Boston Market

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Re: Boston Market

Post by SamSpade »

storewanderer wrote: June 3rd, 2023, 9:22 pm I have multiple times wished my local unit was still open... these grocery store rotisserie chickens are very foul ball or miss (never a hit). Boston Market was basically always a hit or a foul ball at the worst.
SW, do you have Sam's where you live? Best rotisserie I've had in a long time. Here we have the Costco option in the mix, which is alright... I think the two local chains probably do the best but their price point is high (Market of Choice, New Seasons).
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Re: Boston Market

Post by Alpha8472 »

Sam's Club chickens are so much better than my local Costco. The Costco ones sometimes have a strange unappetizing flavor. I often find undercooked looking bloody chicken at Costco as well.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: June 9th, 2023, 10:25 am
storewanderer wrote: June 3rd, 2023, 9:22 pm I have multiple times wished my local unit was still open... these grocery store rotisserie chickens are very foul ball or miss (never a hit). Boston Market was basically always a hit or a foul ball at the worst.
SW, do you have Sam's where you live? Best rotisserie I've had in a long time. Here we have the Costco option in the mix, which is alright... I think the two local chains probably do the best but their price point is high (Market of Choice, New Seasons).
My last Sam's Chicken was quite tasteless but it has been 5+ years. I'll have to take another look at how theirs look here and give them another try.

I'm one of those who actually prefers smaller size pieces since I think they have more flavor. I was never a fan of the Costco chicken; pieces too big/lacked flavor. I know people who cut it up and re-season/stove cook it but at that point I'll just buy raw chicken.

I purchased a surprisingly adequate rotisserie chicken from Smiths last month, hot, late at night, marked down to $3.50 or some weird price. It was not bad at all. Had some flavor. Cooked perfectly. Bottom half was grease/nauesa city but the top part of it was not bad. I guess it was a Home Chef item. Garlic/Herb flavor. I was surprised.

Bought one at Safeway last month too and really disappointing; no flavor, tough, maybe a little undercooked. Basically inedible. Had a few edible ones there prior, not sure what happened.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by Brian Lutz »

I haven't been to a Boston Market in years (I think the last time I went there was to one of the SoCal locations back in 2018 or so when we were on vacation there) but there's one in Greensboro, and since we were in the neighborhood I thought we'd try it out. Unfortunately when we got there a sign was posted on the door saying "Due to a supply shortage, we currently don't have the following items: Mac and Cheese, Ribs, Meatloaf, Turkey, Broccoli, Chicken Noodle Soup and Sweet Potatoes."

Since that would eliminate just about everything on the menu that my wife would eat (she usually gets the meatloaf on our rare visits to a Boston Market) we ended up going elsewhere. I'm sure we'll try them again at some point, but that isn't a good first impression.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: June 13th, 2023, 6:18 pm I haven't been to a Boston Market in years (I think the last time I went there was to one of the SoCal locations back in 2018 or so when we were on vacation there) but there's one in Greensboro, and since we were in the neighborhood I thought we'd try it out. Unfortunately when we got there a sign was posted on the door saying "Due to a supply shortage, we currently don't have the following items: Mac and Cheese, Ribs, Meatloaf, Turkey, Broccoli, Chicken Noodle Soup and Sweet Potatoes."

Since that would eliminate just about everything on the menu that my wife would eat (she usually gets the meatloaf on our rare visits to a Boston Market) we ended up going elsewhere. I'm sure we'll try them again at some point, but that isn't a good first impression.
These locations have been having supply issues for months. I am surprised they can go on. The one in Sacramento (still open) only has like 3 side items- mashed potatoes, broccoli, and sweet potatoes.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by storewanderer »

So the Sacramento location is still trying to be open. Here is an article. Interesting article. Article states CA/AZ Stores are now under a franchisee called "Boston Market of California" yet I cannot find any business under that name. Previously all Boston Market units were corporate operated and they do not currently offer a franchising program and haven't since before the McDonald's days, so I am not sure how that works. Since you have to license, etc. to sell franchises in given states.

Article also says the Boston Market HQ in Colorado was recently seized by CO State Taxation Unit for unpaid taxes, but paid the taxes and was allowed to become un-seized.

https://news.yahoo.com/last-boston-mark ... 00270.html
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Re: Boston Market

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: June 21st, 2023, 11:03 pm So the Sacramento location is still trying to be open. Here is an article. Interesting article. Article states CA/AZ Stores are now under a franchisee called "Boston Market of California" yet I cannot find any business under that name. Previously all Boston Market units were corporate operated and they do not currently offer a franchising program and haven't since before the McDonald's days, so I am not sure how that works. Since you have to license, etc. to sell franchises in given states.

Article also says the Boston Market HQ in Colorado was recently seized by CO State Taxation Unit for unpaid taxes, but paid the taxes and was allowed to become un-seized.

https://news.yahoo.com/last-boston-mark ... 00270.html
Probably a way to spin off the underperforming CA/AZ market, scoop up a bunch of corporate debt and dump it into that new organization, and watch it sink into bankruptcy thereby improving the health of the company's books.

Not any different than the behind the scenes shuffling where Westfield had apparently broken off the SF mall in such a way that it was fully isolated from them. That's important because ordinarily when you walk away from something and let the bank take it an LLC isn't enough to protect the parent company's credit rating. Usually that LLC is booked as an "asset" which means it helps increase borrowing capacity.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: June 22nd, 2023, 4:26 pm

Probably a way to spin off the underperforming CA/AZ market, scoop up a bunch of corporate debt and dump it into that new organization, and watch it sink into bankruptcy thereby improving the health of the company's books.

Not any different than the behind the scenes shuffling where Westfield had apparently broken off the SF mall in such a way that it was fully isolated from them. That's important because ordinarily when you walk away from something and let the bank take it an LLC isn't enough to protect the parent company's credit rating. Usually that LLC is booked as an "asset" which means it helps increase borrowing capacity.
CA was actually one of their best markets, it had some of their highest volume units a few years ago, particularly the bay area and Los Angeles area ones. They were talking about opening new locations which obviously did not happen. Not sure how they did in AZ. So I don't think CA/AZ were underperforming markets for them. I am suspicious they may have been the best performing markets and the only markets they could even find a potential buyer for. But I still cannot verify that these units actually transferred to a franchisee as that would mean business licenses would need to be changed. They have not changed any business licenses, the units are all still Boston Market Corporation which is the corporate.

The only new locations they opened were in units the owner owned back in PA that were odd former Pizza Hut units. They reopened these various former Pizza Huts as Boston Market units without doing any remodels to the dining areas or ordering areas, I'm not sure how many of those are even still open.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: June 22nd, 2023, 8:11 pm
ClownLoach wrote: June 22nd, 2023, 4:26 pm

Probably a way to spin off the underperforming CA/AZ market, scoop up a bunch of corporate debt and dump it into that new organization, and watch it sink into bankruptcy thereby improving the health of the company's books.

Not any different than the behind the scenes shuffling where Westfield had apparently broken off the SF mall in such a way that it was fully isolated from them. That's important because ordinarily when you walk away from something and let the bank take it an LLC isn't enough to protect the parent company's credit rating. Usually that LLC is booked as an "asset" which means it helps increase borrowing capacity.
CA was actually one of their best markets, it had some of their highest volume units a few years ago, particularly the bay area and Los Angeles area ones. They were talking about opening new locations which obviously did not happen. Not sure how they did in AZ. So I don't think CA/AZ were underperforming markets for them. I am suspicious they may have been the best performing markets and the only markets they could even find a potential buyer for. But I still cannot verify that these units actually transferred to a franchisee as that would mean business licenses would need to be changed. They have not changed any business licenses, the units are all still Boston Market Corporation which is the corporate.

The only new locations they opened were in units the owner owned back in PA that were odd former Pizza Hut units. They reopened these various former Pizza Huts as Boston Market units without doing any remodels to the dining areas or ordering areas, I'm not sure how many of those are even still open.
Maybe it was their highest performing market, but it's probably their highest operating cost market due to high rents, taxes etc. And as such could quickly flip to becoming an anchor on the company's finances.
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Re: Boston Market

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: June 23rd, 2023, 3:22 pm

Maybe it was their highest performing market, but it's probably their highest operating cost market due to high rents, taxes etc. And as such could quickly flip to becoming an anchor on the company's finances.
I was somewhat surprised when I heard CA was one of their strongest markets and they were talking expansion in the market. The chain has been closing units for many years in CA and given the lack of presence in OR/WA/NV/ID/UT I wondered how a little island of locations in CA made sense. Also odd geography- why 2 units in Fresno but nothing in Stockton/Modesto/Bakersfield?

I wonder if they were about to flip the units to a franchisee then it fell through or the fact that Boston Market was not registered to sell franchises derailed the plan. The owners are franchisors who have sold franchisees under Corner Bakery so it isn't like they have zero experience selling franchises.

AZ would be cheaper to run to perhaps balance out CA. They always had higher menu pricing in CA than any other market like most chains to offset the increased costs. They are out of NV/NM as of 2022 and were out of OR/WA as of the 2000's.
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