The Medford city council recently began considering a move to make liquor licenses more widely available to restaurants in the city. Liquor licenses come in two varieties: a license to serve beer and wine and a license to serve hard liquor or cocktails in addition to the lighter beverages. The requirement for the beer and wine license is a reasonable 19 or more seats, but for a full liquor license the requirement is much higher — a capacity of at least 99.
Granted, the city has already taken steps in the right direction in this regard. Until 2008, restaurants needed 250 seats to be eligible for a hard liquor license. The earlier policy created a clear business disadvantage for smaller, independently−owned restaurants. Put simply, people who couldn't get a cocktail in Medford instead went to similar establishments in townships nearby.
Somerville has already moved to address this issue. Last fall, the Daily reported that Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone was pushing for the number of hard liquor licenses the city could issue to be uncapped. In order to boost business for restaurants and eateries in town, Somerville attempted to gain the right to issue as many liquor licenses as it saw fit, beyond the 16 beer and wine and 84 all−alcohol licenses allotted to it by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Somerville councilman Robert Trane stated that a restaurant's ability to serve alcohol often defines its "bottom line" in profits.
The two cities surrounding Tufts are not the only ones faced with the issue of boosting restaurants' revenues with liquor licenses. Both Cambridge and Arlington have dealt with the same problem by acquiring unlimited liquor license allotments.
In making it so difficult for small restaurants to obtain all−alcohol liquor licenses in the face of vastly different policies in neighboring towns, Medford has been hampering its own businesses, as the competitive advantage offered by alcohol licenses is massive. A place like Blue Fuji, an Asian fusion restaurant in Medford Square, cannot serve ethnic cocktails because it's too small for an all−alcohol liquor license.
If customers want Mai Tais with their crab rangoons, they would simply go to an Asian fusion restaurant in Somerville or another nearby township where the chance of getting a liquor license is much higher for an establishment of the same size. Restaurants lose revenue, through no fault of their own, when cities restrict their growth with policies like the one Medford has in place.
The current laws do the most harm to small, independently owned restaurants. While multiple spots in Somerville — including Davis Square — have been revitalized by such businesses, Medford continues to lag behind. The city's downtown area has developed slowly, and a change in policy could deliver a renaissance both economically and culturally.
We understand that Medford took a large step forward with its 2008 changes. But we also feel that more can be, and needs to be, done. In an era where major chains can be found on every street corner, the entrepreneurship shown by independently owning and operating a restaurant should be rewarded and protected by the city, not hampered by restrictive policies.
The benefits of reforming Medford's alcohol licensing policy would be shared by the owner and the city alike.
