Bartending License Requirements for Florida

A bartending license is not required to sell or serve alcohol in the state of Florida.

With that being said, according to Florida’s Responsible Vendor Act, bar and restaurant owners can reduce their liability if their employees are trained.

Therefore, many employers will require employees to partake in a bartending training course regardless of state law.

Overview

Responsible Vendor Program

The Florida Responsible Vendor Act is a voluntary program that the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco uses to incentivize bar and restaurant owners to train their employees in safely serving alcohol.

In the state of Florida, if an employee sells or serves alcohol to an underage person, the owner of the bar or restaurant can have their liquor license revoked. But, if that employee has undergone alcohol server training, the penalty may be mitigated.

For this reason, many bar and restaurant owners in the state of Florida will require their employees to undergo training. The training can either be done by the employer or by a 3rd party provider.

• Non-managerial employees must complete training within 30 days of employment.
• Managers must complete training within 15 days of employment.

Employees are also required to attend a “continuing education meeting” every four months.

Need to save time? If you wish to fulfill the requirements of the Responsible Vendor Program, we suggest the training provided by Serving Alcohol. The courses at Serving Alcohol are reliable, easy, and quick. And best of all, we have worked with the team to provide a special discount to Bartending License Help readers.

Minimum Age To Serve Alcoholic Beverages In Florida

In Florida, the minimum age to serve alcohol is 18 years old. As long as you’re 18, you can pour drinks, serve alcohol, and work behind a bar. Pretty straight forward here.

Restrictions to Becoming a Florida Bartender

Florida statute 562.13 restricts employment as a bartender or manager in an establishment that serves alcohol if:

• They have been convicted of any Florida beverage law in the past 5 years
• They have been convicted in the past 5 years of “of soliciting for prostitution, pandering, letting premises for prostitution, keeping a disorderly place, or any felony violation of chapter 893 or the controlled substances act of any other state or the Federal Government”
• They have had any felony violation in Florida or any other state in the USA

Salary and Job Outlook for Bartenders in Florida

The average annual wage for bartenders in Florida is $34,350 per year, or $16.52 per hour according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This places Florida at right around the average of bartender salaries for the country.

What’s more, the projected employment growth for bartenders in Florida is 39.6%, meaning that by 2030 there are projected to be 51,700 bartending jobs in the state.