Usually the distribution of licenses is per capita, i.e. for so many people you can have xx licenses. In Boston you can't get a license unless you legally purchase it on a secondary market or have relatives in the town hall or are prepared to bribe your way through (see Diane Wilkerson case)
In Florida, where I operated a restaurant for a bunch of years, it is much easier to get a license if you have a kitchen and do certain percentage of revenues in food sales; the total time to get one from scratch I think was 3 month or so and the total cost was few hundred dollars.
Your biggest problems are employee theft and liability issues. Theft usually comes in 3 forms, theft of product, theft of time and outright theft of money. Liability is usually silly lawsuits, I had a cook who fried his elbow in a deep fryer while high, I had slip and falls, I had broken teeth, fights, orgies in a bathroom, etc.
If you could - get an experience person and partner with him for first few years, you will be thankful that you did.