First, I go to the WSLCB website to see if I can find any information. After rooting around for a bit, I come up with a document that lists the license types available. The document states that a domestic winery license allows up to two additional locations as a privilege of the winery’s license. Cool! No fee, no additional license. Sound too good to be true, right? So I call the WSLCB just to double check. I explain my client’s situation and am told, “No you don’t need an additional liquor license as the additional tasting room is a privilege that comes with the winery license”. Great! This is easy, I tell my client. But not so fast…. my client notices a license on the wall of the tasting room next door to his new location and asks… why don’t we have one of those? So he talks to the tasting room owners and gets the phone number of the WSLCB agent who did their final site inspection and gives it to me.
I called the agent (who was very helpful and in the end saved the day!) and he informed me that we did indeed need a license and that we get it from Business Licensing Services. It is called an “Additional Location” license and that the WSLCB will be notified by business licensing when we get it. After that, our final inspection can be scheduled. Hmmm…. OK. I log onto the Business Licensing Service’s website and fill out the license application, easy peasy.
A few weeks go by and the license comes in the mail but no phone call from the WSLCB. So I contact them and they have nothing from Business Licensing yet. I contact Business Licensing and they tell me that I needed to apply for a liquor license at the additional location as well. Really? Argh!!! Back to the Business Licensing website to get this figured out.
To make a long, long story short. Despite what you read and are told by the WSLCB, Yes, you DO need another liquor license for your additional tasting room. And it is a “Non-Retail” liquor license (even though it is retail, yeah figure that one out). Oh, and another thing to know that they don’t tell you until after the fact, is that there is a two week waiting period before you can do your final inspection, and until you get that inspection don’t even think about having any wine on the premises.
Now I ask, how simple would it be just to have clear, easy to follow directions on the WSLCB website? So when people call, they are directed to a document that can guide them through the process step by step? Sometimes I just don’t know what our tax dollars are being used for, except to maybe give business owners a headache. That’s my rant. Hope it helps you navigate this murky licensing process. (Or just hire me and I can do it for you)
With that said, kudos to the kind WSLCB enforcement agent who managed to speed up the process for my client. Our tax dollars are well spent on your salary, thank you!