Florida Liquor License Codes Explained

Read a code in two halves. The number says which beverages are covered. The letters say how they may be sold.

So a 2COP is a beer-and-wine license for a bar or restaurant, a 3PS is a full liquor package store license in a county of more than 100,000 people, and a 4COP SFS is a full liquor restaurant license that was issued under the special food service rules instead of the quota.

The 3PS and 4COP families are quota licenses. Under s. 561.20(1), Florida Statutes, the Division may issue only one full liquor license for every 7,500 residents of a county, and a new license is created only when the state's official population estimate shows the county has grown by another 7,500 people. That cap is what gives an existing 4COP or 3PS a resale value, and why the price in Miami-Dade or Orange County bears no relation to the price in a rural county.

There are only two ways to get one:

1. Buy an existing license from its holder and transfer it. This is most of what we do; see buying a license.
2. Enter the drawing. When new licenses become available, the Division publishes notice in the Florida Administrative Register and runs what s. 561.19 calls a "double random selection by public drawing." Entry costs a $100 filing fee, one entry per person or company per county. Those selected have 45 days from the mailed notice to file a full application. A newly issued quota license also carries a one-time $10,750 fee, known in the trade as the Hughes Act fee, which funds alcohol and drug abuse programs.

The drawing runs on an annual cycle; the current entry window and how to prepare an entry are on our lottery page and in the lottery wizard.

Quota licenses have no food requirement and are the only retail licenses that can be moved and sold. Every other full liquor license on this page is a special license: it exists because the business qualifies for it, and it stays with that business and, usually, that address.

The most-asked question we get about codes is some version of "is an SRX the same as an SFS?" The short answer is that both are the special restaurant license that lets a qualifying restaurant serve liquor without buying a quota license. The long answer explains the two names.

Today: 4COP SFS, Special Food Service

Under s. 561.20(2)(a)4, Florida Statutes, a restaurant qualifies if it:

• has at least 2,000 square feet of service area,
• is equipped to serve meals to 120 persons at one time, with at least 120 physical seats available during operating hours,
• holds itself out as a restaurant, and
• derives at least 51 percent of gross food and beverage revenue from food and non-alcoholic beverages, measured over the first 120 days of operation and every 12 months after that.

An SFS licensee may sell by the drink and, since 2021, sealed containers to go with a food order. It may not operate as a package store, may not sell liquor after food service has ended for the day, and the license cannot be moved to a new address. Because it is issued rather than bought, it costs the state fee only, which is why it is the route for most new full-service restaurants.

The 2023 change

Until mid-2023 the thresholds were 2,500 square feet and 150 persons. Chapter 2023-65, Laws of Florida, lowered them to 2,000 and 120, effective July 1, 2023. Restaurants that were too small under the old rule may qualify today. You will still find the old numbers on many websites and in older county material. Part 6 lists each county's figure, including the local special acts that differ from the statewide one.

Before: SR, usually written SRX

The Division's own license list still carries a series called SR, Special Restaurant, "issued pursuant to prior laws." In the trade they are usually called SRX, a name many brokers still use loosely for today's SFS licenses as well. They are no longer available to new applicants and pass only with a change of ownership of the same restaurant. Their privileges depend on when they were issued: licenses from before 1958 may sell sealed containers on or off the premises, later ones are on-premises only, and the minimum size and seating rules are whatever applied at the time and place of issue. If you are buying a restaurant that holds one, the Division has to be asked what conditions attach to that particular license.

So: SRX is the legacy license, SFS is the current one, and both are "special restaurant" licenses outside the quota. Our restaurant clients almost always end up with an SFS; the SRX questions come from buyers of older restaurants.

Section 561.20(2) exempts a list of business types from the quota. Each gets a full liquor license tied to its use. The ones we see most:

• Hotels and motels (S). At least 100 guest rooms, or 80 in smaller counties, with lower figures in a few counties and cities under special acts; each county's figure is in Part 6. Issued only to the owner or lessee and cannot move.
• Historic hotels (SH). Fewer than 100 rooms in a structure that meets the statute's definition of historic, earning at least 51 percent of gross revenue from room rentals. A further variant (SHQM) exists for historic hotels in qualifying municipalities.
• Condominium accommodations. At least 100 units wholly rentable to transients, or 50 in Miami-Dade, with one local exception listed in Part 6.
• Caterers (13CT). Licensed by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, 51 percent food revenue at each event, no storage of alcohol between events.
• Private clubs (11C). Bona fide clubs, lodges and fraternal groups, plus golf clubs of at least 9 holes, tennis and racquetball clubs, and beach and cabana clubs. Members and their guests only, with limited public days for golf clubs.
• Venues. Bowling centers with 12 or more lanes, civic centers, sports arenas, performing arts centers (11PA), airports, specialty centers, and passenger vessels, aircraft and rail cars (SPX, X, IX) each have their own special license.

What they share: the license belongs to the qualifying business and premises. It is not an asset you can sell separately, which is the single biggest difference from a quota license.