Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 27, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 19 Find business insights and sponsored content articles with relevant and helpful tips and tools for your business. www.wbjournal.com/sponsored/business-insights BIZ MARKETPLACE WBJ WBJ Biz Marketplace is a sponsored content section of wbjournal.com S M A L L B U S I N E S S F O C U S close and still pay our bills," Babineau said. e area's most established brewery, Westminster's Wachusett Brewing Co., has also offered both pick-up and delivery. "It's certainly not replacing the business model we had previously, but if it allows us to safely employ our staff and provide our local community with something out of the ordinary, well, that's more important than turning any significant profits," said Christian McMahan, the brewery's president. Expecting uncertainty Eventually, restaurateurs will have to decide when and how to operate once dining rooms and bars can reopen. Few are sure what that will look like, either. e Massachusetts Restaurant Association has been working with state legislators to cra a potential industry protection program and has been in touch with the governor's office to figure out an eventual reopening strategy. e restaurant group hopes for a bill to allow eateries to use money now to restock shelves and for hiring back workers once it's safer and more feasible to do so. Robb Ahlquist, who runs the Worcester Restaurant Group with his wife, Madeleine Ahlquist, is watching Gov. Charlie Baker's updates each day to gauge when they could reopen. As of April 21, the Massachusetts shutdown of restaurant dining rooms and other non-essential businesses was due to be lied on May 4, although even if that date isn't extended, Baker has said businesses would face heavy restrictions when they reopen. e Ahlquist's three restaurants – Sole Proprietor, 111 Chop House and Via Italian Table – stayed open for the first week of the new business social distancing guidelines but then decided to close entirely for now, citing health concerns. "It wasn't worth it," Ahlquist said. e company's restaurants don't lend themselves particularly well to takeout, leaving the Ahlquists to analyze their menus to find new opportunities. ey, like others, are considering if or whether they should open their dining rooms if, for example, capacity is limited to just 50% or whether customers' temperatures would have to be taken at the door. "I don't know that we'd even want to operate in that capacity," Lopez, the Armsby Abbey co-owner, said. Koci expects a year or more to pass until there's some normality in the business. Covino guesses restaurants would have to be able to operate at at least 50% capacity to be viable. McMahan, whose Wachusett opened a taproom at the Worcester Public Market in February, expects a long, slow return to normal – unless there are permanent shis in customers' behavior. "e cra beer category has always been over-indexed in the on-premise [consumption] versus domestic and imports and has used the trial-and- sampling behavior that takes place there to build their business and introduce new brands to consumers," McMahan said, before wondering himself what's next. "How will cra breweries adjust if the at-home drink occasion continues to remain unusually high, even aer the on-premise opens again?" Worcester's Mezcal Tequila Cantina remained open for the first weeks of the shutdown but was later closed. Madeleine and Robb Ahlquist, owners of Worcester Restaurant Group W

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