The Different Types of Liquor Licenses Available in Florida State

If you're the new owner of a bar, entertainment venue, or restaurant in the state of Florida, well first of all, congratulations! Second, you probably have plans to get a license to sell alcoholic drinks at your venue. There are different types of licenses you can get for your establishment in Florida, especially if you're planning on selling strong liquor and spirits or beer and wine. This article hopes to shed light on the different types of licenses you can acquire and to help you hone down on what license is best for you based for your particular situation. 

In Florida, you can choose roughly around 36 different types of permits and licenses just related to alcohol sales alone. Before you get overwhelmed, these different types of permits/licenses are based on two primary types of licenses for two types of alcohol; the sale and consumption of beer and wine and the sale and consumption of liquor. 

For the most part though, the other licenses available are used in special cases for a wide variety of unique scenarios when different types of establishments are involved, like a bar versus a night club. As you can imagine, licenses to sell packaged drinks and drinks for venue consumption for liquor or spirit drinks are often a lot harder to get because it is more regulated. So as a new business owner, be prepared to exercise your patience when it comes to trying to obtain that particular license. 

The three most common liquor licenses sold in Florida are as follows: 

2 APS. 

This license permits the sell of beer and wine for off-site consumption only. Grocery or convenience stores are the ones who often apply for this type of license. Unlike the other drinking on-site licenses, this particular one does not have a quota system, so it is easily obtainable. By having this license though, it does not allow you to sell liquor. It is for beer and wine only. 

SRX License 

Restaurants who would like to sell liquor at their establishment will need to purchase a special license for this and that's only if they meet certain requirements. The restaurant must first generate at least 51% of their income from food, soft drinks, and other non-alcohol related items before they're able to serve liquor. 

Quota Licenses

This license applies mostly to bars or nightclubs looking to sell both liquor, beer, and wine. You are able to obtain licenses for both the sale of packaged alcohol to be consumed off-site and the sale of liquor to be consumed on the property itself. Unfortunately since these licenses are quota-based, it becomes very hard to get a brand new license right off the bat. 

These quotas are set based on population of the county. So, one license becomes available for every additional 7,500 people living in that country. In order for owners to (hopefully) get this new license when it becomes available, they must enter into a lottery system and hope for the best. There are also brokers like us who help connect both buyers/sellers to one another so that new owners can obtain a existing license already in circulation.