Outdoor dining will return to downtown Plymouth this summer, but it will cost restaurants more to offer it.
For the first time since al fresco dining was started during the pandemic, the Select Board – by a 3-to-1 vote – decided to stop subsidizing the cost of setting up and breaking down the “parklets” in front of establishments that offer outdoor dining. (Chair Dick Quintal, who owns Squinny’s Pizza in North Plymouth, abstained from voting.)
That means restaurant owners for the first time must foot the entire bill.
Town Manager Derek Brindisi told the board that it costs the town $2,400 to set up a parklet for restaurants that participated in the program last year, and $4,175 for businesses signing up for the first time. That compares with last year’s fees of $1,000 for renewals and $2,900 for newcomers to the program.
The town stores the parklet setups – custom-made by the Department of Public Works – at the end of the season, which Brindisi proposed run from May 19 to Oct. 13 this year.
Downtown restaurants’ interest in outdoor dining has declined over the years. Developer Rick Vayo, who headed the initiative to offer outdoor dining during the pandemic, said it began with 14 businesses in 2021, when many people still did not want to eat indoors because of Covid.
Two years ago, nine restaurants offered outdoor dining, Brindisi said, and last year six participated.
Vayo said part of the reason for the decline can be attributed to the difficulty in hiring enough servers, but he believes it’s still important.
“Outdoor dining has been phenomenal for downtown Plymouth,” he said, speaking on behalf the Plymouth Downtown Waterfront District, a business association. Vayo co-owns Plimoth General Store on Main Street, which sells breakfast and lunch fare but has not offered outdoor dining since it opened in June 2023.
“This is a benefit to the entire downtown,” Vayo said. “We see people noticing shops as they wait for tables.”
Erin Murphy, co-owner of Su Casa on Main Street, agreed with Vayo, saying outdoor dining “is a draw” that helps all of downtown, not just businesses that participate.
“It’s definitely essential to my restaurant,” she said. Murphy said the added cost would be “a lot to swallow.”
Brindisi projected that six or seven restaurants would apply for outdoor dining this year.
But Vayo predicted that with the higher fees, applications for outdoor dining could plummet to one or two, or perhaps none.
“The restaurants that we’re talking about are all small restaurants,” said Katy Thayer, co-owner of Uva Wine Bar on Main Street. “A $2,400 bill at this point is a really big pill for us to swallow.”
Thayer pointed out that most of the town’s larger restaurants are on the waterfront, boosted by a built-in summer crowd and more resources.
“We’re competing for those tourists to come up to the downtown area,” Thayer said. “They’re all on the waterfront. We’re smaller businesses, so we obviously don’t have the income and the margins that some of the bigger restaurants do have.”
Brindisi said he does not think the expense is prohibitive. If each parklet accommodated up to 29 seats, he said, a restaurant could recoup its costs by turning over its tables three times.
Vayo replied by pointing out that 29 is the maximum number of seats that a restaurant can have on a large parklet before being required to add bathroom capacity. Most restaurants can add only 12 outdoor seats, he said.
Select Board Vice Chair Kevin Canty recalled that the board last year said the 2024 season would be the last one with the town footing part of the bill.
“We can’t keep subsidizing businesses in the downtown area in perpetuity,” Canty said. But he was nevertheless willing to lower the cost for renewals from $2,400 to $1,400.
“I’m happy to make it a little easier for you to stay in the club,” he said.
Board member Charlie Bletzer agreed with that proposal.
“We depend on these businesses in our downtown and in the waterfront to support our tourism,” he said.
Quintal, however, vehemently objected to offering any discounts.
“I’m not against outdoor dining but if you want the extra seats you should pay for them,” he said, arguing that if outdoor dining was so popular, more restaurant owners would have turned out to the meeting to support it. (Murphy and Thayer were the only two restaurant owners to speak.)
“It’s not even used a lot,” Quintal continued. “I go downtown a lot, and I see [outdoor seats] empty. Saturday nights. Friday nights. I’m done with it.”
Canty moved to approve at a rate of $1,400 for renewals and $4,200 for new applicants.
Board member David Golden sided with Quintal, objecting to the discount for renewals.
“There are restaurants in Cedarville and Manomet and West Plymouth that don’t benefit from this program,” Golden said. “I cannot support the reduced amount for returning businesses.”
He and board member John Mahoney voted against Canty’s motion. Bletzer voted yes. With Quintal abstaining because of his restaurant business, the 2-2 vote killed the motion.
In the end, the board approved the higher fees, with Mahoney, Canty, and Golden voting yes, Bletzer voting no, and Quintal again abstaining.
Brindisi then proposed that, as was done last year, restaurants without parklets be allowed to apply for tables on the sidewalk. He proposed the fee of $100 for each table of four seats. How many tables a restaurant could have would depend on its frontage.
That measure passed by a vote of 4-0, with Quintal abstaining.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org