If you have recently purchased a bar, restaurant, or other Queensland business that serves alcohol, you probably already know that you must ensure you have the proper liquor licenses and certifications in place when you take over the business. You will have to obtain a Responsible Service of Alcohol Queensland certificate (RSA QLD certificate) and a RMLV certificate, before you can successfully complete the process of transferring the liquor licensing operations over to you as the owner/responsible manager. However, it"s not enough to ensure that you have been trained properly, and that you have the proper certifications. You must do some research into the previous owner or owners, to find out if their certifications were up to date, and find out if there were any violations to their liquor license.

There are many reasons you should be interested in the previous owner"s OLGR RSA QLD certificate history. The first one is the reputation of the bar or restaurant. Depending on the community you live in, it often doesn"t take long for word to get out that a restaurant is following questionable practices, or has been penalized for improper licensing or failing to adhere to regulations. Even if the people in your community know the restaurant is under new ownership, they still might not trust the establishment. You must find out about any RSA QLD certificate violations, for example do all staff have current RSA QLD certificates. If not, there may be rumors of poor practices, so that you will have to reach out to the community and show them how things have changed.

Another important reason to know if the previous owner maintained the standards mandated by the QLD OLGR is that staff will be affected if all staff do not have current RSA QLD certificates. Odds are you"ve retained much of the original staff when you took over your bar or restaurant, and they will be trained in the ways of the previous owner. If you find out the previous owner was disregarding proper alcohol and/or food safety standards, you will have to retrain your staff the right way. Of course there"s a good chance you"ll be met with some resistance, so you must be cautious not to approach the issue in a negative or accusatory fashion. Sit down with them and explain that they must have the OLGR RSA QLD certificate to work in a licensed venue. Remember your staff must complete this training every three years, just prior to their certification expiring. As a bar or restaurant owner, you know how important your current RSA QLD certificate is, but just because you take it seriously, it doesn"t mean that those who came before you did. One of your responsibilities as the new owner is to do some investigation, and possibly some damage control to get your business back on track. This might seem like a great deal of work, but it is worth the reputation and quality of your business.