Neighborhood orgs

Our location here on Mission Street puts us very much on the cusp of two important San Francisco neighborhoods-- No doubt we are in SoMa (South of Market) by the definition of the term, but we also associate with the Central Market (also called Mid Market) 'hood, due to our proximity to the Civic Center and Theatre district (Warfield, Orpheum, etc). We just barely sneak into the official SFRA (San Francisco Redevelopment Area) survey area called "South of Market", which enables us to apply for city-backed grant programs for facade improvements and construction loans, but we are across the street from several historic (pre-earthquake!) buildings that are certainly associated with the historic Central Market zone.

Many neighborhood orgs have come to be in an effort to support positive development in the neighborhood. Recently I was contacted by LiveSOMA.com and will definitely become an active member of their effort to unite local residents and support the community through meetings, events, etc. In addition to LiveSOMA, there are myriad other groups going to similar efforts, both publicly and privately run:

http://www.sfredevelopment.org/
http://www.bettermarketstreetsf.org/
http://www.westernsoma.com/

In addition, there are many smaller groups that focus even more narrowly on individual projects such as park clean up, making 6th Street a safer place, etc.

We hope to be an important part of the overall process to help revitalize this historic neighborhood of San Francisco (however you want to classify it!) with the mantra, "A rising tide lifts all boats".... More to come on this subject for sure.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Liquor Licenses

Ok, maybe not EVERYTHING but here are a few key points:

There are many types of alcoholic beverage licenses available to would-be bar, restaurant, nightclub, brewery, winery, vineyard and retail store owners. The first differentiator is whether you plan to offer "on sale" or "off sale" consumption of booze. As the name implies, "off sale" means your customers will be consuming the beverage off premises-- This would be appropriate for wine stores, bodegas, BevMo, etc. On the other hand (and more relevant to this blog), "on sale" implies that customers will be drinking at/on your bar, restaurant, patio, dance floor, etc. Beyond these there are one-time catering permits, wholesale distributor licenses, importers, wine makers, wine warehouses, etc etc etc.

Once you've decided to serve patrons booze on the premises, you have a choice of obtaining a "general" license which enables you to offer distilled spirits (liquor), wine and beer OR limit the offerings to solely wine and beer. The governing body behind licenses is the Alcohol and Beverage Control ("ABC") and they have designated these types of licenses the Type 47 and Type 41, respectively. For a full list of licenses, look here.

All things being equal, most establishments would likely opt to offer liquor, beer and wine to their thirsty patrons. But of course its never that easy.... In San Francisco, both Type 41 and 47 licenses require several hundred dollars in fees, many many pages of paperwork, a mailing to all residents within 500' of your establishment, and at least 3-6 months of patience. However, upgrading to a full liquor license adds a whole new dimension to the game: the total number of type 47 licenses is limited based on the population of the county you do business in. Since the County of San Francisco is already saturated with licenses, any new license must taken over and/or purchased from an existing business. Average cost: ~$100,000. Suddenly not such a simple decision!

This topic to be continued....