As a former TV producer who started making toffee as a side business, Kathy Nelson was relatively new to the food world when she set out to open a candy shop in Little Italy. She’d heard horror stories of entrepreneurs whose openings had been delayed months and even years by permitting issues, and wanted to avoid a similar fate.

On the recommendation of her building’s landlord, she hired Lou Catelli.

People who know Baltimore know Catelli. Or maybe they know his legs. He’s famous for wearing short shorts even in the dead of winter — one of many sartorial eccentricities. And maybe they know his real name is William Bauer; longtime friends call him Will. He’s often spotted in Hampden, where he’s sometimes called the unofficial mayor, a label he rejects. He once ran for actual mayor.

But what they might not know is that behind the wacky façade and pseudonym (derived from a brand of Italian cheese) is Baltimore’s most prolific permit expediter and go-to-guy for opening a business. He can navigate the city’s Kafkaesque licensing processes with the same ease with which he rides through the streets in his adult tricycle. In Hampden alone, he’s worked with around 60 businesses, and hundreds more across Baltimore. Catelli estimated he “was in charge of 80 different liquor licenses” during last year’s renewal season.

He’s become so indispensable that even a quasi-governmental institution like the Baltimore Public Markets Corporation relies on him to get things done. At a ceremony in September celebrating the relaunch of the city-owned Hollins Market, the then-head of the public market system gave him a shoutout for his work expediting the permitting process. Right now, Catelli is working with the public markets on new stalls coming to Northeast Market.

Catelli began his career working at Di Pasquale’s in Highlandtown — he’s second cousins with the owners — before breaking out on his own as a restaurant consultant. It was around 2010 or 2011 that his business evolved to focus on one facet of the restaurant industry: permitting and licenses.

“There are so many hiccups that can happen,” he said. “If you don’t know the system it can get really jammed up.” Established operators facing costly delays sometimes call him in to save the day when they hit a last-minute snag ahead of opening.

Business owners frequently gripe about how long it takes to get their permits in Baltimore, but Catelli often finds they’re held up by their own mistakes. A missing certification here, another document there. The sheer number of agencies and inspections are a lot for the uninitiated to keep track of. Want to add on outdoor seating to an existing restaurant? There are about six different city departments that you need to go through — and they don’t always know what the others are doing. “Knowing which door to knock on,” he said, “it’s a huge help.”

While Catelli is fluent in the language of zoning and codes, his superpower may be his ability to remain calm and cordial when facing the tedium of paperwork and bureaucracy, the kind of things that make laypeople tear their hair out. Business owners who try to do their permits on their own might argue if they get some pushback from a city worker behind the counter, which is a “big no-no,” Catelli says. They might start yelling. “That’s horrifying to see.”

When coming to city agencies in person, Catelli said it pays to get there early. “Line up like it’s a Star Wars movie. 8:25 a.m., wait outside when the door opens up.” Don’t wait until closer to lunch, when workers start to get hangry. And don’t bother coming in after. “Once you come in and the ship’s going in one direction, it’s hard to move the ship.” Under the umbrella of his own small business, Genco Pura Ltd., Catelli has some help in Jack Stinglash, an assistant he refers to as his “body man,” and intern Jonny Zheng.

He’s learned from his mistakes, too.

Seven years ago, he was working on Fadensonnen, Lane Harlan and Matthew Pierce’s Old Goucher wine bar, when he dropped the ball on an important piece of paperwork that led to a monthslong delay in opening. Catelli took it personally. “I took a week off from life because I was so embarrassed and upset,” he said. (For her part, Harlan said she had no memory of Catelli’s supposed missteps and that multiple factors pushed back the opening.)

The permitting process tends to run pretty smoothly once business owners have all their documents in order, but Catelli has noticed one bottleneck at the fire department. He thinks there are only two or three inspectors who review the plans for sprinkler systems and alarm systems, which means business owners are waiting three or four months to get a review. A spokesman for the department did not respond to a request for comment.

Catelli said his job could be obsolete in the future as city agencies work together on updating their online systems to streamline the permitting process for new business owners and residents alike. In the meantime, though, he’s keeping busy.

For Nelson’s toffee store, opening inside the former Da Mimmo restaurant, Catelli not only secured the needed permits but shared advice and connections on topics like her food safety plan and commercial-grade flooring. He made sure MFG had everything in place before bringing inspectors in.

“As we’re putting this whole place together, I kept saying, ‘Are we ready? Are we ready? Are we ready?’” Nelson said. “Then one day he just walked in and said, ‘Now. We’re ready.’”

During a recent weekday morning, Catelli guided a fire inspector through MFG Toffee, showing him the business’ exit signs, floodlights and fire extinguishers. Soon, Nelson will be officially ready to open the doors to her candy shop. There were many people who’d played a role in bringing her to this point, including neighboring restaurateurs who’d offered advice and support, but “Lou was really the person that got us in the door.”