Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1537801
wbjournal.com | July 28, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 3 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 2025. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $84.00. For more information, please email circulation@wbjournal.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com Worcester Business Journal WBJ A division of: Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com Managing Editor, Eric Casey, ecasey@wbjournal.com (real estate, manufacturing) Staff Writer Mica Kanner-Mascolo, mkannermascolo@wbjournal.com (health care, diversity & inclusion) Contributors Sloane M. Perron, Giselle Rivera- Flores, Emily Micucci, Livia Gershon Photographers Matt Wright, Edd Cote, Christine Peterson Research Director, Stephanie Meagher, smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com Research Assistant, Heide Martin, hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com Production Director, Kira Beaudoin, kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com Art Director, Mitchell Hayes, mhayes@wbjournal.com General Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com Accounts Manager Timothy Doyle tdoyle@wbjournal.com Human Resources Manager, Tracy Rodwill, trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Director of Finance, Sara Ward, sward@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Clerk, Rae Rogers, rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Event Coordinator, Patty Harris, pattyh@wbjournal.com Director of Audience Development and Operations, Leah Allen, lallen@nebusinessmedia.com Business Office Assistant, Nicole Dunn, ndunn@nebusinessmedia.com Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Associate Publisher, Mark Murray mmurray@wbjournal.com President, Tom Curtin tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com ` Commercial Banking Done Differently. Bob Paulsen Commercial Banking Center Manager 100 Front Street | Worcester, MA 01608 Cell: 508.254.8582 Robert.Paulsen@RocklandTrust.com For more information, contact: Awarded as the Best Bank in the Northeast in two categories by Coalition Greenwich for U.S. Middle Market Banking, including: • Likelihood to Recommend • Overall Satisfaction Member FDIC T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 4 Central Mass. In Brief 12 Focus on Higher Education 17 List: Largest colleges & universities 18 Column: The Hustle is Real 19 Advice 20 Movers & Shakers 21 Opinion 22 Shop Talk: Worcester Free Care Collaborative 10 Overcoming barriers Workers with disabilities are battling preconceived notions, as their labor force participation steadily rises and company programs expand. 19 New risk to founders who move out of state Advice columnist Matthew Erskine, managing partner of law firm Erskine & Erskine, details a new Massachusetts tax ruling with implications for business owners. O ne of my favorite jokes to tell around the WBJ news- room is the best headline any publication could write is simply "Restaurant clos- es" followed closely by its cousin "Restau- rant opens." Stories about the hospitality industry, particularly restaurant openings and closings, predictably drive high vol- umes of readers to WBJournal.com. Despite these high pageviews, I've typically dismissed this audience interest as popcorn traffic: Readers who come to WBJ strictly for that one story and aren't necessarily going to visit our website frequently for our business-to-business coverage of the entire Central Massachu- setts economy. ey certainly wouldn't pay to subscribe to WBJ. At least, that's what I thought. Yet, in June when I was attending a business journalism conference in Cana- da, the group publisher for the large media company Crain's detailed the types of sto- ries that drove traffic and subscriptions to its publications in Chicago, Detroit, Cleve- land, and New York. Somewhat obviously, real estate stories are at the top. Real estate is the core beat of most business journals, including WBJ. If you know real estate, you know the economy. Surprisingly, restaurant stories also were among the top drivers of core audience growth for Crain's. e stories aren't just about openings and closings either, but genuine business stories about industry trends, food costs, workforce problems, and the other challenges restaurants face. e second I heard this, I understood: Restaurants have a natural appeal for consumers, which drives traffic, but those stories told smartly through a business lens can attract the more business readers comprising the core of WBJ's audience. While restaurant news has always been part of WBJ's coverage of the broader Central Massachusetts economy, this edition marks our first attempt at this more sophisticated, analytical approach to restaurant storytelling. Managing Editor Eric Casey dives into it with his "What's with all the new fried chicken restau- rants?" story on page 8. From the moment I started as editor in 2015, I was told Worcester was known for its restaurants, particularly on Shrews- Trying something new: chicken sandwiches I N T H I S I S S U E bury Street, where WBJ's offices are. ere's plenty more to learn about this fascinating industry, and we look forward to exploring it with you. – Brad Kane, editor W