Plenty of clubs talk about getting a liquor license and decide it's too complicated. Charlie Ernst, President of Southport Croquet Club, took it on. Southport now runs a small bar from a fridge with a Square reader for payments, 25 hours of trading a week. License fees come to under a thousand dollars a year.
A minute and a half. Watch on CroquetVideos
The numbers
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| License type | Restricted club license first → full club license after 12 months |
| Trading allowance | 25 hours per week, days and times nominated by the club |
| Restricted license cost | ~$500 per six-month period (12-month requirement before applying for full) |
| Full license cost | ~$700 per year |
| Trading hours chosen | Friday afternoon + evening, Saturday afternoon + evening, Sunday, some weeknights |
| Hardware | Dedicated fridge with a limited stock; Square reader for payments — no cash on site |
Why bother
"Because we wanted to improve the social interaction within the club, we decided that it would be a good idea to get a liquor license so that we could actually legally sell alcohol." — Charlie Ernst
Players were already sitting around after a game wanting a drink. Some brought their own esky, plenty didn't. The bar arrangement removed the friction.
The administrative trick
"They pay for it through our Square reader, so we don't keep cash on site. It makes it simple and easy. It makes it easy for the treasurer to account for it every week or every month." — Charlie Ernst
Same logic as the club's technology adoption. The reason for choosing Square over a cash tin isn't customer experience. It's that the treasurer doesn't have to count, lock up, bank, or reconcile anything. The bar just produces a weekly statement.
The economics
"With the amount of alcohol that goes through our fridge, that's very quickly recovered." — Charlie Ernst
$500 to $700 a year against the markup on a fridge that turns over weekly. The license pays for itself before the social return is even counted.
One line to take to your committee
Restricted club license, 25 trading hours a week mostly Friday-to-Sunday, a fridge, a Square reader, no cash. Around a thousand dollars a year in license fees, recovered through markup. Southport has been running it for long enough that the application path is now known.
On the cut
Clip itself was already edited. The decision for the page was to put the numbers in a table at the top so a reader can work out in ten seconds whether this is achievable for their club. License fees and trading rules vary by state — Queensland figures are noted below.