City reaches out to entrepreneurs of color to apply for liquor licenses

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The city of Boston’s Office of Small Business and Licensing Board recently held a liquor license information session in Mattapan for entrepreneurs to learn and ask questions about the process.

The legislation passed in September 2024, and the city has approved 37 applications so far,  out of the 225 liquor licenses, to its minority neighborhoods over the next three years, according to the Boston Herald.

During the session, Danny Green, the executive secretary of the Boston Licensing Board, was the primary speaker. He said there are two main types of liquor licenses that are available in the state of Massachusetts, “on-premise” and “off-premise.”

An on-premise liquor license is where you buy a drink, and you drink it in the same place where you bought it, which could be in a restaurant, a club, or a hotel, said Green. An off-premise liquor license is anywhere where you buy a beverage to drink somewhere else, which could be at a liquor store, a package store or a convenience store.

Green said that both types of liquor licenses have a quota, a hard number that the city of Boston cannot go above, which is set by the state, and that the new liquor licenses for on-premise establishments are now available throughout the city.

Most of these liquor licenses are geographically restricted licenses and can only go to certain zip codes in the city of Boston, which represent the neighborhoods of Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, South End and West Roxbury. One thing to note about the zip code-restricted liquor licenses is that they are only available to places that prepare food on-site, said Green, however, it does not necessarily mean you have to be a restaurant.

Another caveat of the geographically restricted liquor licenses is that if you decide to move your business, you cannot sell that license; it goes back to the board to be reissued to another eligible business.

The next type of liquor license available through the legislation are community space licenses, which are defined as outdoor spaces, non-profit organizations, and small theaters with under 750 seats.

The last type of license now available in through legislation and which the board has yet to give out are transferable, non-restricted alcohol licenses.

“The city’s quota for transferable, non-restricted alcohol licenses actually went up by 12,” Green said.

The small number of approved applications led Green and his office to go around the city to hold information sessions for entrepreneurs, so people are aware of the opportunity to apply.

While the liquor license application process is a lot of paperwork, he said that his office is more than willing to help entrepreneurs with it.

Along with accessing the application online, entrepreneurs also need to complete their business structure documents from the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office and have a space already identified for their business before they apply, said Green, either a lease, deed, or letter of intent to a lease if they get the license.

Once those things are in place, whoever is disclosed as an officer, director or shareholder must provide a signed query authorization form for the state to run a background check, even though the city does not run background checks.

Having a criminal record is not a barrier to getting a liquor license unless it happens to be a narcotics conviction, which is an absolute bar to holding a license under state law. Other types of criminal convictions can be mitigated by writing an affidavit with the application, stating what’s happened in the intervening years.

The person who runs the day-to-day operations of the business does not have to be a U.S. citizen to hold a liquor license, said Green, as legislation allows them to be on a liquor license if they have an immigrant visa holder, green card holder, or someone with work authorization in the U.S., and can provide proof.

The last thing needed for the application is the entrepreneur’s floor plan — along with a piece of paper called the entity vote, showing that they have the authority to file the application.

If they are applying for one of these new liquor licenses, the fee is a nominal amount, which totals up to $470, said Green.

An entrepreneur who receives a liquor license will pay an annual fee of between $2,000 and $3,000 each year, depending on what type of license they hold and what their capacity is.

Along with the application, entrepreneurs also must complete the community process with the Office of Neighborhood Services.

Community engagement specialist Jeremie Bembury said that entrepreneurs will be directed to connect with him to start this process. Once this connection is made, he will send them back an email with everything that he needs to begin their community process.

Bembury’s office will also work to find potential meeting dates that do not coincide with a scheduled abutters meeting, a Planning Department neighborhood meeting, a civic meeting for the neighborhood, or a notable citywide event.

Once the Office of Neighborhood Services finds a few viable dates, they provide them to the liquor license applicant and wait for a response. Once a date has been chosen, the Office of Neighborhood Services creates a flyer and sends it to the applicant with the list of abutters and a map for their reference.

Applicants must then physically flyer each physical address or send flyers by mail at least seven days before the meeting, along with submitting the photographic evidence of successfully flyering or certified mail stubs to keep on record.

Green said that once his office hears back from Bembury that an entrepreneur’s community process is complete and all documents are turned in, their application is considered complete. The next step is a transactional hearing within 30 days, or they are in violation of the law. Those hearings are typically held on the first and fourth Wednesday of the month at 10 a.m. on Zoom, he added.

The board decides who gets a liquor license based on the legal standard of public need, said Green.

Some of the primary criteria the board will look for to establish public need include checking to see if there are already a lot of liquor licenses in the area, what their unique concept is, addressing concerns that your particular proposed license would have in the neighborhood, and the entrepreneur’s reputation.

Once the entrepreneur’s application goes through the city, the board must send their application to the state, which will conduct the investigation and background checks. The state then tells the board whether or not an application is approved or rejected or whether they need more information.

If the Licensing Board votes to grant a license, and there is a license available, it will send the application to the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission for review and final approval. If the commission approves the application, it will send the applicants and the Licensing Board an email with the approval notice.

From there, the Licensing Board will contact the applicants, who must submit their Building Inspection Certificate from the Inspectional Services Department, Place of Assembly Permit (if capacity is over 49 persons) from Fire Prevention, proof of liquor liability insurance, and Licensing Board license fee.

The next round of liquor license applications will close on May 23.

The board also hosts bi-weekly office hours on Wednesdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. to help entrepreneurs with the application process. The next date for office hours is on April 30 virtually.