Hospitality

Livia's Dish’s anniversary celebration comes after the owners experienced many of the same hardships other restaurants faced due to the pandemic. When the coronavirus hit Worcester, they prepared for the worst. 

The legal market is still taking shape nearly four years since voters legalized marijuana in Massachusetts, and rules around home delivery of cannabis and access options for medical patients were at the center of the latest round of push-and-pull on Monday between the industry, medical patients and regulators.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced Central Massachusetts business to take on new roles in preventing further spread of the disease, including enforcing mask-wearing in public and – at times – turning away would-be revenue-generating customers who don’t abide by the mandate.

In a normal season, the Worcester Bravehearts gear the team toward baseball fans, who’ve made the Bravehearts a perennial top draw nationally among collegiate summer teams.

67 Degrees Brewing Co., a microbrewery in Franklin, opened just a month and a half before having to shut down because of COVID-19.

Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers is the latest free agent to be secured by The Boston Celtics, in a four-year deal making the Framingham company the official craft brewer for the team.

Illinois cannabis company PharmaCann Inc. opened an adult-use marijuana dispensary at 939 Boston Turnpike in Shrewsbury on Tuesday, according to a press release. It is the first marijuana dispensary in the town.

Fitchburg has four cannabis operations up and running today, but far more are on the way, making the North Central Massachusetts city into something of a hub for the still-developing industry.

Luckily for Jermaine Smith, owner of the Caribbean Press food truck of Worcester, the food truck industry was easily adaptable for COVID-19 operations.

With the sudden closure of its store in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, used and rare bookseller Bedlam Book Cafe of Worcester had to rethink its business and shift to online platforms.