EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow Town Council met in a public hearing on Oct. 23 to discuss a Wines and Malt Beverages On Premises Liquor License for popular restaurant, Chipotle Mexican Grill. Chipotle would be doing business in town at 42 Center Sq.

The proposed manager of record, Amanda Adams, has nine years of experience in the restaurant and industry with three years of those managing Chicopee’s Chipotle location. Proposed hours of operation for the location would be from 10:45 a.m. to 10:05 p.m. There would be 46 indoor seats with no outdoor patio.    

Town Council member Donald Anderson asked Adams if the Chicopee location had a liquor license, to which Adams responded no. She stated this would be her first location managing a location with a liquor license.

“My experience with Chipotle is it’s a family–type restaurant where a lot of young children go as well. How are you going to break out the areas for allowing alcohol to be served with minors very present?” Town Council member Thomas O’Connor questioned.

The Chipotle representative responded, stating everyone who asks for alcohol would be ID’d, and that it is only served once that person is at the cashier; it would not be served anywhere else.

“How prevalent is this in Chipotle, in the franchise? We were discussing it earlier a little and I don’t know of any that have a liquor license. So why now and why here?” O’Connor asked.

Again, the Chipotle representative stated that this has been a part of the Chipotle business plan for a few years now and the company is starting to implement it in different cities. Chipotle’s Brockton and one of their Boston locations received liquor licenses earlier this year.

Council Vice President Michael Kane asked what measures the store would be taking to ensure that someone who is under 21 doesn’t get their hands on alcohol provided by someone that they’re at the restaurant with.

Adams responded, “We have very open dining rooms and we have very active dining rooms, as the general manager my job is to be in the dining room. I have not worked in a Chipotle where we have served alcohol, but I know I am very involved in the dining room. Between me and my staff, I can promise you that that wouldn’t really be an issue because we’re present, we’re there, we’re speaking to our guests, we call it table touching.”

She continued to explain that all of her managers are certified to serve alcohol, and any individual who becomes a cashier at the restaurant will be certified to serve.

Council President Kathleen Hill offered “friendly advice” to Adams, stating that the area of Center Square is often a “magnet” for kids after school, with Dunkin’ Donuts, the Library and Starbucks. She stated that, “kids are kids whether they’re 12 or they’re 18,” and that Adams should keep this in the back of her mind that there probably won’t be a shortage of middle and high school students making use of their product. “That goes to the kind of vigilance that you’re probably going to have to employ to make this work,” she stated.

Council member Joseph Ford commented, “I would just say that this gives me a little solace in the fact that they have the corporate structure and backing, this is not the first one out of their vast portfolio that’s going to be serving beer and wine. For tracking purposes, being able to track people that are CORI certified, gives me a little bit more comfort.”

With the motion passing unanimously, the approval of the Wine and Malt Beverages On Premise Liquor License for Chipotle is the fourth of five available liquor licenses of this type that is offered in East Longmeadow.