Police caught massive pop-up nightclub the Brooklyn Mirage serving alcohol without a liquor license at its first event of the season…and authorities say the company’s latest irresponsible stunt could cost it the chance to ever serve booze again.

We wish we could warn all small businesses serving alcohol – like this popular nightclub – about the consequences of operating without a proper license. It’s just not worth losing your license, getting shut down, or worse. Stay compliant by determining exactly which licenses your business requires, and save time and stress by having all the filing done on your behalf. Cheers to that.

In a unanimous motion, North Olmsted City Council passes legislation requiring mobile food vendors to obtain multiple licenses in order to operate as they aim to better regulate the mobile food trend.

The intent of the law, as stated previously by Law Director Michael Gareau Jr….is not to be prohibitive in nature but to institute proactive measures to ensure regulatory consistency. Chapter 735, Food Trucks, of the city business regulation code has been created to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations.

It’s not as simple to sell food from a truck on the street as it used to be. There are health requirements. There are vehicle requirements. It’s also not simple to actually figure out what licenses are needed to start operating a food truck and then having to deal with local authorities who may not be willing or helpful.
Thank goodness for a website that figures out exactly what you need for you, and also for services that handle all the filing on your behalf. They make it easy for you to get your truck up, running, and serving.

Investigators from the DMV in Las Vegas paid some surprise visits to car dealers, auto body and repair shops that were doing business unlicensed, handing out 40 citations and shutting some shops down.

Compliance officers said this helps to eliminate businesses that are taking advantage of customers. “They’ll take your money, do shoddy work, then pack up and leave,” said DMV spokesperson, Kevin Malone…DMV compliance investigator…said in some cases, businesses fail to renew their license while others never attempt to obtain a license at all.

Random crackdowns and investigations happen. In this case, the fines went up to $1,500 which is not out of line with what we’ve seen in other areas. Some of the businesses were no doubt illegal, but it’s interesting to wonder how many were legitimate businesses that simply didn’t know what licenses and/or permits they needed and got caught up in the sweep. There’s no reason to operate so close to illegal territory.

Join us on Wednesday, June 1 at 1 PM for a special informational Webinar on The Agony of Licensing a New Business (and How to Relieve the Suffering)!

If you’re like most small business owners, figuring out which licenses & permits you need can cause serious stress. We hear you! Instead of wasting hours searching the web, going from site to site in frustration, or arguing with clueless local authorities, there are practical tricks you should know first.

On June 1, 2016, David Singer, an expert who has advised hundreds of entrepreneurs about licenses, permits, and tax registrations, will open up actual business license reports and discuss them in detail. He will explain how business owners find their license requirements, how they utilize the information, how they avoid pitfalls with their local authorities, and more.

The webinar will start at 1pm and will include an extensive Q&A session. If you have questions about licensing your new business that you’ve been dying to ask an expert, this is your chance.

You won’t want to miss this. Register HERE

Beaufort, SC City Council approved new rules that demand nonprofit organizations that compete with local businesses in their operations to register with the city and pay business license fees just like regular businesses.

“It’s protection for businesses to make sure they’re not getting subsidized competition, I think is the way to put it,” Mayor Billy Keyserling said Tuesday…The registration doesn’t mean all nonprofits will be charged a business license fee…The registration will allow the city to hold nonprofit organizations to the same operating standards as regular businesses, he said.

 

Whether running a small business or a nonprofit in Beaufort, the business license and tax permit requirements still need to be determined through research and acquired through filing. It’s based on things like exact location, type of operations, and size of the organization. And no matter what type of entity you manage, it will still be the same, burdensome process.

After mistakenly believing that more than one eating establishment in the same complex can own a liquor license, The Doughnut Hole is now pleading with the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission to grant second one to another Public Market store.

The Doughnut Hole’s owner has asked the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission for the right to expand its offerings to help offset high rent for the space…But there’s a problem: Public Market tenant Breezy Island Ice already has a liquor license, and under state regulations, only one business may license an indoor area.

Every state has its liquor license laws. Some have laws restricting the number of liquor licenses allowed to be issued per city/town/county based on population. New Jersey, for example, does this.

And Nebraska’s law is not to allow more than one store in an indoor complex to own a liquor license. Ownership checked to see if there were liquor licenses available and saw that there were, but didn’t realize that an obscure state regulation demanded that only one business per physical location can have a liquor license. The research experts at Business Licenses, LLC would have told them exactly that and would have saved them a lot of headache.