A new juice bar and café proposed for Newbury Street was among the applicants on hand for the July 6 monthly meeting of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB) Licensing and Building Use Committee, which was held virtually.
Attorney Dennis Quilty then detailed plans for Denmark-based Joe & the Juice to open a location at 125 Newbury St. in the space last occupied by the erstwhile Jonquil’s Café & Bakery (which Quilty also previously represented).
Besides its signature juices, Joe & the Juice, which will have a closing time of 9 p.m. and offer takeout, as well as dining in, will sell soft drinks; coffee and tea; and “light” breakfast and lunch fare, said Quilty, who added menu items would occasionally rotate.
No cooking (nor any live entertainment) will take place on site, said Quilty, and the establishment also has no plans to sell alcohol.
The proposed establishment would offer 17 seats inside, along with 16 seasonal seats at a private outdoor patio, said Devin Corcoran, construction manager for Joe & the Juice’s East Coast locations. (Quilty said the Newbury Street location has a 48-person occupancy per the city’s Inspectional Services Department.)
The new establishment is expected to result in minimal exterior changes, said Quilty, adding that signage might already have been approved for the incoming business.
A dumpster will be located at the rear of the establishment, said Quilty, and accessible via an alleyway, where deliveries will also be received.
Conrad Armstrong, committee chair, noted that the north side of Newbury Street has already experienced problems with commercial trash receptacles “leaning over” and blocking the passage of vehicles and pedestrians alike. And with this in mind, he encouraged the applicant to explore a “variety” of different trash containers.
Quilty and Corcoran said they were both aware of the trash issue, and that they would seek to address it in selecting a suitable receptacle.
In another matter, representatives for Shake Shack’s location at 234 Newbury St., outlined the restaurant’s desire to stay open for business and takeout each night until 2 a.m. – one hour past its current 1 a.m., closing time.
Attorney Dawson Cooper, who had previously represented the Newbury Street restaurant at the committee’s monthly meeting held virtually on May 4, said the establishment would cater largely to patrons of nearby bars and students in the proposed extra hour of business, during which they expect to generate an additional $2,000 in sales each night.
The restaurant, which now sells beer and wine to 1 a.m. each night, wouldn’t seek to extend the hours of its liquor license, if granted its requested 2 a.m. closing time, said Dawnson.
Armstrong asked how the restaurant intends to enforce its 1 a.m. cutoff for beer and wine, especially since employees could easily lose track of time during the proposed extra hour of business.
Dawson replied all restaurant employees are both TIPS certified and ServSafe trained, and that “they would all be aware of the [intended] change.” He added that beer and wine also don’t account for much of the restaurant’s revenue, so employees could easily track their sales.
Also, Dawon said delivery drivers are closely monitored and would be “blocked” from making deliveries for Shake Shack citywide for serious infractions.
In response to concerns previously raised that a 2 a.m. closing time for a restaurant on Newbury Street would be unprecedented, Dawson countered that Lolita, a Mexican-inspired restaurant at 261 Dartmouth St., just around the corner form Newbury Street, is now open until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
“It kind of seems like the precedent is already set,” said Dawson.
Dawson also noted that Shake Shack on Newbury Street has been operating nightly until 1 a.m. “for a couple of months now,” without receiving any complaints (i.e. noise or otherwise) from neighbors.
Elliott Laffer, former committee chair and a current committee member, advised the applicant to look at the conditional-use zoning restrictions for the business, particularly in regard to its hours of operation. He suggested they might need to go before the city’s Board of Appeal to address this issue.
Armstrong told the applicant he would likely notify them of NABB’s position on their application with the city (i.e. to oppose or not oppose it) by the following week.
The commission also heard from representatives for Quality Mart at 21 Massachusetts Ave. regarding the business’s request to sell individual containers of beer, along with pint and half-pints of alcohol.
Attorney Carolyn Conway said Quality Mart would willingly continue not to sell ‘nips’ or kegs of beer. But she added as alcohol consumption continues to generally wane, the business wants to be able to respond to this downward trend in drinking by selling single cans of White Claw and High Noon, among other now-popular canned alcoholic beverages, as well as pint or half-pints of alcohol to accommodate customers who might enjoy a couple of drinks on a weekend night.
“We don’t expect much to change [with the business’s operations],’ said Conway. “We’re just serving what our customers are looking for in this day and age.”
Aymen Rajeh, the business owner, echoed this sentiment, saying he builds his inventory based on what customers want. Within the past 18 months, he added he has seen an increased demand for ‘ready-to-drink’ cans of mixed drinks and other alcoholic beverages.
“That’s where the industry is heading,” said Rajeh, who also pledged to honor NABB’s request to not sell what Armstrong loosely described as “nationally advertised beers” (e.g. Budweiser and Miller).
Armstong, who acknowledged that no other neighborhood liquor store has restrictions on selling pints or half-pints of alcohol, told the applicant he would “be in touch” regarding NABB’s position on their application.
The committee also heard from the latest proposed owners of the longstanding Bauer Wines at 255 Newbury St., after a previous deal to acquire the business fell through.
Hardik Patel and Parth Patel, who own and operate four other area liquor stores, including two Saugus stores, as well as stores in Everett and Revere, respectively, said they intend to continue with Bauer’s existing hours and operations.
Armstrong again emphasized NABB’s strong stance against liquor stores in the neighborhood selling either ‘nips’ or single containers of what he describes as “nationally advertised beers.”
Hardik Patel said the business would abide by this request, although they had yet to a date to go before the city’s Licensing Board. “Probably sometime at the beginning of August,” he added.
At the commission’s last monthly meeting, which was held virtually on June 1, George Metri, who owns Portside Liquors, which has several locations around Cape Cod, had outlined his since-abandoned plan to buy Bauer Wine from its soon-to-retire longtime owner, Howie Rubin.
Before relocating about a year ago to its smaller, current storefront space at 255 Newbury St., Bauer Wine was originally located at 330 Newbury St.