PermitsPros Call (888) 907-9511
California ABC · Liquor Licenses

A liquor license is a permit. We run it like one.

A California ABC application is forms, notices, local approvals, and a long state review — the same discipline as a building permit, with two agencies instead of one. We prepare and file the application package, coordinate the local side, and track every step to issuance.

Get a written quote Talk to us first

What we handle

  • New ABC applications — Type 20 (off-sale beer & wine, markets and stores), Type 41 (on-sale beer & wine, restaurants), Type 47 (on-sale general, restaurants), Type 48 (on-sale general, bars), and other retail types scoped in the quote
  • License transfers — person-to-person and premises-to-premises transfer paperwork, coordinated with the escrow the ABC requires
  • The local side — zoning verification for the premises, and conditional use permit coordination when your city requires one before (or alongside) the ABC filing
  • The step-by-step package — ABC forms assembled in order, premises diagram coordination, public-notice posting tracked, fingerprint appointments for the applicants scheduled into the sequence
  • Tracking to issuance — ABC district-office review, the public protest window, and any conditions, with every movement on your board and every agency question answered within one business day
Written quote before work begins Agency questions answered — 1 business day ABC + city fees at cost — paid by you to the agency

How it works

  1. Tell us the address and the concept. Restaurant, bar, market, hotel lounge — and whether you're applying new or transferring an existing license. We confirm the premises' zoning position first, because a license the city won't allow is the most expensive kind.
  2. Get a written quote. The license path, the local approvals it needs, the realistic timeline range, and one price — in writing before work begins.
  3. We build and file the package. ABC application forms, local zoning verification, CUP coordination where required, escrow and notice steps sequenced so nothing waits on a missing signature.
  4. We track it to the license. ABC review, protest period, conditions of issuance — status on your board the whole way, alongside the building and fire permits for the same project.

Straight answers, up front

The ABC decides who gets a license, on the ABC's timeline — new applications commonly run several months, and local conditional-use approval can add to that. We are expediters: we prepare, file, coordinate, and track. We are not attorneys, we don't sell licenses, and nobody honest can promise issuance or a date. What we control — package completeness, filing speed, local coordination, and one-business-day responses to agency questions — is exactly what we commit to, in the written quote.

Questions

Type 41 or Type 47 — what's the difference for a restaurant?

Type 41 covers beer and wine for on-premises consumption at a bona fide eating place. Type 47 adds distilled spirits — a full bar program inside the restaurant. Type 47s are drawn from a county quota and often change hands on the open market at market prices; Type 41s are applied for directly with the ABC. Your quote lays out which path fits your concept and what each costs in agency fees.License market prices are set by sellers, not by us — we never mark them up and never hold your funds; transfers run through a licensed escrow.

Do I need a conditional use permit first?

Depends on the city and the address — many California cities require a CUP (and some a public-convenience-or-necessity finding) for alcohol sales, especially for off-sale licenses and locations near schools or residences. That's why step one is a zoning check on the actual parcel: if a CUP is in your path, we scope it into the same program instead of letting it ambush you mid-review.See Entitlements — CUPs are a service of their own, and they run on the city's clock.

How long until I can pour?

Plan on months, not weeks: ABC investigation and the public protest window set the floor, and a local CUP can add a hearing cycle on top. Some applicants qualify for an interim retail permit while the transfer completes — if that's available for your situation, your quote says so. What we won't do is quote you an opening date the ABC hasn't agreed to.Your build-out permits (TI, fire, health) can run in parallel — see Restaurants — so the license is the last thing you're waiting on, not the first.

What does it cost?

Our expediting is quote-based — one written number before work begins. ABC application fees, city fees, fingerprint and escrow charges are separate, published by the agencies, and paid by you directly. If a license itself is being purchased in a transfer, that price is between you and the seller, handled in escrow.No hourly billing, no surprise add-ons. The fee structure is in the quote.

Start with the address

Tell us the premises and the concept. We'll come back with the license path, the local approvals in the way, the timeline range, and one written price.

Get a written quote — order online

Or call (888) 907-9511. Related: Entitlements · Restaurants · Due Diligence Report