Buying a bar in South Florida

• A liquor license (or the right license for what the bar serves) in good standing, with no open cases against it.
• Pour cost (what the liquor in a drink costs, as a share of its price) and inventory checked at least weekly, with a point-of-sale system that ties every drink to a bartender.
• A bar manager who handles staff, schedules and ordering, so the business doesn't depend on the owner being there every night.
• Real weeknight business, not only Friday and Saturday.
• A lease that outlasts your loan, and zoning that allows the hours you need.
• Good relations with the neighbors and local police: few noise complaints and few late-night calls.
• No history of selling to minors.
• Food, events or entertainment that bring in more than one crowd.

• The license itself. Look it up on DBPR's site and confirm its type, county and any pending cases.
• Who holds it. The license may belong to a different company than the bar, or be pledged to a lender. Make sure it's part of the sale and free of liens.
• Purchases against sales. Compare what the bar buys from distributors with the sales it reports. A big gap can mean theft, free drinks or unreported cash.
• The seller's taxes. Buying more than half of a business or its assets can make you liable for the seller's unpaid state taxes (section 213.758). Get a certificate of compliance from the Department of Revenue first.
• Liability. Florida's dram shop law generally protects a bar from liability for what a customer of legal drinking age does after drinking (section 768.125). The exceptions: willfully serving someone under 21, or knowingly serving someone habitually addicted to alcohol. Get insurance quotes early.
• Staff training. Under Florida's Responsible Vendor Act, a bar that qualifies generally keeps its license if a trained employee sells to someone under 21 without the owner's knowledge (sections 561.705 and 561.706). Ask whether this bar qualifies.

• How long have your bar manager and lead bartenders been with you?
• How do you keep track of pour cost and inventory, and how often do you count?
• Is the liquor license in the name of the company I'd be buying, and has it ever had a violation?
• Which nights carry the week, and what have you tried on the slow ones?
• How do you get along with the neighbors and the local police?
• What do you pay for liquor liability insurance, and has the bar ever had a claim?
• How much time is left on the lease, and what hours are you allowed to stay open?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.