The Business Of Booze
Worcester's liquor license fee increases 38 percent
Perhaps the license commission knew then that the Boston Red Sox would win the World Series last year, and knew that restaurants and bars would be busy turning over tables and making lots and lots of money selling alcohol during baseball season.
During its meeting that month, the commission decided to increase the annual cost of a city liquor license for the first time since 1986.
And it hit a dinger. With one swing, the fee for a full restaurant liquor license went from $2,000 to $2,750, an increase of 38 percent.
In December, Worcester's new fees came due.
Bad Company
Kevin O'Sullivan, the commission's chairman, said the increase was an effort to bring Worcester's fee in line with other comparable cities like Boston, Hartford and Providence, and it appears as if the commission accomplished that. A full restaurant liquor license costs $2,800 in Boston, plus $100 if food is served and $1 per seat.
But raising liquor license fees by 38 percent all at once doesn't sit well with restaurant owners, despite the rate's comparable fairness, and especially considering that the old rate wouldn't be out of place in Central Massachusetts today. For example, a full restaurant liquor license costs $2,500 annually in Natick, $2,000 in Westborough and $1,800 in Shrewsbury. In Fitchburg that license will cost restaurant owners $1,200 each year and in Leominster and Marlborough, it's $1,000.
Framingham really knocks it out of the park with a $3,000-per-year license fee.
"It definitely was sticker shock," said Paul Barber, owner of the popular Flying Rhino Café on Shrewsbury Street. Barber agreed that the price of the license itself isn't out of line, but "it was too drastic a shift. The cost of business goes up, but don't hit us with a 40 percent increase."
"We think we're going to get ahead, and boom. It would be better if it were regular...$2,000, $2,200, etc.," he said.
Barber suggested the city "build it in, tie it to an index, or inflation, and be smart. All my other licenses didn't go up 40 percent. It's just poor planning. $700 isn't going to kill me, but it's another log on the fire. My cost of goods went up 2 percent this year, anyway. It's tough."
The Parkway recently began opening at night, and Richard hopes the increased hours will lead to more customers and the sale of more alcohol, a big money-maker for restaurants. Success would make the cost of a liquor license a little less painful, he said.
O'Sullivan said, "it was brought before the commission that fees had not been raised in a long time, and it turns out they were quite a bit below" those of other major New England cities. "I think it was fair. I think we found a happy medium, or a happy average mean."
He said the commission would "absolutely not" raise the fee again this year. "We'll let sleeping dogs lie," he said. But small, regular incremental increases are probably out of the question, too. "Constant increases can be seen as anti-business, and I think Worcester has proven to be business-friendly. Reviewing it the way we do, on a periodic basis, is probably the way to go."
Peter Sarmanian has owned the Metro 9 Steak House in Framingham for 10 years. He also owns Asgard in Cambridge and Kinsale in Boston. He said high liquor license fees are to be expected.
"It's a significant cost," Sarmanian said, "but we realize there's a responsibility for the city and the town to regulate and be a governing body. It's something we've gotten used to." He said the yearly fees for all his restaurant liquor licenses are "within $1,000 of each other," and Framingham's, while high, "has been pretty close to that for the 10 years" he's run Metro 9. "They have gone up nominally," he said.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments