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liquor license

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locoarts

New member
Hi there,

I was wondering here who has a liquor license… lets say more beer. I do remember when I had a take out restaurant I always felt if you didnt do a ton of catering you needed some sorta beer/wine liquor license.

I guess a question or so on this subject is.
  1. How hard is it to get a beer license? Cost? Any inside info for getting one or trying to get one? (any Ohio owners here?)
  2. Owners now that have one, how much of your daily money is coming from buying beer at your place? I’m not thinking of anything more then Beer… not even wine. Just beer.
  3. Is it cheaper/better to buy someones license? Is there any hidden things you should know? Is it hard to transfer to another city.
I’m not thinking of a bar or some kind of business that 95% of your business is drinking. But lets say a Pizza Shop or a Chipotle who sell tap or bottled beer. Pretty basic.
 
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There is no way really to compare specifics across municipalities even in the same county. The laws are specific and drawn up by either the state or local municipal entity. That said, go to the local government seat (county or city) and ask for a copy of their ordinance or application package. Most states also license you. Find out what agency in your state regulates the same . . . in GA, it is department of revenue.

Terms are important. LIQUOR is a whole different world than fermented drinks. You will likely want to talk about a beer and/or wine pouring license . . . or consumed on premises. Liquor requires federal involvement at some level. My beer license is $250 local plus $75 or so for state. Local is non-tranferrable, but you will find all that in your local ordinance. That is where you need to start. There may be specific requirments you need to meet for the facility and record-keeping and such.

From there, you may get some new, and specific questions that someone locally can answer, or we can pool our experience to give guidance for some of it.
 
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Nick I want to thank you for such detail! That was nice of you… I know allot of my questions might be vague at times, I am kinda asking people here with allot of expierence things on my mind at a starting point & really your replies help allot!

Thanks again!
 
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Ditto what Nick has written. Your first contact needs to be with your local community’s “liquor commissioner”. Every town will have different requirements, different fees, and different terminologies. I was surprised that after we had secured our local town license we then had to gain a State of Illinois license as well, just one of the many little extra “fees” one finds in business. We have a small community, yet my local license is an annual $1000 fee, backed up with a $500 hit from the State.
 
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In Ohio the licenses are split up into the following D1-Beer Only, D2-Wine Only, D3 - Liquor Only - these three allow you to serve until 1am I believe, D5 - Gives you the same as having a D1,2,3 combined plus you can serve until 2:30am. The D5 is about $2500 per year to the state and the others are each around $400 or so I think.

All of this info can be found on the Ohio Department of Liquor Control website. Everything in Ohio is controlled 100% by the state. You can even see on their website how many permits are open and how many are on the waiting list, including who.

All of the permits are rationed out based on population by municipality and if you are not in a municipality then by township. Once they are all sold, you are out of luck until some one lets one go back to the state or they put it up for sale. Sometimes if you can team up with your local chamber/economic development office and prove to the state how you getting a license above and beyond the quota will give a significant boost to the economy you can get one that way.

Depending on your area and demand I have seen a D5 sell for as much as $100,000.

As far as the process, it really isn’t too hard. A bit of paperwork (the amount of people who have interest in your business will directly effect the amount of paperwork), background check, review by your municipality, notification to the local police dpt, visit from the liquor control board and so forth. Just make sure all the t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted.

For me to break even for a D5 I have to sell 50 drinks per week just to pay for my permit and the additional insurance cost. Liquor liability wasn’t much, but general liability went up considerably as people who are drinking have a higher rate of trips, slips and falls.

Alcohol goes very well with full service dine in, I project my alcohol sales will be about 20% of my gross next year when I complete my dine in expansion.
 
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