Boston Market

storewanderer
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Re: Boston Market

Post by storewanderer »

norcalriteaidclerk wrote: June 4th, 2022, 11:30 am As of this writing,only 2 locations left in my neck of the woods:2300 Fair oaks (one of the tamer areas of Arden arcade in the middle of some upscale shopping)and 5003 foothills in west Roseville (in the parking lot of an early 1990's center,the anchor which is presently a 24 hour fitness was initially an Albertsons and later Ralphs).One former location in citrus Heights has since been converted into it's original use(financial institution, currently a credit union branch),while another in Madison/80(near la quinta and a closed office Depot)was razed for either a Chick-fil-A or a car wash.I suspect there were more formal locations around Sacramento but my memory is fuzzy.

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The history is somewhat interesting. In the mid 90's, CKE (Carls) was somehow in control of the CA Boston Market units then sold them to something called Boston West (a large franchisee). CKE continued to hold an investment in Boston West. When Boston Market went bankrupt, Boston West was somehow impacted (similar to that OR/WA franchisee who had to go out of business when Boston Market went bankrupt due to how it was tied to the corporation), and for a brief time period, CKE gained control of Boston West again. Boston West was the franchisee that expanded the brand in CA getting close to 100 locations. Boston West was not performing well financially. Boston West went bankrupt in 1998 (Boston Market Corporation went bankrupt in 1999). CKE still held an interest in Boston West in the late 90's. In 1999, CKE took control again of the Boston Market units being run by Boston West since Boston West basically went insolvent. So CKE ran the CA Boston Market units for a time in the late 90's again (after dumping them in the mid 90's) but it was not a long term thing, more of a situation that ended up in their lap in the late 90's. A few months after CKE took back the CA Boston Markets in 1999, McDonalds announced a purchase of the entire chain. I don't know exactly when CKE was able to dump the Boston Markets but I don't think it was long after McDonalds took over that CKE was out and all of those CA units became corporate operated Boston Markets.

The entire chain (what is left of it) has been corporate units for at least the past 20 years, no franchisees anymore. The main reason Boston Market is sort of concentrated in certain geographies is these are all "pieces" of former franchisees (like Boston West) that developed regions and the franchisees were ultimately taken back over by the corporation.

Carls Jr. units in Sacramento proper (Roseville, Sacramento, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, and some scraps on the perimeter like Davis) were corporate operated units for decades until about 2014 or 2015 when they re-franchised the market.

That location on Fair Oaks was an old 70's Carls Jr. that was heavily remodeled into Boston Market then demolished for Chickfila. I am not clear if this was a location CKE elected to convert to Boston Market or just a failed Carls that Boston Market moved into.

There were also least two locations along Sunrise.

This one I am certain of: one location:
2300 Sunrise- this converted from Boston Market to Carls during the time CKE had Boston West

This one- I am not 100% sure but think it was also a Boston Market:
1490 Cirby-Roseville- converted to McDonalds during the time McDonalds owned Boston Market

The somewhat unique design attribute of Boston Market 90's units that does not go away with new occupants, is windows in the dining area that spanned from the floor up.
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Re: Boston Market

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Boston Market has been closing locations quietly and is now down to 315 locations according to their press release about the new chicken nuggets. The website lists 326 locations. Some locations are closing due to being evicted I guess.
https://www.app.com/story/money/busines ... 747990001/


Tried to get the new chicken nuggets, there was a coupon for free 5 pieces. These look very similar to Chickfila Grilled Nuggets and if prepared correctly I expect these would be really good.

Went to the location and left due to how filthy it was and the awful attitude I observed of the employees. The dining room was open but all of the lights were off. The drink station was a filthy mess. The hot food case had so many fingerprints on it unless they had a field trip of kids in there, this was months worth of fingerprints. Most of the food in the case looked terrible, crusted over, old, or watery. The spinach looked runny and something looked off about it. The floor felt dirty. The employees were very unhappy and rude toward other customers I watched being served. I don't think I will be returning to this location again. I was already reluctant to return after the previous restroom observation but was interested to try these nuggets and get some spinach. Too bad. Based on what I saw, the management situation is particularly troubling and this location is basically a lost cause and it is time to close it.

They passed their recent health inspection but parts of the health inspection seem to say it all...
https://data.rgj.com/restaurant-inspect ... -0400food/
"Operator must repair or replace all broken equipment to ensure proper function and use. According to operator, several work orders have been filed with the corporate office to repair broken equipment with no response."

Yikes....
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Re: Boston Market

Post by Alpha8472 »

Boston Market really needs to enforce its standards. Perhaps they need to bring back secret shoppers and require basic cleanliness standards. If a restaurant needs equipment repaired, the corporate office needs to respond in a timely manner. The entire chain will fail if this is widespread. The people who work for this company do not seem to want their company to survive.
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Re: Boston Market

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Alpha8472 wrote: July 9th, 2022, 11:39 am Boston Market really needs to enforce its standards. Perhaps they need to bring back secret shoppers and require basic cleanliness standards. If a restaurant needs equipment repaired, the corporate office needs to respond in a timely manner. The entire chain will fail if this is widespread. The people who work for this company do not seem to want their company to survive.
After what I observed, I agree this operation is broken beyond repair and long term management in the locations is defeated, does not care, and has a hostile attitude toward the customers. I think the chain has already failed, it just hasn't closed entirely yet.

I suspect there is no money at this point to repair broken equipment. With the increases in food, utility, and labor cost, and that they have not passed on many price increases, I can see how they are in a somewhat dicey situation.

Too bad McDonalds didn't keep it. I do think this is a viable concept.

This concept- is by design to be an upper end sort of concept. The pricing is higher, the restaurant appearance historically was nicer than usual fast food, the food quality was way above usual fast food... running it so poorly turns it into what seems like a low end concept but then worse than low end because the service and cleanliness are revoltingly bad.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by Romr123 »

buckguy wrote: June 4th, 2022, 5:55 am
Romr123 wrote: June 4th, 2022, 4:44 am Restroom condition seems in proportion to overall facility condition and service quality except at Wawa stores down in Florida. They run some amazingly good c-stores with kitchens and made-to-order sandwiches, but the bathrooms are horrid. Just miserable--bad condition, dirty, scratched...its almost like they cleaned them wrong when they were just built (scratched/etched) and now can't keep them clean.
Wawa generally keeps them in good shape in the mid-Atlantic region. Ditto Sheetz. One of the busiest Sheetz in the outer suburbs of DC on the way to Shenandoah is used as a staging grounds for bikers (both kinds) and hikers because of the rest rooms and sandwiches.
Just went to the Wawa just outside of Atlantic City (Absecon?) to find a terrific facility (great gas jockey, nice people inside) but again a miserably grimy restroom. It's just weird...they're clearly heavily used, they clearly have standards in the operation, but the restrooms are awful...grimy, filmy, etched...just worn out.
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Re: Boston Market

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Romr123 wrote: July 24th, 2022, 5:39 pm

Just went to the Wawa just outside of Atlantic City (Absecon?) to find a terrific facility (great gas jockey, nice people inside) but again a miserably grimy restroom. It's just weird...they're clearly heavily used, they clearly have standards in the operation, but the restrooms are awful...grimy, filmy, etched...just worn out.
Wawa probably needs to go to a more industrial style restroom and invest in some very heavy duty pressure washing equipment to quickly give everything a one over. I would be concerned if the restrooms are dirty how do the back of kitchen areas look where food is being prepared?

I've never seen a dirty Quik Trip bathroom. I'm sure they exist... but I haven't seen them.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: July 24th, 2022, 9:50 pm
Romr123 wrote: July 24th, 2022, 5:39 pm

Just went to the Wawa just outside of Atlantic City (Absecon?) to find a terrific facility (great gas jockey, nice people inside) but again a miserably grimy restroom. It's just weird...they're clearly heavily used, they clearly have standards in the operation, but the restrooms are awful...grimy, filmy, etched...just worn out.
Wawa probably needs to go to a more industrial style restroom and invest in some very heavy duty pressure washing equipment to quickly give everything a one over. I would be concerned if the restrooms are dirty how do the back of kitchen areas look where food is being prepared?

I've never seen a dirty Quik Trip bathroom. I'm sure they exist... but I haven't seen them.
One might think (at least in the current situation) that this doesn't necessarily apply. If they are short on employees (which, of course, is common), deploying them to do things like cleaning a bathroom (which doesn't impact the way the store runs in the long term) may fall to the bottom of (and then off of) the list.

Cleaning in the kitchen (which could cause issues if not done regularly) very likely stays a bit further up on the list.
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Re: Boston Market

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BillyGr wrote: July 25th, 2022, 12:45 pm
One might think (at least in the current situation) that this doesn't necessarily apply. If they are short on employees (which, of course, is common), deploying them to do things like cleaning a bathroom (which doesn't impact the way the store runs in the long term) may fall to the bottom of (and then off of) the list.

Cleaning in the kitchen (which could cause issues if not done regularly) very likely stays a bit further up on the list.
I hope that is the case...

Based on some observations I've had, I hate to say it, but often times a dirty restroom has nothing on what the areas a customer doesn't have access to look like..
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Re: Boston Market

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The Boston Market at Miesenbach, Germany Ramstein Air Base has closed. This was the last International location. It also appears this was one of the newest locations in the chain opening in 2019.

The chain is at a current unit count of 310 units.
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Re: Boston Market

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Reno Boston Market is quite troubled. Last week it was "CLOSED OVENS DOWN."

It is open again this week, with new signs: NO CHICKEN OVENS DOWN OPEN 11 AM to 6 PM SORRY DRIVE THROUGH ONLY

USE CREDIT CARD OR EXACT CHANGE ONLY sign is also posted this week (wasn't up last week)

What a mess. There are multiple rotisseries so it is odd all of them are down unless the wiring went...

Oh, the health inspection from May explains the issue on the rotisseries:
https://data.rgj.com/restaurant-inspect ... -0400food/
"Observed two rotisserie ovens in the food preparation area that are not functioning. - Observed functional rotisserie oven with a string/rope holding the unit door closed. ... According to operator, several work orders have been filed with the corporate office to repair broken equipment with no response. "

Sigh... your business is to sell rotisserie chickens, and you have a corporate office that ignores it when the rotisseries break? All I can say is RIP BOSTQ.

Chain is currently at unit count of 305 units.
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