In my ongoing thought process of figuring out how to stop working for the man, I keep coming back to the thought of owning a bar. But I also keep hearing that liquor licenses are hard to get and extremely expensive. Anyone know what the story is with them?

Colonel?

I'm also extremely interesting in owning my own establishment one day. Here's what I know. I believe that although the liqour license itself it issued by the liqour commission(?) it must be approved my the city. So I think basically, tou must show them your plans, etc. I think this is to (A) make sure you'll open a decent establishment, and (B) ensure that only a certain number of bars open. Obviously some communities are much more welcoming to bars than others.

As far as cost of the license, it is very expensive. In addition to the one time fee to get it, you must pay a yearly fee as well.

This is all for Michigan, and could easily be different for Cali.

Originally posted by PFDarkside
I'm also extremely interesting in owning my own establishment one day. Here's what I know. I believe that although the liqour license itself it issued by the liqour commission(?) it must be approved my the city. So I think basically, tou must show them your plans, etc. I think this is to (A) make sure you'll open a decent establishment, and (B) ensure that only a certain number of bars open. Obviously some communities are much more welcoming to bars than others.

As far as cost of the license, it is very expensive. In addition to the one time fee to get it, you must pay a yearly fee as well.

This is all for Michigan, and could easily be different for Cali.

my father and i looked into buying a bar down the street from us. i don't remember the specifics, but that's sounds about right.

a lot of it has to do with the city, they can easily deny you the right to open up such an establishment.

In Canada liscensing is a Provincial (state) issue.

If the establishment already has a liscence it simply changes hands, usually with a minimum of fuss.

If, however the liscence has expired or you are opening a new establishment it gets a lot trickier. You must be inspected by Fire, Health, Building & Liquor inspectors and make sure everything is up to code before a liscence is issued. All of these cost money.

Thanks to you nice folks in California we now have a colour coded inspection notice from the City Dept. of Health that must be displayed in the front window.
Red = Shut down.
Yellow = Warning. Have not yet complied with all directives.
Green = Pass.

The real trick to being successful is having enough money in the bank to cover yourself for the first 6 months. It's a fair chunk of change but if you're new to the buisiness you are going to make mistakes & mistakes can be expensive.

I'm fairly adept at bypassing these mistakes and turning a profit pretty much right away. I have often come into conflict with nOOb owners who have a "vision" of what they want their establishment to be but can't see how it affects their bottom line.

Anyway, if you decide to follow through with this, hit me up. I'd be more than happy to help.

I can only imagine the horror of trying to get a liquor liscense in California...:eek: