Alcoholic Beverage Distributor Qualification …

1 Department ofBusiness & Professional Regulation Alcoholic BeverageDistributorQualificationRequirem entsPursuant toFlorida StatutesSection ofAlcoholic Beverages & TobaccoNovember 2004 Division of Alcoholic Beverages and TobaccoDistrict Auditing OfficesPensacola4900 Bayou Blvd, Ste 210 Bayou Corporate CenterPensacola FL , Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton,WashingtonTallahassee1940 North Monroe StNorthwood CentreTallahassee FL , Calhoun, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson,Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Taylor,WakullaJacksonville7960 Arlington Expwy, Ste 601 Jacksonville FL , Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Gil-christ, Hamilton, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee,UnionOrlando400 West Robinson St, Rm 709 North Tower, Hurston BldgOrlando FL , Citrus, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Levy, Mar-ion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, VolusiaTampa1313 Tampa StPark Trammel Bldg, Ste 914 Tampa FL , Charlotte, Glades, Hardee, Hernando, High-lands, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas,Polk, SarasotaFort Lauderdale5080 Coconut Creek Pkwy, Ste BMargate FL , Collier, Hendry, Martin, Okeechobee, PalmBeach, St.

2 LucieMiami8685 NW 53rd Terr, Ste 100 Augusta BldgMiami FL , MonroeSection , Florida Qualifications for Distributor 's licenseshall be issued to or held by any person or business which does notmeet and maintain the following qualifications with respect to itswarehouse inventory and sales.(1) The Distributor must maintain warehouse space which is eitherowned or leased by the Distributor , or dedicated to the Distributor 'suse in a public warehouse, which is sufficient to store at one time:(a) An inventory of Alcoholic beverages which is equal to at least10 percent of the Distributor 's annual case sales to licensed vendorswithin this state or to licensed vendors within the malt beveragedistributor's exclusive sales territory; or(b) An inventory for which the cost of acquisition is not less than$100,000.

3 (2) The Distributor must maintain at all times, in a warehouse whichis either owned or leased by the Distributor or in public warehousespace dedicated to the Distributor 's use, an inventory of alcoholicbeverages:(a) Which consists of not less than 5 percent of the Distributor 'sannual sales to licensed vendors within this state or within the maltbeverage Distributor 's exclusive sales territory; or(b) For which the cost of acquisition is not less than $100,000. Theinventory required herein shall be owned by the Distributor , not heldon consignment, and not acquired pursuant to a prior agreement tosell it to a specific licensee or licensees.(c) For purposes of calculating inventory or percentage of annualsales as required by paragraphs (a) and (b), the calculation shallnot include private label inventory whose label is owned by a ven-dor.

4 (3) The Distributor must sell Alcoholic beverages to licensed ven-dors generally rather than a selected few licensed vendors. Forpurposes of this section, a Distributor shall be conclusively pre-sumed to be selling to licensed vendors generally, if:(a) The Distributor sells to at least 25 percent of the licensed ven-dors in the county wherein the Distributor 's warehouse is located orsells to at least 25 percent of the licensed vendors in the malt bev-erage Distributor 's exclusive sales territory; or(b) The Distributor 's total volume of sales to licensed vendors withinthe state or within the malt Beverage Distributor 's exclusive salesterritory during any ongoing 12-month period consists of at least 50percent of individual sales which are in quantities of 10 cases 6, ch.

5 BeveragesDistributor QualificationRequirementsNEW LAWThe 1996 Florida Legislature passed legisla-tion that made several changes to the alco-holic Beverage statutes. One such changewas to include qualifications for distributorsby creating To obtain and tohold an Alcoholic Beverage Distributor s li-cense within the state of Florida, the licenseemust meet and maintain certain Qualification requirements aregrouped into three categories: warehousespace, inventory, and sales. Within each ofthese three categories exist two qualifica-tions. The Distributor must meet one of thetwo qualifications for each general description of the requirements isas follows. You must meet (a) or (b) of space: (owned, leased, ordedicated)a. Square footage to hold no lessthan 10% of annual sales.

6 ORb. Square footage to hold $100,000worth of : (owned by Distributor )a. A quantity of at least 5% annualsales. ORb. A quantity of at least $100, Calculations for (a) and (b) cannotbe private label : (generally versus selected few)a. Sales to at least 25% of licensedvendors in warehouse locationcounty/territory. ORb. 50% of all individual sales are forless than 10 cases Division of Alcoholic Beverages and To-bacco will audit all existing distributors annu-ally to ascertain that the requirements aremet and are being maintained throughout thecalendar year. Generally, the (a) qualifica-tions will apply to an existing Distributor , al-though (b) qualifications can also be met tosatisfy the licensees must meet the requirements inorder to obtain a Distributor license, and thenmust maintain the qualifications in order tocontinue holding the license.

7 As a new licen-see, sales information, or (a) qualifications,cannot be determined and must be esti-mated. The (b) qualifications can also relateto a new licensee when determining thestatus of meeting the a few months of beginning operation, areview of the new Distributor s records will beconducted to determine the status of compli-ance with the qualifications. A full audit willthen be conducted annually for verificationthat the requirements are being maintainedthroughout the calendar a licensed Alcoholic Beverage Distributor ,you will periodically be asked to complete asurvey as part of the annual review and auditof your license. Once the survey informationis gathered, an initial analysis will be con-ducted to determine your status.

8 Field audi-tors will then verify the review findings as theyconduct the regularly scheduled annual auditat your place of and audit results will be discussedwith the Distributor . Any areas of non-compliance will be shown so that steps canbe taken to bring the license back into com-pliance and remain active. However, the dis-tributor is encouraged to monitor their statuson an on-going basis to avoid being disquali-fied as a licensed Alcoholic Beverage dis-tributor in the state of an applicant for a new Alcoholic beveragedistributor s license, you must meet with anAB&T auditor in your field Auditing office ofthe Division of Alcoholic Beverages and To-bacco to discuss the qualifications as theypertain to an existing Distributor , you may also con-tact your field Auditing office if you have anyquestions about Section of the Flor-ida Statutes and how these Distributor qualifi-cations apply to offices are listed on the back of thisbrochure.