ABC licensing
Liquor licensing in San Francisco
A San Francisco liquor license is two jobs running at once. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control decides whether you get the license. The City decides whether your use is allowed at that address in the first place. Operators who treat those as one process lose months, because the state application assumes a premises you are already entitled to occupy.
- Deciding body
- California ABC, plus SF Planning
- Typical range
- 4 to 9 months
- Posting period
- 30 days at the premises
- Where we start
- License type and address check
Our work has been covered by
- SF Chronicle
- Mission Local
- Hoodline
- SFist
- Tablehopper
- SF Business Times
We run both tracks on the same calendar. That means knowing which license type actually fits the concept you are building, whether a license has to be bought on the open market or can be issued new, and what the Planning Department will say about the address before you put money into escrow.
Picking the license type before you sign anything
The license type sets your menu, your hours, your floor plan and your resale value. Getting it wrong is expensive to undo, and it is the single most common mistake we are called in to fix.
San Francisco sits in a county where most of the on-sale general license types are capped, so a full bar license is usually bought from an existing holder rather than issued new. Beer and wine licenses are a different story. That one distinction can move a budget by six figures, and it should be settled before a lease is signed, not after.
- Type 47, on-sale general for a bona fide eating place
- Full bar tied to a real kitchen and meal service. Capped in San Francisco, so normally acquired through transfer.
- Type 48, on-sale general public premises
- A bar with no food requirement and no minors on premises. Also capped, and the most scrutinized type at the local level.
- Type 41, on-sale beer and wine for a bona fide eating place
- Beer and wine with meal service. Available new from ABC, which makes it the realistic opening license for most restaurants.
- Type 75, brewpub
- Full bar plus on-site brewing, with production minimums that have to be genuinely met rather than described.
- Type 23 and Type 02, producer licenses
- Breweries and wineries with tasting rooms, where the production license drives what the tasting room may serve.
- Type 20 and Type 21, off-sale
- Retail beer and wine, or retail general. These run straight into undue concentration analysis in much of the city.
Undue concentration, and what actually answers it
ABC maps licenses against census tracts and crime reporting districts. When an address already sits above the threshold, the application is in undue concentration, and it does not get approved on the strength of a good concept.
What moves it is a public convenience or necessity finding from the local governing body, supported by a record. We build that record: the operating plan, the security and sound provisions, the hours, the letters from neighbors and merchant associations, and the specific conditions you are willing to accept in writing. A protest filed during the posting period is answered the same way, with evidence rather than argument.
Transfers, escrow and the timing trap
Buying a license means a person to person transfer, and usually a premises to premises transfer at the same time. Funds go into escrow, ABC investigates both parties, and the license is not yours until the transfer is approved.
The trap is rent. Operators sign a lease, start paying, and then wait on a transfer that has its own clock. We sequence the escrow against the lease commencement and the buildout schedule so the three are not fighting each other, and we flag the conditions attached to the license you are buying, because those conditions travel with it.
What runs in parallel at the City
The ABC file is not the whole job. Depending on the address and the concept, the same project may need a conditional use authorization from the Planning Commission, a Place of Entertainment permit from the Entertainment Commission, Health Department plan review, and sign off from Fire and Building before a license can be exercised.
We keep one schedule for all of it, because these bodies do not share systems and will not tell you that you are waiting on the wrong thing.
Related work
- See our conditional use authorization when the address needs Planning Commission approval before alcohol is allowed.
- See our Place of Entertainment permit if there will be live music, DJs or dancing.
- See our lease consulting for San Francisco restaurants to get the approval timeline into the lease.
Questions
Liquor Licenses questions we get
How long does a San Francisco liquor license take?
Most files we handle run four to nine months from application to exercise. A clean Type 41 at a well zoned address can land near the short end. A Type 48 in a tract with undue concentration, a protest, and a conditional use hearing in the same project will sit at the long end or beyond. Anyone quoting you a fixed number without seeing the address is guessing.
Do I have to buy a liquor license in San Francisco?
It depends entirely on type. Beer and wine licenses for restaurants are generally available new from ABC. Full bar licenses, the on-sale general types, are capped in San Francisco and are usually acquired from an existing holder on the open market, which is a separate transaction with its own price and its own timeline.
Can I start the liquor license before I have a lease?
ABC ties the application to a specific premises, so you need enforceable rights to the address. What you should not do is sign a full rent lease and then start the application cold. We normally want a feasibility review and a license type decision while the deal is still a letter of intent, and rent relief in the lease that reflects the approval timeline.
What happens if someone protests my license?
A protest filed during the posting period moves the file toward a hearing before an ABC administrative law judge. Many protests resolve through negotiated conditions on hours, sound, security or menu. We would rather pre-empt that by doing neighborhood outreach before the notice goes up, because a protest you prevented costs nothing and a protest you litigate costs months.
More services
Other things we handle
SF Planning
Conditional Use
Conditional use authorization is a discretionary approval. The Planning Commission is not checking boxes, it is making…
Read more→Entertainment Commission
Place of Entertainment
If there will be live music, a DJ, dancing, or a cover charge, the Entertainment Commission is in your project. Which …
Read more→Cannabis
Cannabis Permitting
Cannabis retail in San Francisco is a location problem before it is a licensing problem. Buffer requirements, district…
Read more→Before you sign
Leasing Consulting
The most expensive mistake in this business is signing a lease for a space that cannot become the business you are pla…
Read more→When it stops moving
Project Recovery
Most of the projects we take over are not stuck because someone made a dramatic mistake. They are stuck because an app…
Read more→Next step
Not sure which approval your project needs?
Tell us the address and the concept. We will tell you what it takes, in writing, before you spend anything.