How to get your Smart Serve certificate

Quick facts

Who needs it

The AGCO’s standard says every licensee must make sure these people hold a valid certificate from a Board-approved course:

• Everyone involved in the sale, service, sampling or delivery of liquor, or in taking orders for liquor.
• Security staff the licensee employs (or, at a stadium, uses).
• At golf courses, staff selling from motorized carts and course marshals.
• Large quadricycle chauffeurs.

You must be at least 18 to sell or serve alcohol for a licensee in Ontario. Smart Serve doesn’t publish a minimum age to take the course itself.

How to get certified

1. 1

   Create an account

   Register for an individual account on smartserve.ca. Use your full legal name and date of birth as they appear on your photo ID.

2. 2

   Buy the Full Course

   $44.95. Your employer may instead give you a token from an organizational account; each token covers one course and test.

3. 3

   Complete the training

   About four hours of videos, reading, games and quizzes. You can stop and start, but finish within 30 days.

4. 4

   Pass the final test

   33 questions, 80% to pass, proctored by webcam. What the test is like.

5. 5

   Download your eCertificate

   After the integrity review, open “My Results” in your account to view, save or print it.

Full Course or Retail Course?

The AGCO is clear that a retail-only certificate does not let you sell, serve, deliver or take orders outside a retail store. If you might ever work in a bar, restaurant or at events, get the Full Course.

Does Smart Serve expire?

Yes. Since the AGCO brought in a five-year term, every Smart Serve certificate is valid for five years from the date of issue, and the expiry date is printed on it. Renew before it expires and you pay the reduced $29.95. Let it lapse and you pay the full $44.95 and do the full course again. Either way, you complete the training and a proctored final test.

Lost your certificate?

Smart Serve no longer prints or mails cards. Log in to your online account and open “My Results” to download your valid eCertificate free of charge. If you can’t remember your login details, Smart Serve asks you to email info@smartserve.ca or call 416-695-8737.

Is there a free Smart Serve certificate?

There’s no free version of the course on Smart Serve’s site: the Full Course is $44.95 and the Retail Course $24.95. What is free is your eCertificate once you’ve passed. Some employers and organizations buy course tokens for their staff or volunteers, so ask before you pay. Our practice test is free, but it doesn’t give you a certificate.