wbjournal.com | April 16, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education)
Staff Writers
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Emily Micucci,
emicucci@wbjournal.com (Health care)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub
Livia Gershon
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Associate Art Director,
Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@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
Events & Marketing Intern
Megan Irish, events@wbjournal.com
Distribution and Database Coordinator
A Guide to STUFF, a publication
of New England Business Media
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.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 2018. 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
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845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478
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Worcester Business Journal
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• 508-755-8860 fax
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A division of:
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
T
he terrible service should have
tipped me off.
WBJ's offices sit at 172
Shrewsbury St., so everyone
here is always interested
when new eateries pop up on Worcester's
Restaurant Row. Since 166 Shrewsbury St.
is literally our next door neighbor, it was
only a matter of time before we tried e
Usual, the specialty sandwich shop from
husband and wife Kevin Perry and Stacey
Gala.
My first trip to e Usual went well
enough; I ate a pretty solid turkey sand-
wich, even if the wait staff was a little
inattentive. e next trip, though, was a
disaster. A large group of us took News
Editor Grant Welker out to lunch for his
first day with the company, and e Usual
staff completely ignored us. To get a meal
of subpar sandwiches took 2.5 hours.
e next month, Perry was indicted
on 14 charges of drug dealing and money
laundering. It later came out he was using
e Usual and the Blackstone Tap in the
Canal District to launder his earnings.
While I didn't think about it too much, I
didn't feel great about contributing $200 in
sandwich purchases to help Perry.
Aer e Usual closed in 2017, one of
its former employees – Joseph Herman –
opened e Chameleon in its place, offer-
ing a seasonal menu featuring one of my
favorites, barbecue. When we wrote the
story about the new restaurant in the un-
usual circumstances – opening in a build-
ing seized over a drug scheme – Herman
downplayed Gala's role in the restaurant,
describing her as a silent partner.
Because I didn't learn my lesson and
believe in the fundamental good of people,
I tried e Chameleon, once to meet a
source and another for Staff Writer Zach-
ary Comeau's first day lunch. e same
poor service and inattention to detail was
carried over from e Usual. Of course,
this was because the food and service were
the secondary mission of e Chameleon:
Herman and Gala were attempting to
again launder Perry's drug money.
I spent about $300 at e Usual and
e Chameleon, unwittingly funding
two criminal enterprises. Because of its
location and infrastructure, 166 Shrews-
I helped fund two drug schemes
I N T H I S I S S U E
bury St. will likely become a restaurant
again once the federal government sells the
building. And because it is next door and I
like trying new things, it is only a matter of
time before I eat there again.
I just hope the service is better.
- Brad Kane, editor
W
NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
14 Focus on Manufacturing
22 The List: Largest local manufacturers
24 Know How
25 On the Move
28 Photo Finish
29 Opinion
30 Shop Talk: Troy Siebels,
Hanover Theatre
8 Fast turnaround
With little buildup, the Massachusetts Pirates
seek to revive arena football in Worcester.
24 10 Things I know about …
Time management
Advice columnist Jody Staruk
details the ways you can be more
efficient, including delegating, not
procrastinating and setting a hard stop.
CORRECTION: A March 19 story entitled "The newspaper giant
of Central Mass." said the Worcester Telegram & Gazette had
800 employees in its newsroom during its heyday in the 1980s
and about 130 today. Those numbers reflect the total number of
employees at the publication, not just the newsroom.
