Who We List
A Community Resource, Not a Marketplace
Counter Handbook exists to connect North Andover residents with restaurants and businesses that deserve to stay in business. We are a community resource, not a vendor marketplace. We take no payment to list a restaurant and no advertising revenue from anyone.
Our evaluation starts with the question a real customer asks: Is this place worth my time and money? We answer the part we can check ourselves: that the business is real and is where it says it is.
- An address that matches the business's own Google listing
- A Google listing that points to the business's own website
- A track record that backs up the business's own claims
A listing here is not a rating. A listing is not a recommendation in the sense that we are endorsing one place over another. A listing is a statement of fact: this business met the verifiable criteria we can check, and they still meet them.
The difference between a recommendation and a listing is simple: a recommendation comes from someone who actually looked into it.
No Paid Listings, No Star Ratings
We will not accept payment to list a business or rank one restaurant ahead of another. We will not create a star-rating system we are not qualified to maintain.
Health permits and inspection results are public records kept by the North Andover Health Department, under the food code set by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. We do not inspect kitchens or collect permits ourselves, so if a permit or an inspection matters to your choice, check those records or ask the restaurant to show you its posted permit.
This approach takes more work than a vendor-rating platform. That extra work is the entire point. A curated list carries responsibility to the people who trust it.
What We Check, and What We Leave to You
Every business on this site has passed the checks below before its listing went live, and we repeat them to keep the directory current. They confirm who and where a business is, not how its kitchen is run.
Address and Listing: We check that the business operates at the address it gives and that its Google listing matches its own website. That is what a listing here confirms.
Permits and Training: We do not collect permits or training certificates. If food safety or allergens matter to your order, ask the restaurant whether its kitchen staff hold ServSafe or equivalent certification and how it handles the dish you need, and look up its inspection record with the North Andover Health Department.
Track Record and Consistency
A listing is not permanent. We update the directory when circumstances change. If a business relocates, changes ownership, or incurs a violation, the listing updates or ends.
Our role is to keep information accurate and current, not to protect any business's reputation. That distinction matters. A curated directory that never removes a listing is not curating—it is promoting. We do the harder work.