Opening a branch office or other corporate or legal Canadian business type in Canada is much like starting your business all over again! You have an expansion plan; researched the best business “entity” for your business and decided upon whether to have a virtual office from your home or rent office space, warehouse or storefront. Then you have to set up a legal entity to do business under and to carry out setting up the business. All of these activities will require a Canadian address. Without a Canadian address, you are in bureaucratic ‘quicksand.’
There is not much to consider when deciding whether a P.O. Box is appropriate over a virtual address because a P.O. Box is not a legal address for the purposes of incorporation or almost any legal business entity that a U.S.-based or foreign company can use. A Business Centre’s virtual office and office space services provide your business with complete flexibility when these services are provided. It is almost assuredly going to cost more using a lawyer to provide an address and forward all your correspondence until your staff are in place. If you go for a telephone answering and mail service, all your contact points are covered. Some business centres will forward calls to long distance numbers or a toll-free number and/or take messages (generally available via email as well) giving your business the appearance of being local.
Another type of mail forwarding is International Mail Service. In most cases this service will repackage all the mail received on behalf of your business into one envelope and then quickly forward it to your address of choice. This service and a VoIP phone service can give the appearance of being local when you are actually on a different continent.
Another big advantage is that a business centre enables you to use the virtual address when you just need mail forwarded – with the real advantages coming from the ability to add telephone answering services and eventually flexible office workspace )with all the business furniture and equipment and professional reception services included). All without the nuisance of updating corporate information or notifying vendors or customers of changing contact information.
You will be able to grow from one address. So, as your branch office grows:
The biggest advantage of using a business centre as your office space solution is a business centre’s flexibility in rental terms. Most business centres that have excess office space means that you can start with a space that is always fully utilized – without worrying about what will happen if growth is faster than anticipated or the reverse, where you have rented to much space. If you have rented too much space, your only real option to fix it is to share the office space with another company. If growth is faster than expected, you can increase the space with no fear of paying more for under-utilized space when growth subsides or when spending time and resources associated with moving a business. Unlike a traditional office space, taxes and maintenance are shared equally among the tenants based on the percentage of the building used. A business centre is spreading that cost over more businesses, so you are not paying all theses costs. They are shared among all customers of the business centre.
Opening a new business in a new country with little knowledge of local service providers or vendors can result in a lot of time and expense spent finding and doing due diligence for new service providers and vendors for business furniture and equipment. A big advantage of utilizing a business centre for international expansion is that the time and resources used to source and acquire business furniture and equipment as well as hiring support staff, is not required since they are provided by the business centre.
Another advantage a business centre has over traditional office space is that support areas and professional reception staff are included with your office space. Often, there is also meeting room and boardroom time included. A business centre may also include a waiting area, reception and break/lunch room facilities resulting in cost savings due to not paying for common areas. With a traditional rental space, all of these common areas must be included as part of the requirements for space.
The cost of contacting all customers and vendors when your address changes is not inexpensive – so the flexibility of rental terms and amount of space available does result in cost savings for an organization (not to mention the loss of business due to customers and vendors not being able to contact you).
In the end, the biggest advantage a business centre has over all other “location” solutions is that it provides more flexibility at a cheaper price. Basically, using a business centre for your point of contact means considerably less hassles setting up your office and keeping customers informed of contact points – especially at a time when the business is experiencing its highest rate of growth and contact information changing frequently as a result. All of this, and the ability to walk into a fully functioning office, will make the opening of your branch office in Canada the exciting time it should be – instead of the chaos that would accompany having to set up an office and support staff remotely or after you have opened for business.
1. Jennifer Smith
General Manager
The Omni King Edward Hotel
37 King Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1E9
Tel: 416-863-9700
Website: www.omnihotels.com/hotels/toronto-king-edward
2. Mark Perry
General Manager
Executive Hotels and Resorts (Boutique)
8 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E1
Tel: 416-350-2419
Website: www.spazen.ca or www.cosmotoronto.com
3. Emeline Boul
General Manager
Hotel Victoria (Boutique)
56 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1G5
Tel: 416-363-1666
Mobile: 647-574-5832
Website: www.hotelvictoriatoronto.com
4. Omkar Sawant
Reservations Manager
One King West Hotel
1 King Street West
Toronto, ON
M5H 1A1
Main: 416-548-8100
Reservations: 1-866-470-5464
Website: www.onekingwest.com
5. Van Nguyen
General Manager
Cambridge Suites Toronto
15 Richmond Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1N2
Direct: 416-601-3757
Hotel: 416-368-1990
Website: www.cambridgesuitestoronto.com
1. Michael Pagliaro
Carisma (Italian)
15 Toronto Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2E3
Tel: 416-864-7373
Website: www.carismarestaurant.com
2. Patti Shaw
Terroni (Italian)
57 Adelaide Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1K6
Tel: 416-203-3093
Website: www.terroni.com
3. Declan
Restaurant 20 Victoria – Michelin guide approved
20 Victoria Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2A1
Tel: 416-804-6066
Instagram for reservations: https://www.instagram.com/twentyvictoria/
4. Mana
Nami (Japanese)
55 Adelaide Street East
Toronto, ON
M5C 1K6
Tel: 416-362-7373
Website: www.namirestaurant.ca
5. Restaurant Lucie
100 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2W1
Tel: 416-788-9054
Website: www.restaurantlucie.com
6. Niam H
Cantina Mercatto
20 Wellington Street East
Toronto, ON
M5E 1C5
Tel: 416-304-0781
Website: www.cantinamercatto.ca
7. Siva Sathasivam
Uncle Tony’s
38 Wellington St E
Toronto, ON
M5E 1C7
Tel: 416-455-6650
Website: https://uncletonys.ca/
8. Pizzaiolo
104 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M5C 2Y6
Tel: 416-860-0700
Website: www.pizzaiolo.ca
9. Robin Singh
Woods Restaurant and Bar
45 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E3
Tel: 416-214-9918
Website: www.woodsrestaurant.ca
1. Thom Tullo
Morpheus8 by Inmode
47 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E3
Tel: 416-863-6564
Website: www.amanspa.ca
2. Altitude Athletic Training
56 Colborne Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1E3
Tel: 416-366-3838
Website: www.altitudeathletictraining.com
3. Physioheath Studios
33 Victoria Street, #130
Toronto, ON
M5C 2A1
Tel: 416-368-2525
Website: www.physiohealth.com
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Toronto, Ontario M5C 1C4 Canada
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