On May 15, 2024, I went to a Full Board meeting of the New York State Liquor Authority for a hearing on one of my client’s applications to open a liquor store. Before the meeting started the Chair of the Liquor Authority, Lily Fan, made a few announcements.
One of them really got my attention. It involved the Liquor Authority’s efforts to get through a large backlog of overdue license renewal notices. Normally, those notices are sent to owners and operators about 90 days before their license is set to expire, so that they have plenty of time to do the things they need to do to submit their renewal paperwork in time. And this is critical, because you cannot file for your renewal without a copy of that notice.
However, what has been happening for the past several months is that the Liquor Authority is not sending the renewal notices until as late as 2 to 3 weeks before the license expires. You can easily imagine the stress, confusion, and panic that this is causing license holders.
I’ve represented numerous clients in connection with their renewal applications lately, and in many cases the very first thing I have had to do for them is to contact the Liquor Authority in order to get a copy of their renewal notice because it had not been sent to them. When the client’s premises is in New York City, this entire situation becomes much worse because the renewal rules in the
city require that the licensee give the local community board at least thirty (30) days advance notice before it can file its renewal application.
Chair Fan announced at the meeting that the Liquor Authority’s solution to the problem is to: (a) allow licensees to go onto its website, find their license renewal information in a spreadsheet file or .pdf document, and (b) create and download their own renewal notice.
This is just a bad idea. Now, I appreciate from a professional point of view that the Liquor Authority is trying to do the right thing, and that this is what they think is a good way to solve the problem of their current inability to process renewal notices on time.
But this is bad customer service, and will in some cases make things worse for business owners. Here is why:
• Liquor license holders have enough to do and to worry about trying to survive and run their business in New York these days. The last thing they need is to have to do the Liquor Authority’s paperwork for them. It’s not fair and it’s not right.
• When an owner goes online and makes their own renewal form and makes a mistake, the renewal is going to be denied or at least delayed. But they will not know any of this until they send in their paperwork and by then it will be too late to do anything about it.
• This is the wrong answer to the problem. Turning owners and operators into clerks for the Liquor Authority is not a good way to run a large and important government agency. Focusing on doing their work better, with better processes and technology, and with better employee staffing and training, is the right solution for this problem and for many of the other issues facing the Liquor Authority these days.
So, what I’m planning to do for my clients who have renewals but no renewal notices is to go onto the Liquor Authority website and create their renewal notice for them. It is going to be an added service that I will provide, but I will not raise my fees for this additional work. It’s the right thing to do, and the right way to provide good service to my clients.
If you or someone you know needs help with a liquor license renewal or would like to talk about a different liquor license issue in New York, please reach out to me at 631-624-9007, or at david@sydangroup.com.