#activateBOS: Recap of Liquor Licenses for the week of 8.31.16 (Hearing 8.31.16 & 9.1.16)
Follow Epicenter Community as we continue to monitor legislature. Keep up with us on Twitter under the hashtags #liftthecap & #activateBOS
New Business:
On Wednesday, 8.31.2016
- Tresca Restaurant Group LLC, dba Tresca located at 227–237 Hanover St, Boston MA, petitioned to transfer the stock of the LLC and pledge their liquor license to TD Bank. Their application was withdrawn.
- Green Door Coffeehouse Company dba Ula Cafe located at 284 Amory St, Jamaica Plain, MA petitioned to transfer the license & location to Cazarossi, LLC dba Le Comptoir at 560 Tremont St, Boston MA. They also petitioned to change the classification of its license to Wines Malt Beverages and Liqueurs pursuant to Chapter 481 of the Acts of 1991. On Thursday, 9.1.2016, the board granted their request.
- Sal’s Italian Trattoria, LLC dba Salvatore’s located at 225 Northern Ave, Boston MA, applied for a Common Victualler 7 Day All Alcohol License. On 9.1.2016, the board granted their request.
- Thien Nguyen dba Cafe Bida located at 558 Columbia Rd, Dorchester MA, applied for a Common Victualler 7 Day Malt & Wine License. 9.1.16, the board granted their request.
The following businesses all petitioned to pledge their liquor licenses to Santander bank. All of these businesses were represented by Dennis Quilty
- Glenbeg, Inc dba Azure located at 65 Exeter St, Boston MA, holder of a C.V 7 Day All Alcoholic Beverage License
- Galway, Inc dba The Harp located at 85 Causeway St, Boston MA, holder of a C.V 7 Day All Alcoholic Beverage License
- Adare, Inc dba Ned Devine’s located at 2201 Faneuil Hall Market Place, Boston MA, holder of a C.V 7 Day All Alcoholic Beverage License
- FHM Hospitality, Inc dba Anthem located at 100 Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston MA, holder of a C.V 7 Day All Alcoholic Beverage License
- Northern Avenue Hospitality, Inc, dba Gather located at 75 Northern Ave, Boston MA, holder of a C.V 7 Day All Alcoholic Beverage License
- Dunboy, Inc, dba MJ O’Connor’s Irish Pub located at 27 Columbus Ave, Boston MA, holder of a C.V 7 Day All Alcoholic Beverage License
- Seaport Hospitality, Inc located at 425 Summer St, Boston MA, holder of a C.V 7 Day All Alcoholic Beverage License
On Thursday, 9.1.2016, the board granted their requests.
Old Business:
There was no old business this week.
Thoughts on this week’s applications:
Since it is September, that means that a lot of applications for the new batch of liquor licenses will be coming in. This week, two new licenses were granted.
Last week, we touched on the fact that restaurants can legally pledge their liquor licenses to banks per the economic value of a liquor license (created by the ridiculous imbalance between supply and demand of said licenses). We saw a perfect example of this exchange this week with the seven restaurants that pledged their liquor licenses to Santander Bank. What we were even less suprised to see was that all seven restaurants are owned by the same hospitality group ( see Briar Group), especially considering that all were represented by the same lawyer (Dennis Quilty). Quilty explained to the Licensing Board that the group would be using the loans acquired from the bank to start a college trust fund for the children of a member of the group.
Again, while pledging liquor licenses to banks is totally legal, there still seems like there’s something a little off with SEVEN restaurants all belonging to the same hospitality group pledging their liquor licenses at the same exact time to be put into a college trust fund.
Again, while pledging liquor licenses to banks is totally legal, there still seems like there’s something a little off with SEVEN restaurants all belonging to the same hospitality group pledging their liquor licenses at the same exact time to be put into a college trust fund. We aren’t lawyers here at Epicenter Community but we did reach out to a lawyer to get more transparency about the logistics concerning pledging liquor licenses, especially when it comes to trust funds (especially considering the long history of businesses employing trust funds to dodge federal taxes).
As noted in weeks past, this there is an amendment to language that was put before the state to include Boston in the Governor’s previous bill to lift the cap on the number of liquor licenses available to perspective restaurant owners in the state.
We encourage all of you to reach out to your city and state reps in order to encourage them to vote to lift the cap on the regulatory number of licenses within the city.
To find your city councilors: https://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/councillors/
To find your state representatives: https://malegislature.gov/People/CityList