Boston restaurants face new fees and restrictions to open outdoor dining

BOSTON, Mass. — Ken Chounchaisit just bought planters to set up an outdoor dining patio outside Soup Shack in Jamaica Plain.

He says he spent about $800 for these new barriers, but he’s still waiting for his outdoor dining permit to get approved by the city.

“Hopefully we’re going to get it by like tomorrow,” said Chounchaisit.

Restaurants in all neighborhoods, except for the North End, can open outdoor dining this Friday April 1, but they have to get approved first and there are more restrictions this year.

“Being able to have outdoor dining saved these restaurants during the pandemic,” said Ginger Brown, executive director of JP Centre / South Main Streets. “But the new guidelines are more expensive, more paperwork, more tedious, they require approval from several city departments.”

Brown advocates for small business owners and wrote a letter to the mayor saying the new costs this year are forcing some owners to opt out of outdoor dining.

Under the new guidance, patios that extend onto the street need to have concrete jersey barriers or ones filled with water surrounding the area without any gaps.

“We had ones that used cinder blocks, plyboard, pallets, planters, really beautiful barriers that are now a lost investment they can’t reuse those,” said Brown.

Brown says those jersey barriers cost anywhere from $200 to $700 each and most restaurants need at least eight of them for a patio.

Owners also need to have additional insurance and pay new fees this year, so she worries the new rules are inequitable.

“In our district, in our neighborhood, residents really love the outdoor seating, so they’re going to choose a restaurant that has outdoor seating over one that doesn’t,” said Brown.

Brown worries many restaurant owners will miss out on that extra boost to business if they can’t get through the new application process and fees for outdoor dining.

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