BARNSTABLE – The process of opening up a restaurant can be complicated and the town of Barnstable is looking to help potential owners navigate the requirements.
The town has developed a Restaurant Startup Guide that lays out the steps that need to be taken to receive various permits and licenses.
Economic Development Specialist Mike Trovato the restaurant business is one of the types of businesses that has the most difficult permitting process.
“A lot of people will start down this road not knowing what is in front of them and then see the various hurdles that they do run into,” Trovato said. “They’ll get partway through the process and then they have to give up on it because they don’t realize the extent or potential expense involved with this.”
Trovato said says the goal is to educate restaurateurs about the scope of the work to get doors open and food on plates.
“In discussion with the different regulatory departments here in town we determined we wanted to make this a priority in terms of making it easy for people to get through our permitting system,” Trovato said.
The colorfully designed brochure covers everything from grease traps, the number of bathrooms required, hoods for ventilation, fire suppressant systems and water hook ups.
“We wanted to streamline that and give people a simple guide to help them through that process,” Trovato said.
The brochure is modeled after similar guides already used in other communities.
The guide is available for download now at the town’s website and businessbarnstable.com. Hard copies will soon be available at village business associations, town hall and the town’s regulatory offices.
The town is also in the process of getting the guide translated into Spanish and Portuguese.
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