Worcester Business Journal

32 2020 Economic Forecast • Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com T he restaurant and brewery industries maintained high- profile momentum in 2019, as expansions and new openings outweighed closures. As long as Central Massachusetts' economic growth con- tinues, food and drink businesses will follow. Craft beer continues its upward trajectory. It wasn't long ago it was notable when a town or smaller city wouldn't have any breweries. Now, it can feel more notable when they don't – or even when they have fewer than they maybe should. In fact, at least according to one report, Worcester's among those which could support more. In June, the online marketplace bid-on-equipment.com looked at state excise tax, population over 21, breweries per capita and licens- ing fees to come up with the best places to open a brewery. Worcester landed 26th nationally in large part because it actually has so few breweries yet here: Worcester had 1.1 breweries per 50,000 people, tied for the lowest of the list's top 30 cities. Elsewhere in Central Massachusetts, Framingham, Marlborough and Natick are among those counting a few breweries each, but there still seems to be plenty of room to grow in places like Fitchburg, Leominster, Milford and Shrewsbury. Restaurants fueling momentum in downtown Worcester. New businesses in downtown recent- ly have felt like almost all restaurants. Just take a look around Worcester Common: a planned Ruth's Chris steak- house and restaurant from the Tavern in the Square's ownership group, which join other new additions in just over one year: Fuel America, 110 Grill, Protein House, Revolution Pie + Pint, Craft Table & Bar and the Worcester Beer Garden. The sudden spike comes along with the opening of the AC Hotel and 145 Front at CitySquare apart- ments, and otherwise appears to be a confident move that more people who work downtown — there are still few residents – will choose to stay after work for a bite or a drink, or even pop by before or after a show at the Hanover Theatre or a game at the DCU Center. Good news for these restaurants: More residents are on the way. The Central Building had 55 apartments open this summer, and another 118 are expected at Courthouse Lofts by next summer. The cost of food and drink will become a concern in an economic slowdown. Putting down $20 for a four-pack of beer might raise fewer eyebrows than it used to, as it's become something of the norm to pay much more for a can of craft beer than someone might be used to for, say, a Bud Light. Undoubtedly, some breweries will close, as was the case with Maynard's Battle Road Brewery. Otherwise, a period of eco- nomic growth lasting roughly a decade has been kind to food-and-drink busi- nesses, and a weakness in brick-and- mortar retail has meant that more developers are leaning on restaurants to fill space. But with the unemployment rate so low, new restaurants and brew- eries may find it harder to continue finding new workers, and ever-climbing personnel and lease costs could make continued growth ever more challeng- ing. An economic slowdown or reces- sion on the horizon could force many to forego that night out for dinner or those pints of beer at the bar. W More food & drink Breweries and restaurants will continue to grab headlines next year BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor Top food & drink stories in 2019 >> Mercantile Center adding more restaurants A Boston restaurant group, which owns Tavern in the Square in Shrewsbury and in nine other locations, plans to open an elaborate indoor-out- door eatery at the Mercantile Center in Worcester. The yet-unnamed 500-seat restaurant will occupy 12,000 square feet on two levels at a long vacant Applebee's site on Mercantile Street adjacent to the Mercantile Center garage. It will include outdoor eating on the second floor. The Boston-based Broadway Hospitality Group has been signed a 15-year deal with Franklin Realty Advisors, the Wellesley developer of Mercantile Center. The new $6-million restaurant is expected to open by the spring of 2021, joining a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse expected to open next year. "The vibrancy that Broadway Hospitality Group instills in its estab- lishments is a perfect match to what the Mercantile Center complex has come to embody in downtown Worcester," said Chip Norton, owner of Franklin Realty Advisors and managing director of the Mercantile Center. He said the signed lease deal leaves the former 40,000-square-foot Worcester Foothills Theatre as the only available retail space at the Mercantile Center. The twin office towers are near- ly 96% occupied, he said. BHG is owned and operated by three local restaurateurs who have been part of the Boston restaurant scene for years, including Joseph Arcari, president, CEO Stephen DeSousa, and Renata Valentin, partner. The restaurant group includes the Tavern in the Square, whose loca- tions include Shrewsbury, Northborough and Littleton, along with Boston restaurants The Broadway, Tavern Allston and Tavitas. "Worcester is the hot new city" said Arcari. "Many of the millennials who graduate from colleges and universities are staying in town and they're always looking for new dining options." The Worcester Beer Garden installed igloos outdoors for the winter. Silas Axtell, bar manager at Armsby Abbey in Worcester, with the restaurant's high- priced non-alcoholic cocktails. Redemption Rock CEO Dani Babineau (right), with head of marketing Dan Carlson Broadway Hospitality Group Rendering of new Mercantile Center restaurant A rendering of the proposed Mercantile Center restaurant from the Broadway Hospitality Group F O O D & D R I N K P H O T O / W O R C E S T E R B E E R G A R D E N R E N D E R I N G / B R O A D W A Y H O S P I T A L I T Y P H O T O / A L L A N J U N G P H O T O / G R A N T W E L K E R

• Cover