Special Food Service License - Records Requirements
Within section 561.20of the Florida Statutes an exception is made to the limitation of the number of licenses issued in each county, allowing any restaurant meeting specified requirements to obtain a special license. One such requirement is that the restaurant must derive 51 percent of gross revenuefrom the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages. The formula used to calculate this percentage adds the gross revenue from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages and divides into that amount the total gross revenue from all sales.
Gross revenue from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages
Total gross revenue
Section 61A-3.0141 of the Florida Administrative Code requires that all qualifying restaurants maintain separate records of all purchases and sales made by the restaurant to demonstrate compliance with the requirements for the license. The food and non-alcoholic beverage sales must be compared with all other sales or revenue to determine if the percentage requirement is being met and maintained.
Following is a list of general records that will be reviewed by the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco to verify compliance with the percentage requirement. The degree of records reviewed will depend on the difficulty in substantiating the compliance, and additional records may be required depending on the circumstances.
Without appropriate records to demonstrate compliance of the percentage requirement,
a restaurant will fail to meet the SFSlicensing requirements.
Applicable Records
Purchase invoices
–Invoices for all purchases of food, non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, and any other items that are sold in the restaurant must be maintained and made available for inspection and review.
Guest checks
–All guest checks should be maintained and should show all items sold. These should be consecutively numbered and have the price listed for each item separately.
Cash register Z tapes and/or Point of Sale (POS) computerized sales records
–These should break out food, non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, and merchandise separately.
Check Book and Petty Cash Account
–These should represent all receipts and expenditures of money.
Ledgers
–These include General Ledgers, Sales Ledgers, Charts of Accounts, or other ledgers and books that record purchases and sales made by the restaurant, and their associated payments.
Financial Statements
–These represent the revenue status of the restaurant, and include but are not limited to Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss Statements, Bank Statements, etc.
Tax Returns
–These include the Florida Department of Revenue Sales Tax Returns.
As mentioned, this list of records that can be used to verify the food percentage calculation for the restaurant may not be all inclusive. Additional records may be required depending on the circumstances. It is the burden of the holder of the special food service license to demonstrate compliance at all timeswith the requirements for the license. Any and all records that will substantiate that compliance should be maintained for a period of 3 years and provided to the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco representative for review.