Liquor — California
California runs an hybrid system. A restaurant license here typically takes 3–9 months. The quota math: General (spirits) licenses capped by county population: 1 on-sale general license per 2,000 residents and 1 off-sale general per 2,500 (Bus. & Prof. Code quota); new general licenses released only through the ABC annual priority drawing. Beer & wine licenses (Types 41/42) have NO county quota..
| License | Covers |
|---|---|
| Type 47 On-Sale General Eating Place | Full liquor |
| Type 48 On-Sale General Public Premises (bar) | Full liquor |
| Type 41 On-Sale Beer & Wine Eating Place | Beer & wine |
State fee: see note — No single state fee: Type 47 annual fee is tiered by city population ($985-$1,595 on the ABC annual fee schedule); a new general license won in the priority drawing carries a separate original-issuance fee (compiled 2026 sources report ~$19,840) - very different from the ~$1,565 transfer filing route. Verify the current ABC fee schedule for the exact license and city tier..
Open-market price (quota): $10,000–$185,000 on the open market (secondary sources, dated — Market/secondary (broker/compiled reports, not an official source): secondary-market Type 47/48 prices reported from ~$10,000 in low-demand counties to $185,000 or more in high-demand counties; Los Angeles Type 47 commonly reported $50,000-$150,000+. Price is county-specific.).
The exception: Type 41 On-Sale Beer & Wine Eating Place (non-quota alternative) — Beer and wine only; bona fide eating place. No county quota and no priority drawing, though over-concentration / public-convenience-or-necessity review can still apply. Run your floor plan and menu split through the Liquor Path Checker before you shop for a quota license.
3–9 months — ABC's own processing benchmark is roughly 55-90 days for an uncontested application and no transfer can close in under 30 days; local zoning / Conditional Use Permit processes (notably Los Angeles) commonly stretch full-liquor timelines to 6-12 months.. At typical rents, every month of that clock is dead money: the Wait-vs-Burn visualizer inside the checker turns your rent × this timeline into the dollar figure.
Temporary permit: available — a transferred license can often pour during processing; ask by name.
Transfers: Interim/temporary retail permit may be available while an application or transfer is pending. General licenses transfer person-to-person and place-to-place within the county (intercounty transfers only through the drawing/transfer rules) through escrow and ABC approval.
Don't read the table — run your verdict. Your sq ft, seats and food split decide exception eligibility — the checker does that math.
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Included in the $49 Opening Pack: the filled templates, trackers, calendars and worksheets for this door — built from the same dated datasets as the free checker above.
Typically 3–9 months for a restaurant, per the dated sources on this page. Transfers and protests run longer.
The state fee is in the note above. In quota territory the real price is the open-market range on this page — labeled secondary, because no official price exists.
Sources: California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) - annual fee schedule and licensing guidance. This row was verified against the primary source named below.. Dataset checked October 23, 2026. Where a fee or rule is set by a county or city, this page says so instead of guessing a number.