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18 2019 Economic Forecast • Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com Call for 2019 Nominations! WOMEN I N B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ Worcester Business Journal WOMEN B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ n W O M E N B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ IN WOMEN I N B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ Worcester Business Journal Worcester Business Journal WBJ Don't miss this opportunity to nominate an employee, colleague, or friend who deserves to be recognized for their hard work and accomplishments! 2017 H A L L O F F A M E A W A R D S H A L L O F F A M E A W A R D S & MANUFACTURING S U M M I T & Worcester Business Journal's EXCELLENCE AWARDS MANUFACTURING S U M M I T & EXCELLENCE AWARDS WBJ Worcester Business Journal UNDER FORTY UNDER Deadline: December 31, 2018 Sponsors to date: Deadline: February 15, 2019 Sponsors to date: Presenting Sponsor Corporate Sponsor www.wbjournal.com/businessleaders www.wbjournal.com/manufacturing Presenting Sponsor Supporting Sponsors Clinton Savings Bank James Monroe Wire & Cable Deadline: May 10, 2019 Sponsors to date: Presenting Sponsors www.wbjournal.com/40underforty Deadline: August 2, 2019 Sponsors to date: www.wbjournal.com/manufacturing Presenting Sponsors Carr Financial Group Corporate Sponsors H o s p i t a l i t y Within the last year, 10 to 12 brewer- ies-in-planning gave up their plans to produce and sell their beer, he added. Earlier this year, the BA Chief Economist Bart Watson said the 5-per- cent growth in national craft beer pro- duction in 2017 was probably not as strong as breweries expected while building out their companies. The category is still growing, but indi- vidual breweries might be scaling back their plans with dozens of new brewers making beer, Watson said. The amount of craft beer produced nationwide dropped from an average growth rate of 900 barrels per brewery in 2014 to 200 per brewery last year, Watson said. This drastic drop in barrels produced per brewery is a sign of both declining market share among the industry's larg- est craft brewers and a rise in smaller breweries. >> Meze Greek Tapas buys former drug-laundering restaurant for $525K For nearly a year, the vacant space at 166 Shrewsbury St. in Worcester offered Meze Greek Tapas a prime opportunity to move a few doors down and expand. When the property marred by a drug and money laundering conspiracy was put on the market by the federal govern- ment, Panos Georgiadis of Meze Greek Tapas Bar and Grille seized on that opportunity. According to property records, Meze 166 Shrewsbury Street LLC, an entity controlled by Meze owner and Panos' father Sotirios Georgiadis, purchased the property in September for $525,000. That's $14,000 less than what the gov- ernment's asking price of $539,000 after it seized the property from Kevin Perry, the former owner of the Usual and the Blackstone Tap in the Canal District who pleaded guilty to operating a drug money laundering scheme using those establishments. The Greek family-owned business now seeks to revitalize the vacant restau- rant by transplanting its operation to its neighboring building but with a more upscale vibe, said the younger Georgiadis. The focus will still be on Greek tapas, but the restaurant aims to add some higher-end plates, a larger wine selection and imported beer from the Greek island Santorini. All together, the space is about 800 square feet bigger than the Greek eat- ery's current space, where it is below three stories of apartments. It'll take about two months to renovate the space, and the restaurant will stay open in its current location up until it opens the doors to the new space, Georgiadis said. "We want to make it look like the res- taurants in Greece," he said. With only two unfinished two-bed- room apartments sit above the vacant restaurant space, Georgiadis hopes to eventually offer live music at the new location. According to Georgiadis, Meze was one of seven bidders for the space. More than 20 different entities scoped out the place, he added. At least one of them was the team behind deadhorse hill. Chef Jared Forman told WBJ in September the ask- ing price was too steep for the team to make an offer. On the past legal problems at the loca- tion, Georgiadis said he hopes to elimi- nate the cloud that hangs over the res- taurant and Shrewsbury Street restaurant scene. "It really stinks when you have some- one like that go and screw up the reputa- tion for what restaurants are," he said. "We just try to provide a hospitable din- ing experience." Perry was sentenced in May to 14 years in prison for drug and money laundering crimes and was ordered to forfeit his restaurants to the federal gov- ernment. Since Kevin Perry bought 166 Shrewsbury St. in 2017, the saga around his drug laundering scheme has impacted more than a half dozen restaurants. Continued from Page 17