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Date: 5/11/2021
HATFIELD – At the Hatfield Board of Selectmen’s May 4 meeting, the board approved a wine and malt beverages license for Smithsonian Chowder House and received an update on COVID-19 in town.
Smithsonian Chowder House owner Peter Langlois explained during a public hearing that he was applying for the license in order to help increase profits after suffering catering losses in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are applying for a beer and wine license just to try to raise our check average and make it a more fun place for people to come. We pivoted our menu during the pandemic and the Chowder House did well. Without the catering business, we lost about $300,000 to $400,000 in catering business last year,” he said.
After seeing growth at the restaurant location, Langlois said he wanted to continue that growth by adding the liquor license.
“The Chowder House showed some nice growth over the year before, but it took a pandemic for me to realize the Chowder House is not sustainable by itself. I am really just looking to take one more step to ensure our sustainability in the neighborhood,” he said.
Langlois added that he wanted to add the liquor license in order to compete with other restaurants as the pandemic continues to subside.
“As the restaurants all start to open, we want to be competitive. We do not want to go back to just being a soup and grilled cheese house, we want to be competitive as more options open up for people because catering is not going to bounce back this year,” he said.
Board of Selectmen member Edmund Jaworski said he was in favor of approving the license.
“I think it is great that we can help our businesses in town, and I know with your restaurant I have never heard of any complaints, you have always run an outstanding business,” he said.
With little discussion the board unanimously approved the license.
After approving the license, Hatfield COVID-19 Coordinator Claudia Sarti provided an update on cases in the town and said they were on the decline.
“Things seem to be going very well in Hatfield. We are seeing a downward trend in the number of COVID-19 cases, this past week we had only four. Overall statewide we see a downward trend as well, largely in part to the number of vaccines that are being administered,” she said.
Sarti added that all town hall officials were fully vaccinated.
During the meeting, the board also approved a minimum quorum for the annual town meeting at 25 residents and approved the meeting’s warrant articles.