Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 26, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Hudson has a liquor license cap but has gotten approval to grow that number. Ground Effect (top) and Rail Trail Flatbread are among the town's best known establishments. INSPIRE. IGNITE. EMPOWER. REPEAT. Kate Alexander, Your dedication, leadership, and creativity empower us on a daily basis. You continue to pave the way for the next generation of women leaders. Congratulations on being named an Outstanding Woman in Business! Worcester* No cap (235)* 255 185,195 $10,902 Framingham 88 67 71,649 N/A Marlborough* No cap (49)* 64 39,776 $20,426 Leominster 52 50 41,579 $24,497 Milford 35 40 28,789 $41,401 Fitchburg 52 40 40,737 $7,885 Natick 42 37 36,083 $44,949 Westborough 24 33 18,982 $40,653 Sturbridge* No cap (19)* 33 9,537 $27,537 Hudson 25 32 19,868 $20,208 Shrewsbury 46 32 37,037 $15,475 Franklin* No cap (40)* 31 33,022 $12,778 Webster 22 31 16,971 $10,630 Acton 27 28 23,561 $21,446 Bellingham 22 23 17,016 $25,310 Gardner 26 23 20,555 $14,171 Clinton 19 23 13,899 $6,569 Millbury 19 22 13,630 $27,108 Southbridge 22 22 16,894 $11,889 Sudbury 23 21 18,940 $15,307 Total Liquor on premise 2018 Retail sales Name license cap licenses Population per capita Central Mass. liquor licenses Note: For the full list of every Central Massachusetts communities' liquor license total, visit WBJournal.com *No liquor license cap. In these cases, the number given is theoretical cap based on the community's population. Sources: Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, U.S. Census Bureau Most cities and towns in Central Massachusetts, like their counterparts statewide, are limited by population-based caps on how many liquor licenses they can give to places such as restaurants and breweries. A few, including Worcester, have no cap, while others have sought exemptions to go above their mandated caps. Here are the 20 communities will be most liquor licenses. ecutive Assistant omas Moses helped in the town's request to the Legislature to get five additional licenses it plans to use as part of its burgeoning downtown restaurant scene. A growing number of restaurants brought new visitors to the neighborhood, but also a problem of sorts. "We ran out of liquor licenses," Moses said. Last year, Hudson got approval for live licenses to use downtown, in addition to another five to be used at the Highland Commons retail plaza. Like Marlborough looking to keep workers from, say, Boston Scientific Corp. or TJX Cos. around the community past the workday, so does Hudson with Intel, whose sprawling office building is about a mile and a half from downtown. In one meeting with officials at the Intel office, Moses said he asked what the town could do to make itself more attractive for company workers. More high-end restaurants, he was told, for employees to grab a bite or a drink aer work. "It makes your downtown sort of like a 6 a.m. to midnight endeavor, instead of the old 9-to-5," Moses said. "at makes a town buzz." Creating a destination Sturbridge also punches above its weight with its restaurant scene, which benefits from Old Sturbridge Village and the town's location at the interchange of the Massachusetts Turnpike and I-84. Sturbridge has 33 liquor licenses, com- pared to the 19 a town of its size would typically have. "A lot of restaurants enjoy having the opportunity to sell liquor – it's part of the experience of going out to eat," said Sturbridge's town manager, Jeff Bridges. With tourism taking a hit from the coronavirus pandemic, Sturbridge is working on a marketing campaign to remind people about dining options and what else Sturbridge is open for. e town's restaurants, including a string of them lining Route 20, have made Sturbridge a dining destination between Worcester, Springfield and Hartford. "It's one of those things a restaura- teur would look for," Bridges said of the town's absence of a liquor license cap. "We don't lose those opportunities Continued on page 10 PHOTOS | GRANT WELKER

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