Just about every day, we get a call from a restaurant owner (or aspiring one) who is interested in opening a restaurant here in Montgomery County, Maryland. One of the questions that we are almost always asked is “how long will it take to get a liquor license?” It is understandable that this is a primary concern. Many restaurant leases require a tenant to open on or before a certain date, or incur penalties. If you cannot get your liquor license before that date, you are faced with the choice of opening without a license – and tell your customers, “next time you can get a beer, we promise!” – or incurring penalties from your landlord. Even where the lease does not require it, many restaurants understandably do not want to open until they can offer their guests the full experience, drinks included.
So we get it, and we do all we can do to expedite the process. But there are many steps involved, and when it comes to dealing with the government, some things just cannot be rushed. To help give restaurants a better sense of the overall process, and how long it takes, we thought it would be helpful to provide this overview so you can plan accordingly.
Step One: The Application
At this stage we work with you to complete the written application to the County Liquor Board as well as compile all the required affidavits, corporate documents, and other information the Board needs to review your application. If a resident agent needs to be named, or if any documents needs to be created as related to your company or restaurant, that will happen at this stage too. Finally, we coordinate with your landlord, as they will have to sign off and approve your license application as well.
Depending on how diligently we work at this stage to gather the information and prepare the materials, the time from when you contact our office to when the application is submitted can take 7 to 14 days. In certain circumstances, we have gotten applications submitted in as short as 48 hours, but that is not the norm – or our preference. We find that rushing leads to mistakes, and can ultimately lead to unnecessary delay.
Step Two: Review and Supplementation
After we submit the application, it will be reviewed by licensure personnel at the County Liquor Board. These reviews occur once per week, so it is important to get the applications in before the review day, or you can end up losing a week. After review, Board personnel will contact my office and let us know if they have any questions or if anything is missing. While there are usually follow up questions or requests for further information, it is always our goal that nothing of significance is missing so that the application can be set for hearing. This process of review and supplementation usually takes about one week, but can drag on if there is anything important wrong with the application. (See, that’s why we don’t want to submit it unless it is done properly).
Step Three: Publication and Posting
After review of the application, you will be provided with a hearing date for your application and a poster to put in the window of your restaurant. This poster will note the date and time of the hearing so any interested member of the public can attend the hearing and, for whatever reason, express support or disapproval of the license application. The hearing will also be publicized on the Board’s website as well as in certain other publications.
The poster must be in your window for a minimum of 30 days, but depending on the dates the hearings fall – they are only held twice per month – and whether the Board’s docket is full, the period between application and approval can be as much as 45 days or longer. During this period, we try to stay in regular contact with liquor control personnel to make sure there are no last minute issues that we need to deal with. We want there to be no surprises at the hearing.
Step Four: The Hearing
After the notice period is over, and after all this hard work is done, you will have the hearing on your application before the County’s five-member Liquor Board. Each of the Commissioners will have the opportunity to ask you questions about your business and your experience in the restaurant business and with serving alcohol. The Commissioners will also ask you about your policies and procedures as it relates to the service of alcohol and explore your familiarity with state and local liquor laws.
We usually meet with our clients during the week leading up to the hearing to go over these questions in detail and, at the hearing itself, are usually given the opportunity to ask our clients many of these questions ourselves. We pride ourselves on having our clients exceptionally well-prepared for their hearings. The hearings can be nerve wracking and intimidating, and solid preparation helps them go more smoothly.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the Board members will vote on whether to grant the license.
Step Five: Final Inspection
Once the Board has voted to approve the application, the hardest work is done. The last step is to schedule your final inspection with the Department of Liquor Control. Someone from the DLC will come to your establishment and inspect the premises and ensure that your restaurant is compliant as it relates to, among other things, where your alcohol will be stored and how it will be served. After you pass your inspection, which will usually take place about a week after your hearing, you can pick up your license.
So, as you can see, this whole process can take anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks from the time you pick up the phone and call our office. We can do our best to try to shorten that time in certain circumstances, but it is rare for the process to take much less than two months from start to finish. And if the application is incomplete or not prepared properly in the first place, that time period can drag on longer.
So the sooner you get the process started, the better.