Last updated 2026-07-26
TL;DR
A Type 47 is California's on-sale general license for bona fide eating places, allowing beer, wine and full spirits with food service. In quota counties you typically buy one on the private market (often well into six figures); in non-quota counties you may apply directly to the ABC for a base fee in the low hundreds of dollars. Confirm current fees and quota status with California ABC.
What is a Type 47 ABC license exactly?
A Type 47 is California's "on-sale general - eating place" license. It authorizes sale of beer, wine, and distilled spirits for consumption on the premises of a bona fide restaurant. The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) describes it as intended for a business that operates primarily as a place that serves meals, with alcohol sold alongside food service rather than as the main draw [1]. That "bona fide eating place" framing matters. ABC rules require the licensed premises to have a kitchen, a regular menu, and food service during all hours alcohol is sold. A bar that wants to pour full spirits without meeting that food-service standard generally needs a Type 48 (on-sale general, public premises) instead, which has different quota and eligibility rules. If you're comparing the two, our bar guide breaks down where a 47 fits against other on-premise formats. A Type 47 covers beer, wine, and distilled spirits for on-site consumption, plus it typically allows limited off-sale beer and wine sales incidental to a bona fide meal in California, subject to ABC conditions [1]. It does not by itself authorize a full off-sale liquor store operation.
How much is a liquor license in California for a Type 47?
There are really two very different price tags, and which one you pay depends entirely on whether your county has hit its quota. If your county still has original licenses available (non-quota situation), you apply directly to ABC and pay the state's original license fee, which is a modest, published amount in the low hundreds of dollars, plus annual renewal fees. Confirm the exact current original-issue and priority-fee schedule on ABC's license fee page before budgeting, since these get adjusted [2]. If your county has hit its Type 47 quota (extremely common in urban California), no new original licenses are issued and you must buy an existing one from a current holder on the open market. These transfer prices are set by supply and demand, not by ABC, and they can run anywhere from the low six figures in less competitive counties up into the mid-six-figures or higher in places like Los Angeles or San Francisco. There's no official statewide list of transfer prices; brokers and escrow companies track approximate ranges by county, but treat any number you see as a rough market signal, not a quote. Budget for the license price itself, an escrow and transfer process, and ABC's transfer fee on top [2]. On top of the license cost, most owners also pay for a local zoning or conditional use permit, a business license, and often a broker or attorney to run the escrow and transfer paperwork. None of that is optional in a quota county, and skipping the local permit step is one of the most common ways owners blow their opening date.
What is the quota system and how does it affect a Type 47?
California caps the number of certain on-sale general licenses per county based on population, under Business and Professions Code Section 23817 and related sections. The formula is roughly one license per a set population increment, and once a county's population-based cap is reached, ABC stops issuing new originals for that license type in that county [3]. When a county is at or over quota, your only path to a Type 47 is a person-to-person transfer from an existing licensee, an escrow-based sale. ABC still has to approve the transfer, check for protests, and confirm the buyer's qualifications, but the license itself changes hands as a private transaction, not a new grant from the state. Some counties allow a public interest or public convenience exception that lets a local governing body ask ABC to issue one additional license above quota, but that's discretionary and county by county, not something to plan an opening date around. If you're weighing a Type 47 against a franchise or expansion in a specific county, check that county's current quota status with ABC before signing a lease, not after. For a broader look at how transfer markets work across license types, see quota-and-transfers-style resources on the site, and our liquor overview for how different states classify similar licenses.
How to obtain a liquor license for a restaurant (Type 47) step by step
The mechanics differ depending on quota status, but the general sequence looks like this in California. First, confirm your county's quota status and figure out whether you're doing an original application or a person-to-person transfer. This single fact changes your budget by potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, so do it before you sign a lease if at all possible. Second, if it's a transfer, identify a seller (often through a licensed liquor license broker or attorney), negotiate price and terms, and open an escrow. The escrow holds funds and handles creditor notices; California law requires certain notice and waiting periods before a transfer can close, partly to protect the seller's creditors and partly to give the public and law enforcement a chance to protest [1]. Third, submit your application package to ABC: this includes personal qualification forms for all owners/officers with 10 percent or more interest, fingerprinting, premises diagrams, proof of the right to occupy the premises (your signed lease), and local zoning sign-off. Fourth, ABC posts a public notice at the premises and processes protests, if any come in, from neighbors, law enforcement, or local government. No-protest applications move faster; a protest can add months. Fifth, once ABC approves, you pay final fees and the license issues. From signed lease to pouring your first drink, a clean Type 47 transfer with no protests commonly runs a few months; a contested one, or an original application needing local conditional use approval, can run considerably longer. Build slack into your opening date plan rather than assuming the fastest-case timeline.
How to get a liquor license as a first-time applicant
If you've never held a license before, the process is the same application path described above, but expect ABC to look closely at your personal history and financial disclosures. You'll fill out ABC form LIQ-2, personal history statements for each qualifying owner, and disclose financing sources; ABC checks fingerprints against DOJ and FBI records as part of the qualification process [1]. A first-time applicant in a non-quota county has it easiest: no license to buy, just the state's original fee and the standard qualification process. A first-time applicant trying to buy into a quota county needs financing sorted well before escrow closes, since sellers generally want proof of funds before they'll take a location off the market. One practical note: local approval (zoning, conditional use permits, sometimes a public hearing) often takes longer than the ABC's own review. Talk to your city planning department about alcohol-sales conditional use permits at the same time you start the ABC process, not after.
Can you serve alcohol without a liquor license?
No, not for a business selling alcohol to the public. Every state requires some form of license or permit to sell or serve alcoholic beverages commercially, and operating without one is a criminal violation in essentially every jurisdiction, more than a civil fine. In California, selling alcohol without a valid ABC license can result in criminal misdemeanor charges under the Business and Professions Code, plus ABC can pursue administrative penalties against the property or responsible parties [1]. There are narrow exceptions for private events, some nonprofit fundraisers with a special one-day permit, and certain BYOB setups where the establishment isn't selling the alcohol at all, only allowing customers to bring their own. Those exceptions are narrow and state-specific; a restaurant that wants to routinely sell drinks needs an actual license, full stop. Even a caterer or event venue serving alcohol at a private party often needs a separate caterer's permit or event license tied to an existing licensee. If you're not sure whether your business model needs a full on-sale license or a more limited permit, that's exactly the kind of question to run past your state ABC before you open, not after a citation.
How to get a bartending license (and does California require one)
California does not require a statewide bartending license to pour drinks, but it does require Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training and certification for most alcohol servers and their managers, under a law that phased in starting in 2022. The RBS Portal, run through ABC, lists state-approved training providers, and servers generally must complete an ABC-accredited course and pass an exam within 60 days of their hire date [4]. Other states handle this differently. Some, like Utah, require an actual state-issued alcohol server permit before you can pour a single drink. Others rely entirely on voluntary or employer-mandated TIPS or ServSafe-style certification with no state mandate at all. If you're opening in a state other than California, check that state's ABC or alcohol control board site directly, because "bartending license" means something different in every jurisdiction, and assuming California's rules apply elsewhere is a common and costly mistake. Note that RBS certification for servers is separate from the Type 47 license itself. The business needs the ABC license; the individual bartenders and servers need RBS training. Both matter for compliance, and inspectors check both.
Can anyone take the bar exam?
This question comes up a lot in liquor-license searches because "bar" is ambiguous, so it's worth answering directly: yes, most U.S. states allow anyone who meets their bar admission requirements to sit for the bar exam, typically graduation from an ABA-accredited law school (or, in a handful of states, completion of an apprenticeship-style reading of law program instead) plus passing a character and fitness review. The California State Bar, for example, publishes its own admission requirements separate from any alcohol licensing process entirely. That's a legal-profession credential and has nothing to do with liquor licensing. If you landed here searching "bar exam" while researching a bar/restaurant license, you want the rest of this article; if you're actually researching law school admission, the florida-bar and florida-bar-member-search pages on this site cover that specific state's attorney licensing and member lookup, which is a completely separate system from ABC alcohol licensing.
How much is a liquor license in Florida (comparing states)
Florida works differently from California, which is a useful comparison if you're deciding where to open. Florida's quota liquor licenses (the closest equivalent to a full-liquor restaurant license) are also capped by county population under Florida law, one quota license per a set number of residents, adjusted as county population grows [5]. In a non-quota situation, Florida also offers a special SFS (special food service) license commonly used by restaurants, which lets an eating establishment sell beer, wine, and liquor by the drink without needing a scarce quota license, provided the restaurant meets space and seating requirements plus food-sales percentage rules set by the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco [6]. That SFS path is a big reason many Florida restaurants never touch the quota liquor license market at all. Where a quota license is required, prices are market-driven just like California, and can range from tens of thousands of dollars in smaller counties up into the hundreds of thousands in dense urban counties like Miami-Dade or Broward, again with no official state price list; these figures move with local supply and demand. Confirm current quota counts and SFS eligibility rules directly with Florida's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco before assuming either path applies to your location [6].
How to obtain a liquor licence if you're outside California and Florida
Every state runs its own alcohol control system, and the differences are bigger than most first-time owners expect. Some states (called "control states," including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and several others) run their own liquor stores and license distilled spirits sales directly through a state agency; others are fully "license states" where private businesses hold licenses subject to state quota and local approval, closer to California's model. The common thread across every state: you'll need to identify the correct license category for your business type (restaurant, bar, brewery taproom, etc.), check whether that category is quota-limited in your county or municipality, confirm local zoning and any conditional use approval separately from the state license, and budget for both state fees and, if applicable, a private market purchase price. The federal side is simpler and universal: any business that produces, imports, or wholesales alcohol needs a federal permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), regardless of state. A restaurant or bar that only sells at retail typically does not need a TTB basic permit, just the state and local retail license, but if your business model includes any manufacturing, importing, or wholesale activity, check TTB's permit requirements directly .
What should I budget and how do I plan backward from my opening date?
Work backward from your target opening date, not forward from when you happen to start the paperwork. A realistic Type 47 timeline in a quota county with no protests often runs a few months from signed purchase agreement to license issuance; add real time for escrow notice periods, ABC review, and local zoning approval, and a protested application or a contested conditional use permit hearing can add months more. Non-quota original applications tend to move faster because there's no seller, no escrow, and no purchase price negotiation, but they still depend on ABC's current processing volume and any local hearing requirements. Budget line items to nail down early: the license cost itself (state fee or market transfer price), escrow and broker or attorney fees if buying a transfer, local zoning/conditional use permit fees, RBS training costs for staff, and ABC's transfer or original issuance fees. None of these numbers are fixed nationally; confirm every figure with your state ABC authority and local planning department before you sign a lease around a specific opening date. This is exactly the kind of multi-variable, state-specific timeline problem where a structured plan pays for itself. If you want a state-by-state license roadmap built around your actual opening date, LiquorReady's $199 one-time State Liquor License Roadmap walks through the sequence for your specific state and license type; start at /license-roadmap-builder. Nothing here is legal advice, and we're not a broker, so always confirm final numbers with your state ABC before you commit funds.
Where to go for official rules and current fees
Always check the primary source before budgeting or signing anything. California's ABC publishes its license type descriptions and current fee schedules directly, and that page (not a broker's estimate) is the one to trust for the exact dollar figures [1] [2]. Florida's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco does the same for quota license counts and SFS license rules [6]. Every other state has an equivalent agency, usually called an Alcoholic Beverage Control board, commission, or division, and its official site is always the first stop, not a forum post or a broker's marketing page. If your business will touch manufacturing, importing, or wholesale distribution at any point, add TTB's permit pages to your research list too, since that's a separate federal layer on top of whatever your state requires . One last practical point: license rules and fees change. A number that was accurate last year may not be this year, especially quota counts as counties grow and fee schedules as states adjust for inflation or budget needs. Re-check the official source close to your actual application date, more than when you start planning.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a liquor license?
It depends entirely on your state, county, and license type. In a non-quota area you might pay a few hundred dollars in state fees; in a quota county you may need to buy an existing license on the private market for anywhere from tens of thousands to well over a million dollars. Confirm current fees and quota status with your state ABC authority before budgeting.
How do I get a bartending license?
Most states don't require a formal "bartending license," but many require Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) or alcohol server certification through a state-approved course, often within 60 days of hire. California mandates RBS training under state law [4]. A few states, like Utah, require an actual server permit. Check your state ABC's server training requirements directly.
How can I get a liquor license?
Identify the correct license type for your business (restaurant, bar, brewery, etc.), confirm whether your county is at quota, and either apply directly to your state ABC (non-quota) or buy an existing license through an escrow-based transfer (quota county). You'll also need local zoning approval, a signed lease, and personal qualification paperwork for all owners.
How do I get a liquor license?
Start with your state's Alcoholic Beverage Control agency to confirm the right license category and whether your county has open (non-quota) licenses available. File the application with personal history disclosures, fingerprints, premises diagrams, and lease proof, or begin an escrow-based transfer if your county is at quota. Expect local zoning approval to run in parallel.
How do I obtain a liquor license?
You obtain it by applying through your state's ABC agency (if licenses are still available in your county) or by purchasing an existing license from a current holder through an escrow transfer process (if your county has hit its quota cap). Both paths require ABC approval, background checks on owners, and usually local zoning sign-off.
Can anyone take the bar exam?
Generally yes, if you meet a state's bar admission eligibility, typically graduating from an ABA-accredited law school or completing an approved alternative path, plus passing a character and fitness review. This is a legal-profession exam and has no connection to alcohol or liquor licensing; check your state bar's own admission page for exact requirements.
How do I obtain a liquor licence (UK/international spelling)?
In the US, the process runs through your state's Alcoholic Beverage Control agency regardless of spelling preference. Outside the US, alcohol licensing is handled by national or local licensing authorities with entirely different rules; a UK premises license, for example, is granted by the local council, not a state ABC agency, so check your specific country's licensing authority.
How much is a liquor license in Florida?
Florida quota liquor licenses are capped by county population and priced by the private market when a county is at quota, ranging from tens of thousands of dollars in smaller counties to hundreds of thousands in dense urban counties. Many restaurants instead use Florida's SFS (special food service) license, which avoids the quota system for qualifying eating establishments [7].
How much is a liquor licence in Florida (alternate spelling)?
Same answer regardless of spelling: cost depends on whether you need a capped quota license (market-priced, can run into six figures in busy counties) or qualify for Florida's SFS special food service license, which has its own state fee schedule and isn't subject to the county quota. Confirm current numbers with Florida's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco.
Can you serve alcohol without a liquor license?
No. Selling alcohol to the public without a valid license is illegal in every US state and typically a criminal, more than civil, violation. Narrow exceptions exist for certain private events, some nonprofit one-day permits, and BYOB setups where the business isn't selling the alcohol. A restaurant or bar planning to sell drinks regularly needs an actual license.
What's the difference between a Type 47 and a Type 48 in California?
A Type 47 is for bona fide eating places, restaurants with a real kitchen and food service, selling beer, wine, and spirits alongside meals. A Type 48 is for public premises like bars and nightclubs where food service isn't required and minors generally aren't allowed on premises. The two have separate quota pools and eligibility standards under California ABC rules [1].
How long does it take to get a Type 47 license?
A clean, unprotested transfer in a quota county commonly takes a few months from signed purchase agreement to issuance, once escrow, ABC review, and local zoning approval are done. Contested applications, or non-quota originals needing a local conditional use permit hearing, can take considerably longer. Build in buffer time before committing to a fixed opening date.
Do I need RBS certification even if I already have a Type 47 license?
Yes. The Type 47 license belongs to the business; Responsible Beverage Service certification is a separate, individual requirement for servers and their managers under California law, with completion generally required within 60 days of the employee's start date [4]. Having the business license doesn't exempt staff from the individual training and exam requirement.
Sources
- California ABC, License Types: Definition and scope of the Type 47 on-sale general eating place license, food service requirements, and unlicensed sale penalties
- California ABC, License Fees Schedule: Original license fees and transfer fee structure for California ABC licenses
- California Legislative Information, Business and Professions Code Section 23817: Population-based quota formula limiting on-sale general licenses per county
- California ABC, Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) Training Program: California's RBS training and certification requirement for alcohol servers within 60 days of hire
- Online Sunshine, Florida Statutes Section 561.20: Florida quota license cap based on county population
- Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco: Florida SFS special food service license rules for restaurants selling beer wine and liquor without a quota license