I am looking to start up a brewery with homebrewing and winemaking supplies in Ohio and wanting some tips or advice to help put my business adventure in motion. My wife has a MBA and is putting the business plan together. My 1st task is to find information on requirements for permits and licensing. I am not exactly sure where to start. Please help. Cheers!
Starting a business
- Thread starter BHBC2020
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
sandyeggoxj
Well-Known Member
I'd call city hall or the county and see what kind of zoning and permits and such. Just ask enough people and you'll get an answer.
Jacob_Marley
Well-Known Member
A while back someone had a similar question about starting a nanobrewery.
The following is the text of my answer to that person. I decided just to copy and paste it here rather than posting the link to that old thread as I usually do.
That person who I originally wrote this for was from Maryland ... I'm from Michigan ... you're from Ohio.
My experience is based on Michigan's requirements.
In any regard, you'd have to double check all of it ... but this may give you some idea of what's involved ... at least here in Michigan.
SO ... you'll obviously need to find Ohio's version of all of this. Start with a call to your States Liquor Licensing department (whatever you call it there) and get as much out of them on the phone as you possibly can. Call in the early morning when they are not likely to be as busy. Be nice. Do your research *in advance* and have your questions all written down - then call. This is the fastest way to get up to speed.
From my post in 2012 ...
------------------------------------------------
For the licensing and permits side of costs ...
Not sure about Maryland ... but here in Michigan it would look like this ...
Even though you might only be running 6 barrels (or whatnot) as a nanobrewery, under Michigan law you’d be a “Microbrewery” ... which is for up to 30,000 gallons of production per year.
The regulatory body at the State level, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (LCC), is what provides the retail/wholesale license, and as far as production the Federal government requires a TTB License (Tax & Trade Bureau).
The background check requires fingerprinting (and costs) and be submitted to the LCC.
(If the local municipality requires local police input, then that may also be required.)
If the LCC’s investigator assigned to your case finds out that the municipality requires it ... then both the Health Department (usually from the County) and often the local Building department have to sign off on the building and your setup and provide that to the LCC.
Changes or modifications from the Health Department and the Building Department approvals add up to more costs ... sometimes significant costs ... and sometimes modifications (costs) that seem to be quite arbitrary depending on which Health Department representative and Building Department rep’s little fiefdom you’ve landed in.
Oh, and in Michigan you actually have to have a Food Service License with an associated Food Handler Certification (and pay for any associated course and textbook).
Locally the City Council might be involved ... who may arbitrarily treat your request as if they think they are reviewing for a Class C (because you have the ability to sell samples in Michigan due to recently loosened regulations allowing you to actually “sell samples” ... btw: a loophole big enough to drive a beer truck through) and can be very sticky about things like whether your operations would cause them to exceed the number of alcohol sellers they allow in the municipality etc. Zoning of course also affects all this.
You must apply for the required permits from the Michigan State Department of Agriculture.
Then when ALL of the reports, paperwork, documentation, fees and approvals are in the hands of the Liquor Control Commission, only THEN will they process your Application for License.
Other assorted items in Michigan...
Can not be w/in 500 feet or church or school without special permission
Criminal background checks ... alcohol records are not good ... other than that, it is somewhat arbitrary ... offense, how long ago, and whether on parole/probation, total offenses on record etc are all factors.
Btw, any Principal of 10% or more must be fingerprinted.
But back to your question about COSTS ... of course, pretty much all of the above have associated fees and costs ...
I don’t have a list of what the exact fees and costs are in specific, but the above is the framework that creates your fees, costs for licensure for a Microbrewery (or "Small Winemaker") in Michigan in any case.
Maryland could be similar.
The following is the text of my answer to that person. I decided just to copy and paste it here rather than posting the link to that old thread as I usually do.
That person who I originally wrote this for was from Maryland ... I'm from Michigan ... you're from Ohio.
My experience is based on Michigan's requirements.
In any regard, you'd have to double check all of it ... but this may give you some idea of what's involved ... at least here in Michigan.
SO ... you'll obviously need to find Ohio's version of all of this. Start with a call to your States Liquor Licensing department (whatever you call it there) and get as much out of them on the phone as you possibly can. Call in the early morning when they are not likely to be as busy. Be nice. Do your research *in advance* and have your questions all written down - then call. This is the fastest way to get up to speed.
From my post in 2012 ...
------------------------------------------------
For the licensing and permits side of costs ...
Not sure about Maryland ... but here in Michigan it would look like this ...
Even though you might only be running 6 barrels (or whatnot) as a nanobrewery, under Michigan law you’d be a “Microbrewery” ... which is for up to 30,000 gallons of production per year.
The regulatory body at the State level, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (LCC), is what provides the retail/wholesale license, and as far as production the Federal government requires a TTB License (Tax & Trade Bureau).
The background check requires fingerprinting (and costs) and be submitted to the LCC.
(If the local municipality requires local police input, then that may also be required.)
If the LCC’s investigator assigned to your case finds out that the municipality requires it ... then both the Health Department (usually from the County) and often the local Building department have to sign off on the building and your setup and provide that to the LCC.
Changes or modifications from the Health Department and the Building Department approvals add up to more costs ... sometimes significant costs ... and sometimes modifications (costs) that seem to be quite arbitrary depending on which Health Department representative and Building Department rep’s little fiefdom you’ve landed in.
Oh, and in Michigan you actually have to have a Food Service License with an associated Food Handler Certification (and pay for any associated course and textbook).
Locally the City Council might be involved ... who may arbitrarily treat your request as if they think they are reviewing for a Class C (because you have the ability to sell samples in Michigan due to recently loosened regulations allowing you to actually “sell samples” ... btw: a loophole big enough to drive a beer truck through) and can be very sticky about things like whether your operations would cause them to exceed the number of alcohol sellers they allow in the municipality etc. Zoning of course also affects all this.
You must apply for the required permits from the Michigan State Department of Agriculture.
Then when ALL of the reports, paperwork, documentation, fees and approvals are in the hands of the Liquor Control Commission, only THEN will they process your Application for License.
Other assorted items in Michigan...
Can not be w/in 500 feet or church or school without special permission
Criminal background checks ... alcohol records are not good ... other than that, it is somewhat arbitrary ... offense, how long ago, and whether on parole/probation, total offenses on record etc are all factors.
Btw, any Principal of 10% or more must be fingerprinted.
But back to your question about COSTS ... of course, pretty much all of the above have associated fees and costs ...
I don’t have a list of what the exact fees and costs are in specific, but the above is the framework that creates your fees, costs for licensure for a Microbrewery (or "Small Winemaker") in Michigan in any case.
Maryland could be similar.
