wbjournal.com | October 26, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Higher
education, health care, real estate)
Staff Writer, Monica Busch,
mbusch@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing, equality & inclusion)
Editorial Intern
Aliya Larkin, alarkin@wbjournal.com
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon,
Sarah Connell
Lead Researcher, Timothy Doyle,
tdoyle@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Account Receivable Specialist,
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Director of Audience Development,
Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Operations Assistant,
Leah Allen,
lallen@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Tom Curtin
tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special
issues in May, September, October, and December by New
England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester,
MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA.
Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please
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PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894.
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Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
T
wo years ago, WBJ and the
Worcester Regional Research
Bureau published a joint
investigation about the role
immigrants have played in
the shaping of Worcester. e "City of
Immigrants" series by WBJ – coupled
with the longer, fact-filled report from
WRRB – received numerous accolades,
including an honor from the New England
Newspaper & Press Association as the
best collaboration between a newsroom
and a community organization. It was the
perfect collaboration for two organizations
focused on dispersing information to
the public: WRRB with its experience in
diving deep into data, coupled with WBJ's
interviewing and presentation prowess.
Aer "City of Immigrants" published,
WRRB and WBJ began working to devel-
op another project. In December, we set
our sights on restaurants. Worcester has
long had a buzzy restaurant scene, pre-
dating the most recent economic growth.
Specifically, we wanted to look at why
Worcester's restaurant scene grew like it
did, with an eye toward the city's some-
what unique standing as a Massachusetts
community without a liquor license cap.
Turns out, that was a benefit for a couple
of other communities, too, specifically
Marlborough and Sturbridge.
Unlike the comprehensive and historic
"City of Immigrants" report, the restau-
rant project that eventually became this
edition's "No Limits" report was designed
as a relatively quicker project, to rekindle
the WBJ-WRRB partnership and poten-
tially lead to additional collaborations,
maybe even one or two more this year.
en, 2020 happened. WBJ's shied its
reporting resources to the COVID-19
economic fallout and diversity & inclusion
efforts. Plus, a project about the vitality
of the restaurant industry seemed out of
place mid-pandemic as so many eateries
were struggling, including some closing
permanently.
Despite its bumpy ride, we at WBJ are
extremely proud of this latest partnership
with the WRRB, as it shows how seeming-
ly benign local policies can have signifi-
cant impact on the vitality and makeup of
our economies. Special thanks to WRRB
Executive Director Paul Matthews and
Research Associate Tom Quinn for their
I N T H I S I S S U E
researching skills and patience in helping
this project come to fruition. We've already
begun talking about the next project, which
should be ready for you to read in less than
two years.
- Brad Kane, editor
e benefits of a great partnership
N E W S & A N A LY S I S
4 A Top Shelf Liquor License Policy
Read the full Worcester Regional
Research Bureau report on
Massachusetts liquor license limits and
how that impacts communities who
don't play by the rules.
7 Data: Liquor licenses for bars
and restaurants
Charts and graphs on individual liquor
license holders in Worcester, the
Central Mass. communities'
individual number of licenses, and all
Mass. communities without caps.
10 No Limits
Worcester Business Journal's feature
story on how communities' response to the
liquor license cap shapes communities,
particularly ones with no caps like
Worcester, Sturbridge and Marlborough.
W
Customized solutions from a local
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Member FDIC
For more information, visit
RocklandTrust.com/Worcester
or call,
Michael Crawford
SVP, Worcester Market Executive
508.769.2944
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