HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board today issued an invitation for bids to award 50 expired restaurant licenses in the fourth license auction since Act 39 became effective in August 2016.
This auction includes 50 licenses across 40 counties:
- Two licenses each in the following counties: Allegheny, Berks, Dauphin, Erie, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia.
- One license in each of the following 30 counties: Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Delaware, Elk, Fayette, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Northumberland, Pike, Washington, Westmoreland, Wyoming, and York.
The auction will again use a sealed bid process, which has successfully awarded 124 licenses in the previous three auctions.
Bids for the 50 licenses offered in this restaurant license auction are due by noon on Thursday, Nov. 9. Bids will be opened Thursday, Nov. 16 and auction winners will be determined soon thereafter.
The minimum bid for each license is $25,000, and each bid must be accompanied by a $5,000 bid surety intended to avoid frivolous and underfunded bids.
The highest responsive bidder for each license will win the right to submit an application for the license to the PLCB within six months of auction award. If bid payment is not received within two weeks of auction award, the second-highest bidder will have the opportunity to apply for the license. Bids will be held in escrow by the PLCB, pending approval of the license application.
Bidders with questions regarding this invitation for bid must submit inquiries via email to RA-LBLicenseAuction@pa.gov by noon on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Questions and answers will be posted to the Department of General Services e-marketplace website by 3:00 PM on Thursday, Sept. 28.
Lists of winning bids from each of the three previous auctions are available on the license auction page of the PLCB website. Auction revenue cannot be totaled until license approvals are granted and bids come out of escrow.
