Establishment license

Definition

The license a business or its premises holds, separate from any worker's own.

Why It Matters

Two permissions usually stand between a trade and its customers, and a buyer who checks one has checked half. The individual credential belongs to the person and walks out of the door with them. The establishment license belongs to the company or to the address, and a failed inspection of the premises suspends it while a worker's own lapse suspends only the worker. They renew on different clocks and in several states they are issued by different offices. Ask for both, and ask which one the seller is personally named on, because that is the one that does not come with the business.