Checking Out With Beer & Biscuits: UK’s Booze Crisis

Ubiquity versus exclusivity- an often difficult distinction to make, especially when considering various commodities. Britain recently rides the line by stripping alcohol from supermarket shelves, in an attempt to lower consumption. Alcohol consumption has encountered somewhat of a crisis when it comes to ‘lockdown drinking’ in which Daily Mail claims, “researchers say policies to clamp down on problem drinking would work better if the UK moved to a radical Scandinavian-style system where booze is sold exclusively in off-licenses.”

Several countries in the UK have proposed efforts to control liquor consumption including raising the prices of alcohol, which, as the article puts, “has rather embarrassingly failed to achieve its intended result in Scotland.”

With the ease and convenience of grocery stores selling alcohol, Taco Tuesday sounds even better with a margarita, a bottle of wine with dinner becomes daily, and weekend food shopping on Thursday turns into celebrating “Friday Jr.”

“For every 1 percent increase in the price of food, this translated into a 1 percent decrease in alcohol consumption.”

Studies depicted an intrinsic relationship between food and alcohol buying habits, emphasizing that the price is not the only variable up for debate. Raising the price, limiting the relationship to food, public disclosure of calorie count, as well as the dangers of drinking- all plans to be highlighted and adjusted.

In turn with this, managing poverty and obesity are tied into the decision. Public health minister Jo Churchill hopes that this is a win-win for their country.

The convenience of delivery or grocery store availability is unsurpassed- especially during a pandemic. However, will the exclusivity of booze only create a bigger stir and desire for it?

 

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love our monthly publication, The Advisor Magazine – click to view more articles like this in The Advisor Magazine – Issue #3.

 

Ancient Egyptian Beer-Making: A Woman’s Job

 

The Ancient Egyptians (and most civilizations throughout history, frankly) are not known for being at the forefront of women’s rights. However, the art of brewing beer was almost exclusively female activity. What’s the big deal, you may be wondering? Well, beer was the lifeblood of civilization. It was a source of revelry, but also nutrition.

 

While the Sumerians had Ninkasi as the goddess of beer, the Egyptians had Tenenet to preside over beer-making. The earliest brewing would have been as simple as boiling down loaves of bread and letting them sit to ferment in large jars. The mixture was then strained and could be flavored with honey or herbs.

 

In just a few days, a clunky mess turned into drinkable beer which was consumed by the masses. It was drank before work to provide nutrients and energy, after work and at gatherings for relaxation and conversation, and sometimes used as money for bartering.

 

The drink would have been frothy and was drank with long straws out of bowls in order to avoid the grittiness that rose to the top. The Ancient Greeks marvelled at the Egyptian women and their brewing abilities, though they were not a fan of the product themselves and preferred wine.

 

In an age when women had little rights, brewing was a way to learn income and achieve a level of power and influence. Without them, there would be no beer. Without beer, then what?

 

Greg Caggiano is an avid food/drink blogger and the founder of Eating New Jersey. He lectures at Brookdale Community College on various historical subjects including the history of liquor and the history of prohibition in New Jersey.

“The Taste Must Be Acquired”: 5,000 Year Old Beer

 

A friend of mine who considers himself a beer historian used to remark, “Gotta hand it to the Sumerians. They invented writing…and beer!” Arguably two of the most important items in human history, they can be given credit for one of the world’s favorite beverages along with the Egyptians and Babylonians. We can even go a step further and surmise that they needed writing (in the form of cuneiform) to keep track of their beer recipe!

 

But what did it taste like?

 

It was a far cry from the beautiful, crisp, translucent complexion we are used to today. The Sumerians may have worshipped a Goddess of Beer (her name was Ninkasi) but complex filtering was still a ways off. The beer itself was actually quite murky, with a brownish consistency. Based on accounts of the time, we can liken beer to a watery gruel.

 

Also from the hieroglyphics, we can get an idea of how important beer was to the ancients in their everyday life: there are stories from 2,200 BC telling of mothers waiting at home for their children to arrive from school with a snack of “bread and beer”. For adults, such beer was drank out of long reeds and could have been done communally around a large pot (think of a Hookah set-up). The buzz was probably more important than the flavor, as even in 500 BC, an account reads, “the taste must be acquired”.

 

However, they did get one thing right. More than 4,000 years ago, an inscription was found stating, “The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer”. Ain’t that the truth?

 

Greg Caggiano is an avid food/drink blogger and the founder of Eating New Jersey. He lectures at Brookdale Community College on various historical subjects including the history of liquor and the history of prohibition in New Jersey.

 

How Bar Owners Can Protect Against Financial Losses From Staff

By Russ Bubas, President, Data Quest, LTD

 

Most restaurateurs know how to control liquor cost, but thanks to the fact that some of the “controls” can be tricky and time-consuming, they get skipped, causing costs to skyrocket. Studies of the industry show that 25%-30% of a bar’s liquor inventory never translates to registered sales, thanks to comps or discounts, over-pouring, spillage, and theft.

Here’s how to stop these types of incidents from happening.

Every restaurateur and bar owner has heard warnings about silent partners. Once in my career, I went to an upscale steakhouse to do an integrity audit at the bar. The bartender was polite, professional, and served my drink promptly. But as I placed the money on the bar for payment, he ignored it as he served the drink. That was the first clue.

A few minutes later, he served another customer, and collected money from him and from me at the same time. Only one drink was recorded, and it looked like my money went into a tip cup. When I called the owner to tell him, he replied, “Impossible! He’s been with us for 25 years. He’s like a member of my family.” I told him we should audit the terminal and take a look at the tip jar. I also advised bringing the bartender into the office to ask why he doesn’t collect from customers every time he serves.

Long story short, he did finally admit to stealing. The owner gave him the benefit of the doubt, offering him the opportunity to make restitution by the next day, then suspending him. The following day, the bartender walked in with a large shopping bag containing more than $7,700 in cash. He’d been using the money to save for retirement. The bartender was terminated, but the owner’s business was saved.

Around 62% of new businesses go out of business in the first year, largely because of unexplained losses. A bartender giving away drinks to generate larger tips has the same effect on the bottom line as if he put the money directly in his pocket. You have to protect yourself and your profits, so here are some tricks to spot warning signs:

 

 

 

 

Stay alert and skeptical of any unusual actions. Don’t let your staff audit the registers, but do conduct unannounced register audits.

A culture of honesty is important: Do frequent inventories, require open communication, and build in deterrents, like the register audits. These things will help you protect yourself, and encourage openness and honesty amongst your staff.

 

 

How to Control Your Liquor Cost—And Boost Profitability

By Robert P. Kiley, Chief Executive Officer, Restaurant Accounting Services

 

Most restaurateurs know how to control liquor cost, but thanks to the fact that some of the “controls” can be tricky and time-consuming, they get skipped, causing costs to skyrocket. Studies of the industry show that 25%-30% of a bar’s liquor inventory never translates to registered sales, thanks to comps or discounts, over-pouring, spillage, and theft.

 

Here’s how to stop these types of incidents from happening.

 

1. Check in on your bartenders.

 


Start with the basics: Require service bartenders to use jiggers, since the customers can’t see them, anyway. If bartenders are visible to customers, test the pours of the bartenders. Random inspections will help you make sure they aren’t pouring “heavy,” coupled with testing their pouring ability frequently. Another thing to make sure of is that bartenders are required to ring all transactions for sales immediately, and drink recipes should be consistent and readily available.

 

2. Manage inventory.

 

Rule of thumb: Establish proper par levels, and keep as little on hand as possible. The less inventory employees see, the less waste from heavy pouring. Keep liquor locked, and establish a system for using bottle-for-bottle exchange.

 

Even better, have a weekly inventory with a programmed point-of-sale system and tally of beverage cost. The more often inventory is taken, the more we can police the cost. In addition to taking total inventory by category (i.e. liquor, beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages), your point-of-sale system needs to tally sales by these categories as well.

 

 

3. Keep several guidelines in mind.

 

There are a few key guidelines to keep in mind, which can be broken down with simple math.

Beverage Cost = (Beverage Purchases +/- Inventory Change)/ Total Beverage Sales

Some math to break it down…

Liquor sales for the month: $40,000            100.00%

Liquor purchases for the month: $7,560            18.90% ($7,560 divided by $40,000)

Inventory Change: + $280 + 07.%

Total Cost: $7,840 19.60% ($7,840 divided by $40,000)

Beverage cost percentage: 19.6%
This calculation should be done for beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages as well.

Successful restaurants generate total beverage costs in the mid-20% range. Generally, a liquor cost of 20%, a beer cost of 25%, wine cost of 30%, and non-alcoholic beverage cost of 25% are acceptable.

Control and calculating your beverage cost are essential tools in increasing profitability.

 

 

5 Tips for Getting (and Keeping) A Liquor License in a State With a Quota

By Gene Richard, Esq., Wayne, Richard & Hurwitz, LLP

 

A business can’t legally sell alcoholic beverages to consumers without a valid liquor license. Since profits from sales of alcoholic beverages can make or break a restaurant, hotel, club or package store, getting that retail liquor license is important—only second to keeping it. Here’s what you need to know.

 

1. Availability varies.

 


Retail liquor licenses are issued by each city or town, with the approval of the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC). That means only limited numbers of each type of license are available in each municipality.

 

A town or city that is “below quota” can issue a new license directly to qualified applicants. However, once a town or city is “at quota,” an unlicensed business has to wait for an existing license to be turned in, or pay an existing licensee to transfer the license to a new holder.

 

New licenses typically cost two or three thousand dollars, and that’s just for application and annual license fees. The cost to buy an existing license involves the same fees, plus whatever price the existing licensee charges, which varies based on location and type of license (however, a head’s up: It can run well into the six-figure range).

 

 

2. Make sure you go over the nitty-gritty details.

 

Applications for new licenses or license transfers must be made via forms from the ABCC. The basic forms are available on the ABCC’s website, along with a helpful checklist of documents that need to be submitted with each type of application. Remember to check in with licensing authorities in your municipality, just in case additional forms are required. More tips about applications:

 

1. Fill the forms out completely. Failure to disclose relevant facts can be grounds to deny the application, or revoke a license that was already granted.

2. Attach copies of your lease or other evidence of your right to occupy the property. Although premises can be under construction at the time of application, no license will be issued until the premise has been inspected by the authorities.

3. Each person with an interest in the license must be disclosed and approved. That includes: Individual owners, those working with a corporation, LLC, partnership, or association (including officers, directors, and shareholders), and the applicant’s landlord (if the lease includes a rent provision that is based on the sale of alcoholic beverages).

4. Corporate licensees must designate and disclose an individual manager.

5. The initial costs and financing for the license have to be included: Your application needs to show all the costs involved in obtaining the license and getting the businesses up and running.

6. Individuals who have an interest in the licensee have to sign and submit personal information forms (PIFs) and criminal records requests (CORIs) as part of the application. This includes your landlord if that aforementioned rent provision is in play, and might also include owners and entities that own stock in the licensee.

7. Apply for a tax Certificate of Good Standing. The ABCC can’t approve a license issuance if either the new or the old licensee owes taxes to the state.

 

 

3. Pay wholesalers.

 

Your “purchase and sale” agreement with the former licensee should include that the new licensee is not accepting liabilities of the original business. Make sure to check whether the license is on the “delinquency list” kept for liquor wholesalers, and ensure that wholesalers on the list are paid before the transfer.

 

4. Prepare to go through the process again in the future.

 

Once your application is approved and the license is issued, you might have to go through the process all over again for any number of reasons. For example, if your manager quits, you’ll need a new license, and to get that manager approved. Approval has to be obtained for a change in location or new stock, too.

 

5. Remember to renew annually.

 

Check in with your local licensing authorities in your municipality for specifications on “automatic renewal” or submitting a renewal application. Most municipalities require that documentation of liquor liability insurance and inspection certificates are included with the renewal form, and you’ll still need to be up-to-date on your taxes and payment of the annual license fee.

 

Most People Don’t Know That Liquor License Brokers Can Help With These 3 Services

 

Liquor license brokers are experts for a reason. We know the ins and outs of liquor licensing and can save you time, money, and headaches. The process of buying, selling, and acquiring a liquor license can be a lengthy one, especially depending on your state and the kind of license you want.

But on top of our work directly with licenses, there are also a number of other helpful services we provide that many professionals don’t know that we offer—and they could make your next licensing deal even better.

 

 

1. We keep track of industry-wide trends and legislative updates.

 

Understandably, most attorneys and food and beverage professionals aren’t standing by their computers waiting for the next industry shift or change in liquor licensing law.

That’s where we come in. We spend time understanding pivots in municipal and/or state licensing policies so that when our clients need help, we’ve already got the inside scoop on what they need to do to stay compliant. We consult others on the latest legislative changes and industry trends, too.

 

 

2. We provide market research and data.

 

For franchise owners, lenders, license coordinators, establishment owners, and others in the food and beverage industry, one of the most time-consuming activities is diving into market research and finding reliable data.

Lucky for you, our team is always up-to-date on valuations and performs regular surveying for a number of clients. So instead of trying to decipher this data on your own, come to us—we can do the heavy lifting for you.

 

 

3. We keep track of critical timelines & provide resources.

 

Anyone who’s buying or selling a license probably has other irons in the fire—opening or closing a restaurant, buying or selling a piece of real estate, leasing a property, the works.

We don’t just locate a license; we also make sure to communicate deadlines, highlight the materials needed for transactions, spot potential red flags, and take care of other logistics so that clients never feel like they’re fending for themselves on top of their plethora of other responsibilities. Who has time for all of that?

If you’re trying to buy a liquor license and you have all the pieces, bring us on board to put them together. You have the lemons, and we’ll turn them into limoncello.

 

3 Ways a Liquor License Broker Makes an Attorney’s Job Easier

 

Over our many years of business, we’ve worked with numerous attorneys to make their journey through the liquor licensing process easier.

Attorneys who are new to what we do often ask why it’s necessary to have a liquor license broker; what they often find, however, is that our services go far beyond just finding a buyer or seller. How do we make the process smoother for all of the lawyers we work with? Here are the three main ways.

 

 

1. We troubleshoot for you.

 

We see possibilities in licensing that other people frequently miss. We solve the problems attorneys don’t always have the time or expertise to resolve, acting as partners to step in and lead extra support to deliver a winning result for all parties involved.

For example, if we had a business trying to buy a license from one of its other franchisees and that franchisee is avoiding the sale, we have the bandwidth to speak with that franchisee and work through any questions or problems. Sometimes, that includes venturing out to evaluate what the cost would be for a business to buy a license over the next six months in a certain community and getting into the nitty-gritty details of how to make that transaction.

For an attorney, having a team with the expertise who has dealt with these problems is a huge asset, and it saves quite a few headaches for those who aren’t as well-acquainted with this business as we are.

 

 

2. We offer our knowledge base.

 

Attorneys are the legal experts. But who wants to spend two weeks poring over books of licensing case law to figure out what’s going on? Given that a lot of lawyers who contact us aren’t licensing-specific attorneys, we step up to act as a resource for them to make decisions and give their clients firm answers.

About 90% of the work we do involves working alongside attorneys to solve their clients’ problems and fulfill their needs. The services we provide most often include looking to buy a license, needing to sell a license, requesting an evaluation done for lending, and uncovering a license for scratch.

At the end of the day, we’re going to be as creative as possible in our deal-making to ensure that clients—and by extension, their  attorneys—walk away with a deal they’re happy with.

 

 

3. We’re reliable no matter what the process throws your way.

 

There’s enough unpredictability with the transaction of trying to buy, sell, or secure a liquor license. Why go it alone?

Our mission is to make that process much easier and more streamlined. When we do business with attorneys, we help manage the transaction from start to finish and point out  any potential red flags or legal complications that lawyers should be aware of. If there’s a snag in a deal, we’re the ones who will step in to work it out in order to make sure attorneys aren’t adding something to their licenses.

When it comes down to it, we have one specialty: Liquor licenses. We learn every day, which means we’re constantly developing better systems and processes for our clients, as well as their attorneys.

 

How Can I Tell If a Liquor License Is Fake?

 

Whether you’re looking into buying or selling a liquor license for the first time or dealing with your millionth sale, there’s always one question in the back of your mind: How can you know if a liquor license is real or fake?

 

We get it: Buying and selling a liquor license can be tough—and often there’s a lot of money on the table, particularly if you’re in a state with a quota.

 

For individuals and businesses looking to buy a liquor license, whether new or from an existing business, one of the most important skills you can learn is how to tell if you’re being sold a fake liquor license. Accidentally or intentionally buying a fake liquor license and operating without a bonafide license can get you into a world of trouble with the Division of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC), so consider us your saving grace.

 

Let’s start with a refresher of what a liquor license is and what it does: It’s a permit to sell alcohol and alcoholic beverages. If your business has a hand in the distribution, manufacturing, or sale of alcohol, you’re going to need a liquor license. That includes businesses from restaurants and bars to hotels, private clubs, or other establishments. And that’s good news: Liquor sales can be responsible for some of the largest profit margins on a menu, depending on the type of liquor—between 76% and 82%. However, that’s all the more reason to make sure that you’re purchasing a legitimate liquor license and not a fake one.

 

What are the red flags that you might be buying a fake license? Here are the most common issues we see.

 

 

You’re in a state with tough liquor license regulations.

 

In New Jersey for example, the Division of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) that issues liquor licenses has some of the toughest liquor license regulations in the country. Because of large populations of people and local ordinances limiting the number of retail liquor licenses that are allowed to be issued, it’s harder to obtain a liquor license.

 

In states where there are more strict regulations, it’s more likely to find businesses that are operating with fake liquor licenses or without liquor licenses at all.

 

 

You’re buying a liquor license from a business that’s previously had its license revoked.

 

When restaurants, bars, and other facilities that handle and sell alcohol don’t comply with alcohol regulations law, they can lose their liquor licenses, posing issues for their revenue streams. While some places work honestly and diligently to get their licenses back, that’s not always the case, and people get caught with fake liquor licenses. Although buying a liquor license from a business that’s previously had its license revoked doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have issues with being sold a fake liquor license, it’s always better to do your research and due diligence to make sure. (As a reminder, this is where a liquor license broker or consultant like Liquor License Advisor comes in handy—we do that work for you.)

 

 

A business’ liquor license isn’t registered with the area’s Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC).

 

Of course, the biggest red flag of all is if you check with the local ABC and no one at the agency can confirm that the business you’re buying the liquor license from has a legitimate license. When you purchase a liquor license from a business that is closing or going out of business, you apply with your state’s ABC agency as if you were applying for a new license. However, you may have already been in talks with a business claiming to have a liquor license to sell you. If you can’t confirm that the license is official with the ABC, it’s likely that it’s a fake liquor license.

 

No matter what state you’re in, you should be able to work with the state to find out if a business is licensed to sell alcohol, and specifically check if a business has a liquor license with its name in its exact location.

This is also where hiring a liquor license broker is helpful so that you can make sure that you’re not getting duped by a fake liquor license. Teams like ours at Liquor License Advisor can make sure you’re in accordance with all regulations; we do the vetting of licenses for you.

Have any questions about the process of buying and obtaining a liquor license? We can help. We know the liquor control laws in numerous states backwards and forwards, including all of the local rules and regulations. We want to ensure a smoother application process by arming you with knowledge and a team who can properly vet everything during the process.

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