Meet Keith Turner of AZDLLC “Arizona Dedicated Liquor License Consultants”

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keith Turner.

Hi Keith, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was a police officer in Arizona for 25 years, serving 15 of those years as a detective with the Arizona Department of Liquor Licensing and Control. I then became a Special Agent for the Arizona Attorney Generals Office just before Covid hit, shutting down everything, including most of the AG investigations.

The Agents were sent home for about nine months, being told to simply be available if needed. Once the Liquor Department was tasked with enforcing the state Covid laws, I began receiving dozens of calls from bar and restaurant owners, asking what they needed to do to remain compliant. After telling over fifty business owners that I’m not employed there any longer, it hit me….. GODADDY.COM! And, Arizona Dedicated Liquor License Consultants “AZDLLC” was born.

What I thought would be a fun way to help business owners, and maybe even making a little money on the side, quickly turned into more than I could handle while being a police officer. So, I stopped answering my business phone. Shortly after that I was injured on the job, resulting in medically retiring from law enforcement.

Well – the business phone never stopped ringing and on 10/3/2022, I began returning calls and AZDLLC became a full time business within a week. I quickly had over a hundred clients and felt the need to hire employees, but realized that my knowledge of the liquor industry and how the laws are enforced wasn’t something that I could teach someone quickly enough to continue servicing my customers, if I wanted to keep the client relationships strong and to continue to give the kind of service that I required. So, I decided to keep it a family business and limit our client base to only what we can personally attend to properly.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Even with the ease of starting AZDLLC, I found it challenging to get the face-to-face time that we hoped for. What I was hoping for was getting out and spending time in the bars and restaurants, doing what I was used to and what I loved – covert inspections. I initially thought that most businesses would want the “Secret Shopper” aspect, allowing me to go in and watch their employees while the owners/managers were out. This was to help them recognize drugs being sold in their business , heavy handed security, employees drinking on the job, or pocketing cash with short pours, or allowing underage drinking or over serving patrons. But this wasn’t, and still isn’t a common service being requested, but available when requested.

The service most needed and requested is assisting new business owners purchase a liquor license and assisting them with completing their liquor license applications with the city, county and state. This is easier for us, but I’ve never been one to sit on the computer and talk on the phone. So personally, it’s been challenging for me not to be out in the field.

Another thing that was even harder was loosing the camaraderie of so many awesome police officer friends and colleagues. Although my body isn’t able to do the job any longer – my mind lies to me daily, telling myself that I can.

As you know, we’re big fans of AZDLLC “Arizona Dedicated Liquor License Consultants”. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We ALWAYS have someone available to answer the phone! If we don’t pick up, we’ll call back by close of business. We assist all types of liquor businesses, with everything from purchasing, or selling their liquor license, completing their liquor applications with the city, county and state, provide them with their required Title 4 Liquor Training, assist them with obtaining a special event licenses, conduct covert & undercover inspections and everything else liquor related!

The most needed assistance comes with brokering their state Quota liquor licenses. These are the licenses that are actually owned and need to go through escrow, and can’t just be purchased from the Liquor Department.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The average person doesn’t need to read the rest of this, as it’ll just sound like a complaint. But, those who have tried to get any assistance while visiting the Liquor Department over the past two years will understand. The “CHANGE” has been how the Liquor Department operates.

The liquor industry hasn’t really changed much over the past few years, but the Liquor Department has changed dramatically over the past 4 or 5 years. What was once considered one of, if not the best run state departments in AZ, has become one of the worst. Mostly, it’s because there are no longer employees that have deep institutional knowledge working at the department. This has made it difficult at best, for the average business owner to complete their own applications. When I was a detective there, half of the employees made a career working there – both the officers and licensing staff. But in the past five years, they’ve changed directors about five times, and in the past three years they’ve fired or forced out all but one field detective. This has been very beneficial for my business, however a great hardship to the consumers.

Also, in 2022, the Liquor Department decided to get into the liquor license sales business, with the new director deciding to create so many new #6 Bar, #7 Beer & Wine Bar and #9 Liquor Store licenses, that it caused the values to plummet and totally disrupt the market. As an example – for the first time in well over 20 years they have 17 Bar licenses and 22 Beer & Wine licenses left over from their yearly lottery. In past years, there were none!

It’s not all doom and gloom though, We’ll more than likely be getting a new director in a year or so and one can hope that things change.

Pricing:

• Liquor License application assistance – $1,800.00
• Agent services – $125.00 – $150.00 pre month with yearly prepaid discounts.
• Consulting fee “Hourly” – $155 per hour

Contact Info:

• Website: AZDLLC.COM