Beyondie Wet Mess
The Beyondie Sulphate Potash project has been undertaken by Kalium Lakes Limited – an Australian, publicly listed exploration and development company. The project, located 60 – 70km northeast of Kumarina, aims to produce Sulphate of Potash (SOP). SOP is a high yield, premium fertiliser, for both domestic and international markets.
Canford were engaged by Alpha 1 WA Pty Ltd to lodge a liquor licence application for the site’s wet mess. Being such a remote location – we were unable to conduct a site visit, which is usually common practice for us before engaging with a client.
The wet mess fell under the liquor licence category of Special Facility Licence (SFL) – Works Canteen. The (SFL) Works Canteen category is made specifically for food & beverage venues in a remote location. Furthermore, a works canteen licence permits the sale and supply of liquor (stubbies and cans only) for consumption both on and off premises – without the requirement for having tavern facilities or a dedicated packaged liquor outlet. Being on a mine site, this is very useful because there is less red tape around acquiring a licence. Being able to serve liquor to workers (on premise and packaged for takeaway) after their days work is a priority.
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The remote Beyondie Wet Mess wouldn’t fit any other liquor licence category than a Special Facility Licence (Works Canteen). However, it provides us with a great example of why this branch of liquor licence enables food and beverage business models that are not always linear with the standard liquor licence categories, to succeed.
It should be noted – you have to provide very clear justification to the Licensing Authority as to why a Special Facility licence is the ONLY option for your business. If this process is done correctly, it affords you trading conditions favourable to the way you are intending to operate.
Remote projects such as this one can be difficult to navigate for this reason – further, there are always other priorities and problems that may take precedence over acquiring the liquor licence. Our involvement helps to ease this process and take one more thing off of the to do list.