How to Open a Bar in Melbourne: Licensing & First 90 Days
Opening a bar in Melbourne takes 4–6 months from licence application to pouring your first drink. You'll need a Victoria liquor licence, a solid fitout plan, and a ruthless operational checklist for your first 90 days. Here's exactly what to do.
How long does a Melbourne bar licence actually take?
The Liquor and Gambling Victoria (LGV) processing timeline is the biggest variable. A standard application takes 8–12 weeks if you tick every box first time. Add another 4–8 weeks if there's community objection or if your local council flags issues.
Reality check: Most venues underestimate by 6–8 weeks. Start your application 20 weeks before your planned opening date, not 12. This gives you buffer for objections, council meetings, or paperwork hiccups with the ATO.
Your venue also needs:
- Development approval from Melbourne City Council (or your local council)
- Planning permit (if the site wasn't previously licensed)
- Building compliance certificate
- Planning and Building Permits Coordinator sign-off
Run these in parallel. Don't wait for one to finish before starting the next.
What's actually required on a Victoria liquor licence application?
LGV wants to see:
- Completed application form — LGV application pack, signed by you and your legal representative
- Proof of identity — driver's licence, passport, or both
- Financial interest statement — declaration of who owns/profits from the venue
- Floor plan — to scale, showing layout, exits, toilets, patron areas, storage
- Operational plan — trading hours, target market (uni students? professionals? mixed?), food service, security measures
- Risk assessment — your plan to manage intoxication, late-night crowds, violence prevention
- Community impact statement — how you'll reduce noise, manage parking, support local
- Building/fire safety sign-off — certificate from your builder or certifier
The operational plan is where most applicants stumble. LGV doesn't just want words; they want specifics. "We'll manage rowdy behaviour" doesn't work. "We employ two security staff Thursday–Saturday, CCTV covers the bar and entry, last drinks at 2 a.m., no glass on the street" does.
The counter-intuitive fitout tactic most bar owners miss
Here's the thing: most owners design their bar around aesthetics first, operations second. They install a beautiful back bar, then realise they can't fit their POS system, fridge, or ice machine without moving walls.
Flip that. Design your back bar around your supplier ordering and cold storage first. Work backwards from your par levels.
If you're ordering from Bidvest or PFD twice a week, you need 3–4 days of spirits, mixers, and beer. That's roughly 1.5–2 metres of back-bar fridge space, plus 1 metre of shelving above. Add another 1.2 metres for your POS terminal, card machine, and till roll storage. Then design the aesthetic around those fixed points.
This saves you $5–8k in fitout rework during your first month. Your suppliers will also thank you—they hate squeezing deliveries into badly planned venues.
What does a typical Melbourne bar fitout timeline look like?
Assuming you've got your permits:
- Weeks 1–2: Demolition and structural work (if needed)
- Weeks 3–4: Electrical, plumbing, gas (if you're serving food)
- Weeks 5–6: Flooring, walls, ceilings
- Weeks 7–8: Back bar installation, POS fit, lighting
- Week 9: Cleaning, final inspections, safety certificate
That's 9 weeks of actual work. Most venues allow 12–14 weeks to account for supply delays, builder schedule conflicts, and the inevitable "we need to move that outlet" moments.
One pro tip: order your back bar fittings (fridges, shelving, dispensers) in week 1, not week 5. Lead times from suppliers like Countrywide are 6–8 weeks. If you wait, you'll miss your opening.
Your first 90 days: the operational playbook
Days 1–14: Supplier onboarding and stock
You need relationships locked in before you open. Contact Bidvest, PFD, and Countrywide at least 4 weeks before opening. They'll assign an account manager, discuss par levels, and set up delivery schedules.
Don't just order "a bit of everything." Work with your head bartender to calculate your par:
- Spirits: 2–3 bottles per spirit per day (for a 100-person venue)
- Beer: 3–5 cases per day (adjust for your mix)
- Wine: 1–2 cases per day
- Mixers: 2–3 cases of tonic, soda, cola per day
Order 60% of par for your first week. You'll learn your actual consumption fast.
Days 15–30: Staff training and systems
Your team needs to know:
- Your POS system (Lightspeed, Toast, or Square)
- Responsible service of alcohol (RSA) requirements
- Your house pour sizes and pricing
- Till reconciliation and cash handling
- How to read your supplier invoices (more on this below)
Do a full mock shift. Simulate a Friday night. You'll spot gaps in training, stock, or layout that feel invisible on paper.
Days 31–90: Optimise and lock in routines
This is where most bar owners either thrive or burn out. You'll be tired. Don't skip these:
Invoice audits: Your suppliers will make mistakes. Bidvest might charge you for 10 cases of beer when you received 8. PFD might bill you twice for the same order. Spend 30 minutes every Tuesday checking invoices against delivery dockets. You'll catch $200–500/month in errors.
Demand tracking: How many Espresso Martinis did you sell on a Tuesday? How many on a Friday? Start predicting your sales by day and time. This feeds into your ordering—and it's where tools like Calso shine, flagging patterns you'd miss manually.
Staff scheduling: Public holidays (ANZAC Day, Melbourne Cup, Christmas) have penalty rates. In Victoria, public holiday rates are typically 150–200% of base wage. Plan your roster and labour budget around these dates 6 weeks early.
Where Calso fits in
The first 90 days are chaos. Calso automates three things that'll save you hours each week: supplier ordering (it learns your par levels and flags stock gaps), invoice checking (catches those Bidvest billing errors automatically), and demand prediction (spots your Tuesday vs. Friday patterns so you order smarter). You still own the decisions—Calso just removes the admin grunt work so you can focus on the floor and your team.
Want early access?
Melbourne's bar scene moves fast. If you're opening in the next 6 months, join the Calso waitlist at calso.com.au/join. Founding venues get direct access to our team and priority onboarding—before your competitor does.