Boston Inspections 2020

The Question

How can the City of Boston Inspectional Services Department better communicate requirements and expectations to restaurant owners while still ensuring compliance with food safety regulations and improving residents' safety?

The Team

• Ian Cutler

• Gavin Jiao

• Amy Villasenor

• Nicolas Diaz

• Emily Chi

The Story

The City of Boston Inspectional Services Department (ISD) strives to be a useful partner to Boston restaurant owners while ensuring compliance with food safety and resident safety regulations. However, our initial research pointed to frustration with the restaurant opening process in Boston. Conflicting sources of information, a paper-based process, and the financial impact of delays in the process were just a few of the initial problems we identified in the Boston restaurant opening process.

We conducted nearly 20 interviews with restaurant owners, restaurant investors, and City of Boston employees to better understand how we can improve this process. We eventually mapped out the entire restaurant process—something that hadn’t been done before. We then created a restaurant opening guide for new Boston restaurant owners to try and minimize frustrations and make the experience of working with the city more predictable.

Presentations

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