ST. LOUIS — There's a push to change how businesses in St. Louis can apply for a liquor license and the proposal involves a lot less time and red tape.
On Friday morning, Board Bill 60 was presented by Alderman Bret Narayan and assigned to the Special Committee on Reducing Red Tape.
The bill is designed to make the process for obtaining a liquor license less cumbersome for restaurant owners by eliminating the plat and petition process for an initial liquor license application.
This comes after more than a dozen business owners sent a letter to city leaders in April asking for change.
Danni Eickenhorst owns two restaurants including The Fountain on Locust.
She has been one of the leaders behind this effort, pushing for an easier process since liquor sales are about 25% of its revenue.
"They do that to protect residents of the city from bad actors and bad businesses, but there should be a middle ground for investment in the city of St. Louis. I think the difficult process has redirected a lot of businesses outside of the city," Eickenhorst said.
Eickenhorst is opening up two other locations and she said it took her six months to get those liquor licenses.
"It also takes 40 to 60 hours of business owners' time to get a liquor license outside. A lot of the city systems and processes are outdated, they need investment and need to be updated," Eickenhorst said.
Here are some of the concerns owners have pointed out:
- Understaffed department
- Difficulty in application process – Owners say they have to walk throughout the building, across the street, and the multiple departments/buildings downtown to put in the application
- Public input process: Every business needs public input, owners say it takes a minimum of 15-30 hours per owner to find those people to get those signatures
- Upon death of business owner, liquor license is terminated until their survivors can go through the currently nine month process to reinstate it with a new licensee attached
- License does not transfer with sale and cannot be assigned, even temporarily to help facilitate the sale
Christina Robles, the owner of Padrino's on South Grand, said she waited for five months and noted that time is money.
"It did delay my opening and I said finally we got to open up, we have to pay bills and rent," Robles said.
Opening in 2021, she spent two weeks without alcohol.
"People come into a Mexican restaurant, they expect margaritas, tequila, beer. It made a significant difference," she said.
She also opened another restaurant in Brentwood called Sal y Limon and said the process there took less than a month.
Both owners are optimistic hearing the news of the bill and Eickenhorst hopes this can attract even more owners.
"I think reevaluating our processes and what's reasonable is what's required us right now to transform and revive the City of St. Louis," Eickenhorst added.
The Special Committee on Red Tape will set a hearing date to discuss the bill further and to hear from members of the public.
No date has been set yet.