Bars & TABC

New Bars and Restaurants Just Got Their TABC License in Austin

2026-10-02

The closest thing to an opening-day alert

A Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission license is one of the last approvals a bar, restaurant, or

retailer gets before serving its first drink — which makes it a tighter "about to open" signal

than a sales-tax permit filed months earlier. In the trailing 30 days, the Austin metro saw

51 new TABC licenses issued to actual retailers (we exclude the one-day nonprofit event

permits, which make up a separate ~20 filings in the same window and aren't ongoing businesses).

Italian Shot LLC — 610 E Stassney Ln, Austin (Wine Only Permit, 9/25)
Capitol Cafe — 1001 Congress Ave, Austin (Mixed Beverage, 9/25)
Big Hat Spirits — Georgetown (Package Store, 9/25)
The Liquor Cabinet — Leander (Package Store, 9/25)
Darden Hill Market — 78737 Austin (Wine & Beer Retailer, 9/25)
MOD Pizza — Georgetown (Wine & Beer to-go, 9/24)

TABC license types tell you what kind of business is opening: MB (Mixed Beverage) means a

full bar or restaurant serving liquor, BG/BQ mean beer-and-wine retail (often a

restaurant without a full bar, or a grocery/convenience outlet), and P/G cover package

stores. A cluster of MB filings in one ZIP is the strongest "new restaurant with a bar"

signal in any dataset we track — stronger than the sales-tax feed alone.

A new TABC license at an address with no recent build-out permit usually means a space is

reopening under new ownership rather than a ground-up buildout. Cross-reference against

building permits at the same address for the fuller picture.

*Source: Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission license/permit data, license types excluding

one-day nonprofit permits (NT), trailing 30 days, Austin-metro counties, pulled 2026-10-02.*

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