The success of the Tavern in the Square in Burlington has attracted other developers to reach out to the group.
Jon Chesto
Managing Editor, Print- Boston Business Journal
The Tavern in the Square is about to become one of the fastest growing restaurant groups in Greater Boston.
The first Tavern opened in 2004 in Cambridge’s Central Square. In the past decade, partners opened additional Tavern in the Square locations in Porter Square, Salem, Burlington and Allston, and they acquired the Union Street restaurant in Newton. Now, the company’s owners are about to add almost as many locations during the next year as they added during their first 10.
Stephen DeSousa, one of Tavern in the Square’s owners, says the group is working to open four locations. There’s a roughly 40-seat, limited service restaurant and bar that will open later this fall at South Station. Tavern in the Square will also open next to North Station, in a 5,600-square-foot space at the new Victor apartment building across Causeway Street, likely by sometime next April. There will be an 8,000-square-foot Tavern in the Square on Main Street in Northborough, where the company will renovate the former Sea Dog and combine it with a space that has been used by a nail salon next door early in 2014. And the company, he says, is close to finalizing a lease for a 7,000-square-foot spot at The Point, a new shopping center under construction in Littleton.
In all, the four new restaurants will likely add 120 to 150 employees to the group, which now employs nearly 600 people.
“Right now, in order to grow to this level, we’re adding to the team way in advance,” DeSousa says. “The biggest challenge is finding quality people. With so many restaurants opening up (in the region), there’s more demand than there is supply.”
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