Late last week, it was reported that some restaurants in the Greater Boston area were starting to sell grocery items while also offering takeout and/or delivery, and now we have learned that those dining spots within the city itself are apparently going to have to stop doing this.
According to a source, the Boston Inspectional Services is notifying restaurants that they can no longer sell groceries because they do not have a permit to sell them, so they would need to get approval by regulators to be able to act as a retail grocery store (it appears that they would need what is called a Food Service Health Permit). As mentioned earlier, a similar setup was being done by dining spots in Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ultimately allowing them to sell grocery items even without grocery permits, as long as some restrictions were followed including listing grocery items on menus and not allowing popup-style markets to be set up within interior dining rooms.
It isn't yet known if other communities in the Boston area are not allowing dining spots to sell grocery items, either, though a handful of restaurants in cities and towns around Boston were either doing this or planning on doing so.
[Earlier Article]
More and More Boston-Area Dining Spots Offering Groceries to the Public
by Marc Hurwitz (Also follow us on Twitter at @hiddenboston)
[A related post from our sister site (Boston's Hidden Restaurants): List of Restaurant Closings and Openings in the Boston Area]
