What does the Open My Bar guide cover?

The guide covers site and licence suitability assessment, the liquor licence application pathway and timeline, bar design and layout, services and infrastructure, noise and amenity management, fitout and contractor management, responsible service and compliance obligations, and launch and trade strategy.

Does the guide cover liquor licensing?

Yes. The guide includes a detailed section on the liquor licence pathway — licence types, the application process, likely timelines, conditions attached to licences, and what to expect from the licensing authority. Specific requirements vary by jurisdiction and should be verified with local authorities.

How much does the Open My Bar guide cost?

The Open My Bar guide is $97 USD, available as an instant digital download. A Launch Bonus Pack can be added at checkout for $147 total.

Atmospheric bar interior with bottles and lighting

Open My Business — Bar Planning Guide

OPEN MYBAR.

Licensing, services, layout and fitout for bar environments — where the compliance and design requirements are more complex than most.

Get this guide — $97 See what's inside ↓

Guide price

$97

USD — instant download

What you get

Site & licence assessment
Liquor licence pathway
Bar design & layout
Services & infrastructure
Launch & trade strategy

What this guide covers

The most compliance-intensive venue type — planned properly.

Bars carry more regulatory complexity than almost any other venue type. Liquor licensing, noise management, responsible service, late trading approvals, and council conditions all need to be understood — and planned for — before you commit to a site or a fitout. Most people find this out too late.

This guide maps the full pathway from site assessment through licensing, fitout and launch — so you understand what's required, when, and in what order.

What's covered

Site & Licence AssessmentZoning for liquor service, proximity restrictions, noise considerations and lease suitability.
Liquor Licence PathwayLicence types, application process, likely timelines, conditions and what to expect from the authority.
Bar Design & LayoutBack bar, service flow, seating configuration, patron capacity and the design principles that drive spend.
Services & InfrastructureElectrical, drainage, ventilation, refrigeration and gas requirements for a commercial bar.
Noise & Amenity ManagementAcoustic design considerations, council conditions and how to manage neighbour and authority relationships.
Fitout & Contractor ManagementBriefing, quoting and managing a fitout in an environment with complex services requirements.
Responsible Service & ComplianceRSA requirements, licence conditions, incident management and the obligations of a liquor licence.
Launch & Trade StrategySoft opening, staff training, launch event planning and the first 90 days of trading.

Where bar openings go wrong

Licensing.
The build.
The trade.

Licensing & Approvals

Underestimating the timeline and complexity of a liquor licence. Missing conditions that affect the fitout. Sites that can't be licensed for the intended use.

The Fitout

Drainage, refrigeration and ventilation all significantly underspecified. Noise attenuation added as an afterthought. Both cost far more to fix than to plan correctly.

Trading Conditions

Opening without understanding licence conditions, responsible service obligations or noise management requirements. These don't go away once you're open.

Who this guide is for

First-timers and operators who know what they don't know.

First-Time Bar Operators

You understand the product and the culture. This guide gives you the regulatory and operational framework that most first-timers discover only after they've made expensive mistakes.

Hospitality Professionals Opening Their Own Place

You've worked in bars for years. This guide bridges the gap between knowing how a bar works and knowing how to open one.

Investors & Backers

You're financing someone else's concept. This guide helps you understand the risk profile of a bar opening and what a well-planned one looks like.

Get the guide

Open My Bar

The Open My Bar guide covers every stage from site and licence assessment through to launch — built from 35 years of designing and opening bar environments.

At $97, it's the most cost-effective way to understand what you're getting into before you're committed to it.

Bar planning guide

$97

USD — instant download

Guide includes

Site and licence suitability assessment
Liquor licence pathway and timeline guide
Bar design and layout principles
Services and infrastructure checklist
Noise and compliance management framework
Launch and trade strategy

Get Open My Bar — $97 →

Instant download. No subscription.

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ADD THE LAUNCH BONUS PACK

Add three expert tools to your order — a full concept-to-sales programme, a brand building playbook, and a designer briefing guide. Built from the same 35 years of experience. One-time add-on.

$97 + $50

$147

Guide + all three bonuses

Add bonuses — $147 →

Years of experience

Who built this

Experience you can actually use.

The Open My Business guides were built from 35 years of designing and opening physical venues — hundreds of real projects, with real budgets, real approvals and real consequences when things went wrong.

This isn't theory. It's what actually happens when you open a physical venue, and what you need to do about it.

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