24-600: Boston Market Corporation , known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Newtown Township, Pennsylvania . Since 2020, it has been owned by Engage Brands, LLC, a company of Rohan Group. Also, frozen meals and side dishes are sold nationally under the Boston Market brand name in food markets. The chain was known for rotisserie chickens, and later branched out into other meats such as turkey, meatloaf, and ham. A common meal had
48-517: A "progressive pioneer in the burgeoning 'fast-casual' market segment" in the July 1996 edition of Restaurant Hospitality. The company Technomic Information Services defined "fast-casual restaurants" as meeting the following criteria: Sun Capital Partners Sun Capital Partners, Inc. , is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts . Sun Capital was founded in 1995 by Marc J. Leder and Rodger Krouse , former classmates at
72-898: A Stop-Work Order at 27 of the 31 Boston Market stores in New Jersey over multiple violations of workers rights, including owed backpay of up to $ 607,471 from up to 314 employees. An investigation on the matter began in November 2022 when an employee in Mercer County filed a complaint. The affected employees have since been reimbursed for their lost wages, and the stores were allowed to re-open a month later. In September 2023, investigative journalists of Restaurant Business Magazine revealed Pandya has over 200 lawsuits against him related to unpaid wages of employees, unpaid suppliers, and other violations related to his restaurants. The report described Pandya's ownership of Boston Market as "chaotic". In November 2023,
96-827: A company of Rohan Group, owned by Jignesh "Jay" Pandya. In 2023 and beyond, Boston Market experienced financial problems and closed most of its locations. At the start of 2023 there was about 300 locations, but by early 2024 the chain was down to 27 locations. Foods offered at Boston Market included various meats and sides, some examples include : Rotisserie Chicken (whole, half, 1/4, etc), Apple Pie , Carved Chicken Sandwich , Chicken Salad Sandwich, Chicken Noodle Soup , Chicken Pot Pie , Chocolate Cake , Cilantro Lime Rice, Creamed Spinach , Cobb Salad , Cornbread , Garlic Dill Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes (with Gravy), Meatloaf and Meatloaf Sandwich, Salted Caramel Lava Cake, Prime rib , Ribs (Beef with sauce), Steamed Vegetables, Sweet Potato Casserole, Turkey (roasted). Many of
120-535: A lawsuit against Boston Market in the Federal Court of Canada over the trademark use of the word "Boston" in Canada. In its defense, Boston Market alleged that Boston Pizza's trademarks were invalid because it described a style of pizza from a specific area. The dispute continued after Boston Market ceased operations in Canada in 2004. The parties settled the dispute in 2008 under an agreement that Boston Market would not use
144-416: A meat with a few sides such as potatoes, cream spinach, mac n' cheese, and accompanied by a corn bread. Stores sometimes had seasonal specials and they also had a line of sandwiches. It was popular in the 1990s and early 21st century but by the 2020s was in a rapid decline, and by 2024 there was only a couple dozen stores left. From 1985 to 1995, it was known as Boston Chicken, and had rapid expansion to over
168-610: A result of rising eviction notices and unpaid rent, Boston Market and owner Pandya filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2023. On January 10, 2024, the company announced that it would allow anyone to open a Boston Market franchise without the usual franchise fees or other buy-in requirements. On January 11, 2024, Boston Market's bankruptcy case was dismissed after being unresponsive to court requests. On February 1, 2024, US Foods won its lawsuit against Boston Market, with federal judge Manish Shah claiming that Boston Market's defenses in
192-626: A suburb of Boston. The chain expanded rapidly in the early and mid-1990s. When it was known as Boston Chicken, restaurants specialized in rotisserie chicken and a variety of side dishes , but in February 1995, the chain expanded its menu to include turkey , meatloaf , and ham and changed the name to Boston Market in fall 1995 to reflect this. In 1995, Boston Chicken created the Einstein Bros. Bagels chain of bakery cafés , after acquiring several smaller chains of bagel-centric bakeries. In 1996,
216-504: A thousand locations. But by the late 1990s it had filed for bankruptcy and had to close many stores, down to a few hundred, and ended up being bought by McDonald's in 2000. It was then sold again in 2007, and again in 2020. In the 2020s it began to encounter more store closures and some legal issues and by late 2024 only small number of locations remained. It is remembered for helping to popularize rotisserie chickens as well as fast casual, which both remain popular nationally. In November 2020,
240-521: A whole Rotisserie Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Vegetable Stuffing , Spinach-Artichoke Dip, Cranberry Walnut Relish, Dinner rolls , and Pumpkin and Apple pies (example from 2018). The supermarket brand is produced by Bellisio foods , which is respected producer of frozen foods in the United States, and as of 2024 continues to produce items such as Chicken Pot pie bites, mashed potatoes, and chicken fajita rice bowls. In 2002, Boston Pizza commenced
264-561: Is an intermediate concept between fast food and casual dining . The concept originated in the United States in the early 1990s, but did not become mainstream until the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s. During the economic recession that began in 2007 , the category of fast casual dining saw increased sales to the 18–34-year-old demographic . Customers with limited discretionary spending for meals tend to choose fast casual for dining which they perceive as healthier. The founder and publisher of FastCasual.com, Paul Barron,
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#1732880446627288-404: Is credited with coining the term "fast-casual" in the late 1990s. Horatio Lonsdale-Hands, former Chairman and CEO of ZuZu Inc., is also credited with coining the term. ZuZu, a handmade Mexican food concept co-founded by Lonsdale-Hands and Espartaco Borga in 1989, filed a U.S. Federal trademark registration for the term "fast-casual" in November 1995, leading Michael DeLuca to call Lonsdale-Hands
312-722: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and investment bankers at Lehman Brothers . Sun Capital originally formed Emerald through a corporate carveout of food ingredients and industrial specialties divisions of Lubrizol . In 2015, Sun Capital sold Point Blank Enterprises. Sun Capital originally assembled Point Blank's assets through bankruptcy auction processes. In 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that Sun Capital had returned more than 18 times its investment in Critical Flow Solutions after doubling
336-469: The Australian market later that year due to competitive pressures. In April 2004, Boston Market introduced chilled menu items to be sold at supermarkets. In December 2005, these chilled menu items were available in 700 supermarkets. In 2005, Boston Market also started offering limited-time offers, such as Crispy Country Chicken, an oven-baked chicken breast with gravy. In 2007, McDonald's announced that it
360-634: The United States. Boston Market was purchased by McDonald's Corporation in May 2000. McDonald's purchased the company for its real estate, but found the brand serviceable and therefore continued to operate and expand. In the early 2000s, Boston Market operated two locations in Toronto, Ontario. In early 2002, Boston Market entered the Australian market, opening nine stores in the Sydney metropolitan area by 2004, before converting some stores to McDonald's and quietly exiting
384-583: The chain had approximately 342 company-owned restaurant locations in 28 states and Puerto Rico. It had its greatest presence in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States , but also had a large presence in California , Florida , and Texas . As of August 2024, the chain was struggling financially and had closed most of its locations. Boston Chicken was founded by Steven Kolow and Arthur Cores in 1985 in Newton ,
408-405: The chain launched a line of sandwiches known as "Boston Carver Sandwiches" that feature chicken, turkey, ham, and meatloaf; in 1997, due to the success of the new line, the "Extreme Carver" sandwiches were launched, filled with more portions of the above meats and more cheese than the originals. The corporate name remained "Boston Chicken, Inc." until 1997, when it became so popular with the new name,
432-624: The chicken items were based around the Rotisserie Chicken product, but delivered into different recipes, or alternatively, the Rotisserie oven was used to cook other meats. Boston Market at one point also introduced rotisserie nuggets. An example of steamed vegetable offered was broccoli, and an example of a desert item is chocolate chip cookies . Boston Market also had seasonal holiday menu and catering food packages, such as for Thanksgiving dinner (A traditional U.S. Holiday meal), they offered
456-561: The company failed to pay workers in Massachusetts. On November 14, 2023, all Detroit-area Boston Market locations were permanently shuttered and were handed eviction notices due to unpaid rent. On November 20, 2023, all 8 remaining Connecticut Boston Market locations, located in East Haven, Meriden, West Hartford, Wilton, Stratford, Milford, Bristol, and Newington, were all permanently shuttered and handed eviction notices due to unpaid rent. As
480-483: The corporate name was changed to "Boston Market Corporation". The company raised a lot of debt to finance its expansion. The rapid expansion allowed the company to create a steady stream of revenue from one-time development fees and increasing royalties, but also raised interest rates on its development loans. In 1998, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . Since April 1999, a selection of Boston Market-branded items have been available in many supermarkets across
504-550: The lawsuit were "gossamer". On February 12, 2024, shortly after getting their second bankruptcy dismissed, Boston Market filed for bankruptcy for the third time after losing its lawsuit against US Foods. Fast casual restaurant A fast casual restaurant , found primarily in the United States and Canada , is a restaurant that does not offer full table service , but advertises higher quality food than fast-food restaurants , with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It
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#1732880446627528-400: The words "Boston" or "Boston Market" in Canada for five years for restaurants or any food or drink products (other than pre-packaged food products, but not including pizza and lasagna). Boston Market also agreed that it would not challenge Boston Pizza's use in Canada of any trademark that uses the words "Boston" or "Boston Pizza" (with certain exceptions). On July 3, 2023, a complaint in court
552-488: Was "exploring strategic options" for the subsidiary. On August 6, 2007, McDonald's announced plans to sell the chain to Sun Capital Partners , a transaction that was completed on August 27, 2007. In April 2018, Boston Market announced that it was expanding its menu to offer rotisserie prime rib nationwide, three days a week. In 2020, they introduced baby back ribs paired with Sweet Baby Ray's sauce. In April 2020, Sun Capital Partners sold Boston Market to Engage Brands, LLC,
576-561: Was filed stating the Danbury, Connecticut Boston Market owed in excess of $ 61,000 in unpaid rent and connected charges. A ruling in the landlord's favor July 28, 2023 led to an eviction. On July 25, 2023, US Foods sued Boston Market for $ 11.3 million, accusing the company of owing them over $ 10 million for food distributed over several prior years. On August 14, 2023, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development gave
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