Hospitality

When a would-be restaurateur approaches Worcester city officials with a plan to open a new eatery, not so much stands in the way procedurally – at least compared to most Massachusetts cities and towns.

With coronavirus cases rising in Worcester and across the state, two restaurants in downtown Worcester's Grid District announced Friday they'll close for the winter.

A new medical marijuana dispensary has opened at 13 Mercer Road in Natick.

Unlike many others in the hospitality industry impacted by the pandemic, the living history museum Old Sturbridge Village was put into a unique situation because of the highly skilled and specialized nature of its employees, which are hard to replace.

Bud’s Goods & Provisions Corp., an adult-use cannabis dispensary on West Boylston Street in Worcester, plans to open for orders on Oct. 30, with a formal soft opening scheduled for Halloween, the company announced on Wednesday.

Redemption Rock Brewing Co. in Worcester is officially a certified benefit corporation, the second company to earn that title in Worcester, and the first craft brewery B-Corp in Massachusetts, the company announced on Tuesday.

After wading through a raft of comments from municipal leaders, established industry players and advocates, marijuana regulators on Tuesday ironed out the final wrinkles of their plan to establish a structure for home delivery of marijuana and create new business opportunities -- and rejected a proposal to delay delivery until 2023.

Elev8 Cannabis opened the first of its three Massachusetts dispensary locations in Athol on Oct. 8. Its owner and founder, Seun Adedeji, also operates a dispensary in Oregon, with another forthcoming in Illinois.

Under the watchful eyes of municipal leaders, established industry players and advocates, marijuana overseers on Tuesday are ironing out the final wrinkles of their plan to establish a structure for home delivery of marijuana and create new business opportunities.

Rick Walton, owner of Moon Hill Brewing Co. in Gardner, has received a $50,000 Economic Recovery Fund loan from the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp., the financing arm of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, the chamber announced on Monday.