Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 21, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 9 To the 508. The City of Seven Hills. Wormtown. The Woo. Here's To The Heart of the Commonwealth. To your grit and determination. Your pride and belief. And to a tradition of hard work. Here's to a storied city. A storied franchise. And to paving the road ahead. Here's to you, Worcester. Tomorrow starts today. H E R E ' S T O Y O U M E M B E R F D I C | M E M B E R D I F O F F I C I A L F O U N D I N G P A R T N E R O F T H E W O R C E S T E R R E D S O X 2 7 8 P A R K A V E | 3 1 5 M A I N S T R E E T | W O R C E S T E R P U B L I C M A R K E T I N T E R A C T I V E A T M restrictions lied in May, a result of the added outdoor option is restaurants now have more seats for guests and can offer an amenity patrons seek in nicer weather. Creating a walkable city Looking toward the future of the program, Rolle hopes the City will get creative in reimagining outdoor din- ing. In October, Worcester ran a pilot program in the Canal District for a Streatery, which would extend outdoor dining into on-street parking spaces, as has been popular- ized in other cities like Boston. Rolle said the permanent pro- gram would not be identical to the temporary one, with greater limits on the amount of space outdoor dining could occu- py, and safeguards against noise and parking nuisances. e Mass. legislature in June consid- ered changes to laws for outdoor dining, although the state of emergency was lied before a consensus was reached. Koci took advantage of the temporary worcester program last summer to install six new tables on the sidewalk outside her Altea's. She said even as the restau- rant reopens its full indoor capacity, diners are still eager to sit outside. "ere's definitely a lot more foot traf- fic," said Koci, referring to the corner of Route 9 and Park Avenue with El Basha Bar & Grille, Sake Bomb Bistro, and Sparkle florist. "It's brought in a lot more visibility to that section." Enhanced street walkability is a huge factor in building Worcester's tourism market, said Monique Messier, executive director of tourism agency Discover Central Massachusetts. "Walkability is the way of how this city is going, and outdoor dining is a staple of that," Messier said. e outdoor dining program eased restrictions on size, making it a more ac- cessible option. While normal conditions restrict outdoor dining in public spaces to 12 seats, the new provision approved up to 50 seats or larger. "e City is proving how resilient it is by seeing the need to support outdoor dining and by making it a reality for the local restaurants," said Messier. Going back inside While Messier and Koci see a continu- ing desire for outdoor dining, Worcester Restaurant Group President Caitlyn Carolan said demand for outdoor dining at her three restaurants has steadily de- creased since the vaccine rolled out. "We're very sensitive to the public," Carolan said. "At this point, the public seems to be overwhelmingly excited to be returning back to normal." Carolan installed tents at both the Sole Proprietor and One Eleven Chop House when indoor capacity was limited to 50%. She removed the Chop House tent on June 8, and anticipated taking down the Sole Proprietor's the next week. While she emphasized the importance of the program during the pandemic, she said creating outdoor dining can involve some investing and adaptability. e Sole Proprietor's tents took up 10 parking spots and required electrical rewiring to run point-of-sale systems outside. "When you build a restaurant spe- cifically to have an outdoor space, you consider the functionality of how you're going to move around a restaurant," said Carolan, whose third restaurant, VIA Italian Table, has had an outdoor patio since 2007. "It is really challeng- ing to manage an outdoor space. Even at VIA, we've been open 14 years, and each season we're constantly altering our best practices for operating our outdoor spaces." Monique Messier, executive director at Discover Central Mass. W PHOTO/GRANT WELKER The Parkway Diner on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester created its own outdoor seating area in the first few months after restaurants were allowed to reopen in June 2020.

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