire department.

The electrician needs the mechanical drawings and the hood manufacturer’s wiring diagram before rough-in. Without them the control wiring becomes guesswork, and the fire marshal’s test is where it fails.

Walk-in coolers, ice machines and drains

Walk-in refrigeration normally runs on dedicated circuits for the compressor, the evaporator fans and the defrost heaters. Ice machines and drain pumps get their own circuits and sit near water, so check where the GFCI rule reaches them. Grease interceptors rarely need power, but nearby pumps and alarms do. Keep nameplate sheets for all of this in the permit folder, because inspectors ask for them.

Retail floors: track lighting, display circuits and signs

A retail store has less equipment but more light. A sales floor is wired for track and spot lighting, case and shelf lighting, window displays and a dedicated circuit for the sign. Lighting power and controls follow the nonresidential Energy Code, and a remodel that touches 10 percent or more of the fixtures in an enclosed space brings those rules in. Display and track lighting have their own allowances, so give the electrician the lighting plan before the order for fixtures goes out. Moving display fixtures later changes the controls and the compliance forms. For swaps without a remodel, see LED lighting retrofits.

Signs need a circuit and a controllable shutoff. Confirm with the city if the sign needs its own permit, because many cities handle signs through planning.

Exit and emergency lighting

Restaurants and stores both need exit signs and emergency lights. California Building Code section 1008 requires emergency lighting on aisles, corridors and exit routes. It must run at least 90 minutes on a power failure and start at an average of at least 1 footcandle. A dining room that gets new walls or tables often moves the exit path, so test the lights at the end of the build-out.

Panels and power for a busy kitchen

A kitchen often adds more load than the old space had. If the new load is more than the panel or meter can carry, the electrician and the utility plan a larger service. See panel and service upgrades for how that goes. For repairs after opening day, commercial service and repair covers what to expect.

What to send for a quote

Send the address, the business type, whether you are the tenant or the owner, the equipment list with nameplate sheets, the floor plan and a photo of the main panel and meter. Commercial electrical work is available through the partner electrician. The commercial hub lists related pages, and the quote form is the next step.

A shop or restaurant with its own lot also has outdoor lighting rules, covered on the parking lot lighting page. Businesses that must keep refrigeration and registers running through an outage can read the commercial standby generator page.