Liquor License

**Marq** · 30-Sep-16, 09:18 AM

We sell a few dozen beers to our Guests a year. Its mainly a service item.
In order to achieve this a Liquor License has to be obtained.
To obtain this we need....
- To find R2,400 fee.
- An accountant to get books up to speed to obtain a tax clearance certificate
- A police clearance certificate
- Endure visits by obnoxious liquor board and police people.
- Make certified copies of every document that we submit.
This we must do every year, 6 months in advance, where we have to request their permission first before being told we can go ahead and pay the fee to be licensed.
Another Government institution - the KZN Liquor Board in action. They boast about providing business-friendly environments and ease of systems.
How many of you out there experience the same scenario?
What are the alternatives?

**kayla** · 30-Sep-16, 02:29 PM

I am sorry about your view point on the liquor licensing environment. The Liquor industry has to have a body that is regulated and that when licences are issued they have to be issued in accordance with the law. It may seem the application process or renewal process of liquor licences to be teed be too much but the regulatory body has to ensure that licences are issued within the law thus the submission for public comment, clearance from police, inspections by the liquor authority need to be done before an application can be approved. if you feel like it is a lot that you need to do then you should consider appointing a liquor consultants or a lawyer that will be responsible for the submission of your application.

**Mike C** · 30-Sep-16, 02:36 PM

Don't know about the legal implications of this but we stayed at a B&B once which had an "honesty bar". In this manner liquor was not technically sold by the B&B.

**Marq** · 30-Sep-16, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by kayla

if you feel like it is a lot that you need to do then you should consider appointing a liquor consultants or a lawyer that will be responsible for the submission of your application.

You missed the point.....

Firstly, If I have a 100% markup on the sales, I would need to make R4,800 turnover just to cover the license fee. I sell about R2,000 for the year in total. So I am already paying for the guests to drink. You now suggest that I get lawyers and consultants to suck some more on that loss.

Secondly, I am selling to a few guests who have one or two beers and maybe a nightcap. If you think it is ok to go through tax clearances, police clearances and form filling exercises every year plus add an exorbitant fee to do this just to deliver a nightcap, then perhaps the problem does not lie with the regulatory boards.

This situation is probably true for most Guest Houses, yet we are lumped together with hotels commanding large bars and restaurants. A Tavern or Shebeen only has to find R1000 a year and it is doubtful whether many of them can muster up a tax and police clearance.

We continually hear from the government how smes etc are being helped yet the sme's continually encounter ridiculous situations like this one.

The day public comment on government regulation is taken into consideration, will be a day that government no longer exists. I am all for that day.

**Marq** · 30-Sep-16, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by Mike C

Don't know about the legal implications of this but we stayed at a B&B once which had an "honesty bar". In this manner liquor was not technically sold by the B&B.

Thanks Mike,
We run an honesty bar, but all that means is that the Guest can help themselves, score it in a book and we settle when they leave.
We are still making a sale and for that require the license. We could go the cash only under the table route which would bypass the need for a license, but we, (the minority

), are still trying to do the 'right' thing.

My bleat is that the various regulatory bodies make it a mission for one to try and achieve the basics of being and staying legally in business.