According to the 21st Century Alcohol Retail Reform Committee, voting YES on Question #3 will allow for the safe and convenient expansion of alcohol sales. Question #3 will:
1. Promote Consumer Convenience
Progressively increase the number of allowed beer and wine licenses from 9 to 18, minus any full liquor licenses owned. The number of full liquor licenses will be set at 7.
2. Promote Public Safety
Prohibit self-checkout of alcohol and change the fine for selling to a minor applicable to gross sales rather than just for alcohol.
3. Promote Tourism
Allowing valid out-of-state IDs to be relied upon by a retailer will increase access to alcohol in a reasonable and responsible way.
There are many ways you can help promote the Vote YES campaign, including making a donation to the “21st Century Alcohol Retail Reform Committee”; adding the “Vote Yes on 3” logo to the end of your email signature, your store newsletters, and/or website (by copying & pasting the logo); placing “Vote Yes on 3” signs in your store’s window, etc.
To learn more about what you can do to support this campaign, please visit:
https://www.masspack.org/Ballot-Initiative
To read the full article – check out The Advisor Magazine – Issue 20.
A highly anticipated debate in Massachusetts is preparing to finalize a decision on November 8, 2022, after votes are made on ballot question #3.
Ballot question #3 concerns off-premise alcoholic beverage retailers and the number of licenses that an entity is allowed to hold. Voting YES will allow entities to ultimately hold eighteen beer and wine licenses, an increase from the nine currently allowed. (This increase will be gradual.) Voting YES will also decrease the number of full liquor licenses from nine to seven. Ultimately, a YES vote will help restore balance in the off-premise retail industry.
Voting YES on ballot question #3 will not only support consumer demand and promote equal opportunity for all retailers, but it will also help save local businesses by preventing big corporations from dominating the market. Voting YES will further assist local businesses and better public safety by prohibiting self-checkout of alcoholic beverages and establishing a fine for selling to a minor applicable to the total amount of purchases, rather than just for the alcohol purchased.
Voting YES will aid in expanding tourism and increasing the customer base in Massachusetts to allow retailers to accept out-of-state IDs, as we are currently the only state that does not force retailers to reasonably rely on valid out-of-state IDs.
Liquor License Advisor encourages you to vote YES to not only support local business but also to increase the demand for your license, as well as increase the return on your investment over time. We support our clients and business models that we’ve helped establish over the years, and it’s important to us that you are successful. Reach out to us any time with questions. We’re here for you.
To read the full article – check out The Advisor Magazine – Issue 19.
Confidentiality is really important from a seller’s perspective but marketing and talking to people about a business to sell it is crucial.
It is understandable that you want it to be kept really quiet but you want everybody to know about it. The fact is that we only want the people that should know about it to know about it.
As soon as you start talking to people, confidentiality becomes a big concern. The best thing that you can do is work with your team and start to desensitize them for when they hear that the business is for sale.
Prepare the staff and explain to them that everything is for sale for a price and selling the place is an option any day if somebody showed up with the right number.
Talk to the staff about recent sales in the industry so it doesn’t come as a shock.
Priming them and hearing about it for the last month or two will desensitize them. These are just some ways to minimize the amount of trouble that comes with someone breaking confidentiality.
When you or your liquor license broker start to talk about selling your store to potential buyers, confidentiality is a valid concern. When you file an application before the town to transfer the license it becomes public knowledge. There’s no way to avoid it!
Before the information goes public, you want to make sure you have conversations with the important people and make sure that you have had a discussion with key employees.
Most importantly, you want to have a discussion with your landlord to make sure they know what your plans are. The landlord is going be an essential part of this from the very beginning. If you are going to transfer the business to somebody else and they want to stay in that location, the landlord needs to be involved early on rather than later.
Only you know that answer as the owner. You’ve been dealing with this landlord for years, know his personality best, and know how they will react.
If you’ve been a good tenant all along and have been straightforward this shouldn’t be a problem. Once that application gets filed, everybody’s going to know about it so prepare yourself and seek advice when needed.
If you would like confidential advice we are here to guide you. We will give you some tools, tips and tricks on how to do that.
About a month to go before the historic vote on question #3 for the liquor license industry – vote YES. Tell your friends and family to support local and independent operators.
Holding on to Summer and preserving the 3 tier alcohol system. Not sure what the opposition was expecting but The 21st Century Alcohol Reform Bill is going strong.
An article posted in early July on rebusinessonline.com entitled “Retail, Restaurant Industries Embrace Post-Pandemic Design Shifts” addresses the post-pandemic shifts in consumer behavior, as the ease of ordering online with multiple pickup and/or delivery options has become the norm over the past few years. Although the pandemic is behind us, the behaviors consumers adopted are not, and consumer behaviors and expectations when it comes to shopping, dining, and drinking have changed, and businesses are paying attention. Let’s take a closer look at how restaurants are adapting.
The article identifies Border Foods, one of the largest privately held Taco Bell franchises in America, as one restaurant that has worked to create a new restaurant concept designed around the established fast-food model – but an elevated experience, with two-stories and four drive-thru lanes. Josh Hanson, founder and CEO at Vertical Works and WORKSHOP (the company behind the Border Foods redesign), states that their goal was to offer a “highly personalized customer experience” and that “the pandemic accelerated this expectation, as retailers were forced to connect with consumers in new ways.”
To read the full article – check out The Advisor Magazine – Issue 18.
November 8, 2022 is a date that all liquor store owners should have circled on their calendar as a lot rides on the outcome of a proposed ballot question for 21st Century Alcohol Reform bill.
Most recently, more than 19,000 signatures from the public were filed in support of the reform, which over time would gradually increase the current number of licenses available to a single retailer from 9 to 18 by 2031.
Why is the number 9 so important?
As previously mentioned in Retail Tier Reform: Looming 21st Century Alcohol Changes in Issue #17 of The Advisor, the license cap for the sale of all alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, and liquor under the same license) would be reduced from 9 to 7. Retailers will be allowed more licenses overall; however, the cap for all alcoholic licenses will be lower.
For retailers who are currently near or wanting to capture the 9 license limit, they will have to pick up licenses quickly and start now.
With the cap increasing and the quota remaining the same, simple economics of supply and demand suggest that anyone who has a controlling interest in multiple stores, specifically those with all alcoholic licenses will greatly benefit.
For successful retail owners with great ambitions of increasing their capacity, this is not a time to “wait and see”. Your climb to nine licenses has to start now while there’s still time to get them under agreement.
Waiting around on the sidelines to see what happens won’t work and in fact will be too late. If you need a plan, we’re here for you. Call us any time at 781-319-9800.
To read the full article – check out The Advisor Magazine – Issue 18.
A Home Rule Petition was filed on April 1, 2022 regarding the allocation of liquor licenses in the City of Boston, as supporters of the petition argue that there is a disproportionate distribution of liquor licenses across the city and that “the well-documented racial wealth gap in Boston shows that it is crucial for MWBE’s [Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprises] to have equitable access to liquor licenses in order to advance economic equity”.
The petition requests that 200 non-transferable licenses (meaning that if the business closes, the license would go back to the city) over a three-year period be distributed to establishments with a capacity of 50 people and under in the following neighborhoods: Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, and Hyde Park, where there is currently a lack of licenses. For example, the petition points out that out of the 1,432 liquor licenses in Boston, Mattapan holds only ten of them.
It is proposed that all liquor licenses in the City of Boston shall increase by at least 10% over a ten year period. These licenses are for on premise use only, and because they would be non-transferable, these licenses would be given back to the City of Boston if revoked or canceled, to grant an application with the same requirements.
WCVB5 Boston commented on the petition in an April 7 update, describing it as “a tool for addressing the city’s racial wealth gap”. Likewise, an April 17 Boston Globe article entitled, “Waiting for liquor license reform in Boston”, comments on the petition, stating that: “Reforming liquor license law isn’t ultimately about booze. It’s about economic opportunity”. The article argues that because liquor license holders tend to open establishments in wealthier parts of the city, the less wealthy neighborhoods are hurting. The article also calls out Boston’s state-imposed hard cap on restaurant liquor licenses as being “antiquated and stubborn…a vestige of a bygone time”.
On June 16th, 2022, a City Council Committee on Government Operations hearing was held regarding important matters for the City of Boston, including this home rule petition, which consists of two Dockets: Docket #0465 and #0435.
Docket #0465 is the Petition for a Special Law Regarding an Act Authorizing Additional Licenses for the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to be Drunk on the Premises in Boston, with sponsors being Councilors Brian Worrell, Ruthzee Louijeune, and Ricardo Arroyo. Docket #0435 is the Petition for a Special Law Regarding An Act Authorizing the City of Boston to Grant Four Additional Licenses for the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to be Drunk on the Specified Premises, with sponsors being Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune and Julia Mejia. If you were unable to attend the hearing, we’ve got you covered with an overview of the discussion to provide you with the most current updates.
To read the full article – check out The Advisor Magazine – Issue 17.