Boston Market is teetering on the edge of a widening precipice, facing evictions and closures left and right, and mounting lawsuits. Is this the end of the rotisserie chicken-based chain?
Things aren’t looking too good for Boston Market with the chains headquarters being recently seized, and owner Jignesh Pandya declaring bankruptcy on December 8th. The once healthy chain has been whittled down to a mere 300 open locations. And seeing an open location in the wild nowadays is like catching a rare Pokémon card.
Since 2020 alone, the chain has been sued over 140 times…which coincides with when the brand changed ownership. Since the same time period, many locations have failed to pay their rent resulting in evictions nationwide. In August 2023, 27 locations were ordered to close for over $300,000 worth of unpaid wages and subsequent probe.
Joseph Petrecca, assistant commissioner of NJDOL’s Division of Wage and Hour and Contract Compliance said in a statement:
“With restaurants across the country, Boston Market needs to set a better example for fair treatment of its workers.”
The company is under federal investigation for owing $329,000 in unpaid taxes, and owing wages to employees and vendors alike. The chain also has a lawsuit filed against them by one of their biggest vendors, US Foods who says Boston Market owes them the tidy sum of $11 million.
With Boston Market angering and owing pretty much everyone they’re in business with…the question stands, how can they possibly recover?
Every location in Florida and Connecticut has closed in the recent weeks and the evictions keep coming.
Burger King has been facing similar music with a rash of franchisees filing bankruptcy, and their locations being closed and auctioned off. The chains CEO Joshua Kobza maintains that the closings are akin to a mere “spring cleaning”… but with approximately 400 locations estimated to close shop in 2023 those business owners would absolutely beg to differ…
Boston Market has a bounty of delicious comfort food offerings on the menu besides their famous rotisserie chicken. From chicken and meatloaf carvers, bbq ribs to mashed potatoes, corn bread, pot pies and stuffing…it can be argued that the fast causal chain offers a quality not found within many fast food chains’ kitchens. And God forbid, if recovery is not an option, this will be a huge loss to fans of Boston Market.
