What Signage a TABC Application and an Operating Permit Require
There are two kinds of TABC signage, and they belong to two different stages. One announces that an application is pending and runs before the permit…
TABC guides
There are two kinds of TABC signage, and they belong to two different stages. One announces that an application is pending and runs before the permit…
Defending a TABC violation at the State Office of Administrative Hearings is closer to defending a civil lawsuit than to filling out a form, and applicants…
For a proposed alcohol location in an unincorporated, county-governed area, the body that adopts distance ordinances is the county commissioners court, and it is also the…
Sales to minors are among the violations TABC pursues most actively, including through undercover operations where a minor attempts a purchase at a licensed business. Because…
Whether an alcohol location in Texas has to keep its distance from a school turns first on a question that has nothing to do with the…
Most renewal holds have nothing to do with how the bar or store is run day to day. They come from something left unattended over the…
A city clerk refuses to certify an application, pointing to an ordinance and a reading of the Code they are sure is right. The applicant assumes…
TABC consequences run along a spectrum: a monetary penalty at one end, suspension of the permit in the middle, cancellation at the far end. Where a…
For a church, the distance to an alcohol location is measured from front door to front door along the street fronts. For a school, it is…
Selling to a minor can cost a permit. So can a missing sign or a late excise tax report. The conduct that puts a TABC license…
A business owner who finds a promising location in a dry area sometimes assumes the status is fixed, a permanent feature of the place. It is…
The red "51%" sign at the door of some Texas businesses is not decoration and not a choice the owner makes for style. It is a…
It is natural to assume the Tied House law is about ownership: don't own a piece of two tiers, and you are clear. Ownership is the…
For years, a restaurant that served alcohol had to watch a single number: keep alcohol at or below a set share of total sales, or risk…
The phrase "Tied House violation" sounds like something a bad actor does on purpose, scheming to wire a brewery to a bar for an unfair edge.…
Two bars in different parts of Texas hold the same Mixed Beverage Permit. One can obtain late hours authorization and serve until 2:00 a.m.; the other…
People outside Texas are often surprised to learn that "alcohol is legal in Texas" is too blunt to be useful. Texas is a patchwork. Through local…
Most people describe the three-tier system as "how alcohol is sold in Texas," which is true and also misses the point. The system is not just…
Owners who licensed a business years ago remember paper packets, mailed forms, and trips to a local office. Today most of that runs through AIMS, the…
There is a TABC reference that lists wet and dry status across Texas, and it is genuinely useful. It is also frequently treated as the final…
An owner reads that their restaurant "needs an FB" and files it away as one more form in the stack, somewhere between the health permit and…
The concept on the napkin is simple: brew the beer on site, serve it alongside a full menu, maybe pour some guest taps and a few…
Two restaurants apply for the same kind of permit. One is told it must post a conduct surety bond before the permit issues; the other is…
An entrepreneur with a winery wants to open a wine bar. A restaurant group eyes a stake in a distributor. The moment a person holds interests…
There is a comforting assumption that runs underneath a lot of business planning: if something is wrong, it can be fixed later. With Tied House problems,…