Main Ingredient Zoning Issue Resolved

Owners and patrons of The Main Ingredient at 914 Bay Ridge Rd. said they are happy things are business as usual once again at the popular restaurant and catering shop.

More than four months ago, the cafe portion of the facility was shut down due to a zoning issue involving seating.

Christina Rossetti, general manager for The Main Ingredient, said it was a miscommunication over the course of three to four years of how many seats the establishment was zoned for. That miscommunication is what brought the cafe service to a halt since January.

“The previous owners had us on record for fewer seats, and had a permit for 35," Rossetti said. "As the property switched hands more seats were brought in without realizing the mistake.”

Rossetti said a routine check by the fire marshall revealed the mistake.

“In this area of Annapolis, we are only allowed to have 50 seats under the permit we had," she said. "In actuality, we were serving somewhere close to 85. So we found we were serving more than we were coded for."

Owners worked vigorously for the next four months to get the new permit; going before the City of Annapolis twice.

“We had to update some things like get new electrical wiring, bring our restrooms up to code and more handicap accessible and a few mechanical issues," Rossetti said. "We’ve learned a lot about patience during this whole thing."

They were told by city officials not to expect to be up and running again until June, which would have cut into their business significantly with Mother’s Day and Commissioning week both in May.

Until they could reopen Rossetti said a third of the staff had to be laid off and they had to limit their reservations and accommodate more ‘to go’ orders instead.

Rossetti said the owners hired a lawyer to help expedite the process and customers took up a letter-writing campaign. Rossetti said she was told city officials received a letter a day for close to a month.

The owners were still left without a date to reopen even after meeting with officials in April. Then, last Thursday the fire marshall signed off on a new permit allowing them to seat 99 just in time for Mother’s Day.

Rossetti said they were excited and were able to fill all their seats for Mother’s Day.

And now everything is back to normal, with the exception of their liquor license, Rossetti said. They are now waiting on a permit to allow them to serve alcohol to 99 instead of 50. They hope to get that resolved soon.