It can be difficult to know what kind of liquor licence to apply for, and what will work best for you. Sometimes even seasoned licensees can get it wrong.

Consider the following example:

We initially assisted our client to apply for an obtain a Producer’s Licence, under which they successfully traded and built a reputation for themselves, over a number of years.

However, post-Covid, the team at the Venue approached us,  that they had identified a number of unmet consumer needs associated with the way Venues are permitted to trade under a Producer’s Licence. Such gaps in services included their:

• Inability to provide external liquor products to anyone who was not consuming a meal (i.e. anyone who did not want a meal could only purchase and consume their in-house products);
• Inability to cater to ‘canape-style’ functions, due the requirement for all patrons consuming liquor to be seated at a table; and
• Inability to cater to larger group bookings due to the requirement for every patron to either:
  • Consume a meal whilst seated at a table; or
  • Consume only in-house products

The Venue’s owners wanted to be able to adapt to meet these changing and unmet consumer requirements for their services. Being required to turn away bookings due to licence restrictions was disheartening and frustrating. We quickly identified that the only way for them to trade in the manner they wanted was to seek the grant of a Tavern Licence.

Unfortunately, the current Liquor Control Act does not allow a Venue to ‘trade up’, only to trade down (i.e. to go down a licence ‘class’, such as from a tavern to a restaurant).

This necessitated a completely new application, for a Tavern Licence. This gave Intervenors such as the Chief Health Officer, who had also Intervened in the first application, a ‘second chance’ to try to restrict the Venue’s trade.

Our office was able to successfully apply for an obtain the Tavern Licence, despite opposition in the form of both Objections and Interventions. Since then, the Venue has gone from strength to strength, and has an excellent reputation as both a food and drink provider.

This case highlights the importance of not only carefully considering which licence to apply for, but the need for ongoing review and consideration of how your licence can work hardest for your business. Applications such as Alterations/Redefinitions, or Variation/Cancellation of restrictive licence conditions can reap huge financial and operation rewards.

If this is something you would like to consider for your Venue, contact us to discuss how best to approach the changes you would like to make to your Venue.