3 caught in food license crackdown

Three JP eateries that were previously operating without legally required “common victualler” food service licenses are scheduled to go before the city licensing board next month.

Canto 6 Bakery at 3346 Washington St., Monumental Cupcakes at 36 South St. and the Faulkner Hospital, which operates a cafeteria and coffee shop at 1153 Centre St., all set about getting their licenses in response to a city crackdown.

All three have received temporary licenses from the city and are still operating.

Earlier this year the health division of the City Inspectional Services Department (ISD) sent out letters to city restaurant owners saying they would not pass their heath inspections unless they could furnish their common victualler licenses, City officials told the Gazette.

“The rules haven’t changed, enforcement has just gotten stricter,” Nancy Mickiewicz from the Licensing Board told the Gazette.

Mickiewicz and ISD both declined to comment on the three JP cases, but Canto 6 owner Susanne Young confirmed that she had applied for a license in response to a letter from the city. Young has owned Canto 6 for five years. She had previously been told by ISD that her business did not need a license, she said.

In general, bakeries do not need food service licenses unless they have seating, according to the City of Boston web site. Canto 6 has two small tables.

Monumental Cupcakes and Faulkner Hospital did not respond to Gazette requests for comment by press time. But Michael Reiskind, who heads the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council’s Public Service Committee, told the Gazette that they are also seeking licenses in response to the city letter.

Monumental Cupcakes, which opened last year, is another bakery that originally didn’t have seating, Reiskind told the Gazette. It installed a few booths after customers started eating at tables in the store intended for flowers, he said.

Reiskind said he does not know why Faulkner Hospital, which has been operating a cafeteria and gift shop for years, has not previously applied for a license. Faulkner is seeking food service licenses for both of those operations, he said.

The Public Service Committee hosts community hearings on licensing board issues and makes non-binding recommendations to the board. Reiskind told the Gazette the committee was scheduled to hear all three applications at its Dec. 1 meeting.

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