Check the Power Before Signing a Restaurant Lease

A former retail or office suite can look like a great restaurant location. The rent works, the neighborhood is right, and there is already an electrical panel on the wall. That does not mean the space is ready for a commercial kitchen.

Cooking equipment, refrigeration, exhaust and makeup-air equipment, HVAC, dishwashing, water heating, and lighting all affect the electrical design. A bakery using mostly gas equipment can have very different needs from an all-electric kitchen. There is no single service size that fits every restaurant.

Start with the actual equipment

The useful starting point is an equipment schedule. It should identify the proposed kitchen and mechanical equipment and its electrical requirements. With that information, the project team can calculate the expected load and compare it with the power actually available to the suite.

A photo of the panel is not enough. Empty breaker spaces do not show the building's total load, the capacity allocated to neighboring tenants, or whether the available voltage and phase match the equipment.

Find utility work before it controls the opening date

If the restaurant requires more capacity, the work may extend beyond replacing a panel. It can involve the landlord, utility, design team, city plan review, inspections, and changes to upstream equipment.

Southern California Edison treats new and upgraded commercial service as a multi-stage process involving engineering, customer requirements, construction, inspection, and energization. Discovering that dependency after construction begins can change both the budget and the opening date.

Define responsibility before signing

The tenant and landlord should document:

• The electrical capacity being delivered to the suite

• Who pays for design, permits, and upgrades

• Who handles any utility application

• Whether base-building or common electrical equipment must change

• What happens if the required power cannot be delivered on schedule

California's 2025 Energy Code applies to permit applications filed on or after January 1, 2026. Newport Beach's current commercial tenant-improvement review materials also reference the 2025 electrical, building, mechanical, plumbing, energy, and CALGreen standards, along with local amendments. The exact requirements depend on the proposed work and the agency reviewing it.

The goal is not to finish the design before signing a lease. It is to uncover the expensive, schedule-changing issues while the operator can still investigate the location or negotiate the deal.

About Pelican Coast Electric: Pelican Coast Electric is a licensed C-10 electrical contractor serving commercial clients throughout Orange County. Call (949) 989-4404, or visit https://pelicancoastelectric.com. Address: 2901 West Coast Hwy #200, Newport Beach, CA 92663. California contractor license #1133193.