FAT WHORES MOURN: Sad last days of Boston Market

Their chicken has always been sickens sweet. I always loved their meatloaf… until I found a hair. They no longer were serving green beans. It got weird these last two years. The one near me in Philly finally closed last year. I remember going to Boston Market all the way back in the early 90s when it was Boston Chicken.

A better article.

I remember when they first broke into our Market when I was like 18 years old. I really like the fit but they didn't last very long where I lived and closed down all the restaurants in about 2 years. I got reacquainted though when I moved to Chicago.

Now the fat whores have to get grocery store rotisserie chicken with deli sides.

I have Boston market down the street bitches

Anderson Cooper has said he eats takeout from there often.

I've never been in one. Was the food any good?

He eats a lot of things, some of which aren’t readily admitted to.

This must be why I stopped getting promotional emails from them.

The one near me closed a couple months ago. They are replacing it with a Zaxby’s fried chicken tenders place.

I thought they were a nice alternative to burgers and fries. You could get real chicken or meatloaf dinners. Too bad

What's Mitt going to do next Thanksgiving?

Wonder if he was an investor...

The BM in my neighborhood was shutdown by the Board of Health and never reopened.

Boston Market was so popular back in the 90's and early 2000's.

[quote]I've never been in one. Was the food any good?

In the 1990s it was good home-cooking food.

They also had a line of frozen meals that were terrible.

You can thank Boston Market for the hot broasted chickens offered at your grocer for $9.99. Jewel and Safeway re-energized their deli servings because of that restaurant.

It was likely the increasing popularity of the cheaper, “loss leader” supermarket rotisserie that did them in. People go to supermarkets to buy the chicken, then spend another $100 on groceries, so it’s profitable for them to sell at a loss.

I also think a lot of people have gotten away from eating “bone in” chicken, which is much more expensive to process. I worked in a bakery once, and consumables like butter and cream fluctuate wildly in price as well. Leases for mall adjacent stores have gotten out of control, many are renewing 20 years later at double the price.

I knew something was wrong when one of them here in Tampa closed a week before Thanksgiving last year and missed out, they were PACKED the year before with the phone ringing off the hook!

All that said, it was too fattening and I’ve gotten sick with the runs several times eating there.

I live in NJ where they were all closed last year due to worker pay issues.

Recently the one in my town just reopened with an "under new management" banner outside the building.

Like a poster upthread, I've never had anything from there before so I don't know about the quality of their food.

I just presumed everything is too salty and fatty.

[quote] The BM in my neighborhood was shutdown by the Board of Health and never reopened.

Bowl movements should be shut down.

R19, it was rotisserie chicken with a very sweet glaze.

my Southwestern town lost about 4 locations overnight about 5 years ago?

We would go infrequently.....but my memory is by the end prices were quite high. Just didn't seem worth it anymore.

but, a decent alternative to burgers.

I liked their creamed spinach and corn muffins. The meatloaf was pretty good too.

Meatloaf, like sausage, tastes good, but you don’t want to know what’s in it.

Their chicken pot pies were to die for, but got really expensive toward the end ☹️

I can't remember the last time I ate in a chain restaurant. Sad that people really think this is food and that chain restaurants are their only dining options.

When I was in college we used to wait in line on Boylston Street just to get that damn chicken.

It was great. How they managed to fuck this up is shameful.

It was so good when it opened in Dupont Circle, circa 1993, in what had been Robinson's Dress Shop. Just chicken and sides. No meatloaf. No turkey. No sandwiches. I would walk over most days of the week. Why'd they have to potchke it up?

It got so bad years later, I was in the one in Pittsburgh, and the manager yelled at me for not finishing my meal. I couldn't. It just tasted so bad.

In the 90s we used to get it every Wednesday before watching Beverly Hills 90210.

I became violently ill from one of their frozen entrees.

Never again.

It went the way of Howard Johnson’s.

“Comfort food”= obesity.

This really isn’t food you could eat every single day.

Im pretty sure the Sweet Greens salad people could aquire and turn it around, though!

Nothing lasts forever. Not Peppy Hamburgers, not Steak and Ale, not the corner diner, not Chi Chi’s

Popeyes says hello and welcome

As far as quality it’s pretty hard to beat the roasted chicken at Costco’s. And the only way to beat the Costco price is to eat somewhere for free.

I always meant to go there..

In the early 90s, we had a plethora of 'rotisserie chicken' take outs in my are: Boston (Chicken) Market, Kenny Rogers Roasters, and “Roger Clemens’ Flame-Roasted Chicken’’. Boston Market was my favorite, and lasted the longest - the last one closed a year ago in my state. Kenny Rogers and Roger Clemens chicken joints closed within a year or so.

People are in their feelings in that Washington Post article.

I can't really be nostalgic about them, though. They were never anything better than mid-grade.

I liked their frozen macaroni dinner. I think they discontinued the line. I’ve never actually been to a Boston market restaurant.

I made the mistake of buying their frozen meatloaf dinner a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't remember if Marie Callendar's or Boston Market was the not-so-good one. I had the corn and the potatoes. After a couple of bites, I rinsed off the meat for the pup.

R38

And I still can’t get that fucking taste out of my mouth. What an asshole.

I really liked their Chicken Caesar Salad. I'm sad to read of their demise.

I was vegetarian, and a whore. When I think of all the guys that bought me a side items meal, and I do often, I am kind. Late 90s. Guys traveling would visit the bookstore I worked at and ask if I needed food. This all resulted in a wonderful evening of mashed potatoes, Mac and cheese, some kind of greens, and stuffing.

I loved their turkey and gravy with mashed potatoes and stuffing. Used to get it on the way home from work all the time.

[quote] This all resulted in a wonderful evening of mashed potatoes, Mac and cheese, some kind of greens, and stuffing.

And then they stuffed you?

What I have noticed as far as new are the chicken strip places which I guess includes the Nashville hot chicken places. And another small chain that does appear to be national the 10 second noodle chain. Started and HQ in Japan its noodle soups and other noodle dishes.

[quote] I became violently ill from one of their frozen entrees. Never again.

Boston Market doesn’t make Boston Market frozen entrees. Your beef is with Bellisio Foods.

[quote]Headquartered in Minneapolis, Bellisio Foods produces more than 400 products spanning a wide variety of frozen food categories, including single and multi-serve entrees, snacks and side dishes. Bellisio markets these products under the Michelina's and Authentic Asia brands, as well as under licensed brands Boston Market, Atkins, Quest and select items under White Castle. The company also co-manufactures private label, retail and foodservice products. Bellisio Foods, Inc. is a subsidiary of Charoen Pokphand Foods, based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Hours, not days

About a decade ago, Popeye's started moving in to my area just as BM started closing locations. Popeye's seems to be doing well.

In the past few months, 'Raising Cane' has opened a few locations. From what's been said on social media - they're very expensive and their chicken tenders (that's all they sell ?) are not that great. The 'special sauce' tastes like McDonald's sauce.

Raising Cane also attracts a low life clientele.

^ How often do you go? 🤔

Well I NEVER, R49!

There's always Dunkin Donuts!

You could try Sears.

R48 If so, how can they afford the prices ? From what I'm reading on social media they seem VERY overpriced for what you get.

*shrugs* I haven't been there, but all I know is that many of the locations I know of or have heard about have gotten shot up, and attract gangs.

Their food tasted like nothing. I'm surprised they lasted this long.

Prices went up and quality went down. Their mashed potatoes were the best back in the day.

Preparing for Chapter 7…

[quote]Prices went up and quality went down. Their mashed potatoes were the best back in the day.

They really were a great fast food option. I ate there often because the food was good and quick. Turkey or meatloaf, mashed potato, corn (garlic mixed in for flavor) and a piece of cornbread was an excellent meal at a good price.

And then the quality dropped. And they started taking delicious items off the menu. And they added things that nobody wanted. And the prices went up, up, up.

Did they inject their poultry with fat to make it more juicy?

I enjoyed their sides, particularly mac and cheese and the zucchini-tomato one.

terrible awful overly-salted reheated food. I never liked it.

I liked it. My regular items were the baked beans and the corn bread.

I did order the baked apples a couple of times, it was like apple pie filling without the crust.

Before our nearby Boston Market closed, we loved it. A full dinner for 2 for only $28 total was a great deal in NYC.

I never understood their appeal. I went just three times with my mother who liked it. It was at best mediocre cafeteria option menu food.

A good friend of mine was good friends with the founder of Boston Market (Chicken.) He was gay, btw. Sadly he died from cancer quite a few years ago. One of my friend's favorite stories is when he sold BM for millions and took his friends out to dinner that night and used a coupon. Even though he was suddenly very rich, he still knew the value of being frugal. His husband is alive and well, but I am sure is still missing him terribly. He never re-married.

I don't get why all these places are closing up. Is it a Republican conspiracy to create a fake recession? All people do is eat, shop and recreate. But we can't can't keep Big Lots open?

I wish I could find it again R66, but I recently read a very interesting article that addressed this.

Why is McDonalds hurting, but many other restaurants are not?

Marriott reported good earnings this week, but AirBnB did not.

The answer was that brands that were more frequented by lower-income (not necessarily poor) were hurting more. Disney reported bad earnings at their parks too. Upper middle class people had more wiggle room and are still eating out/traveling - lower middle class are not.

Spirit/Frontier also reported poor earnings, but the big 4 (UA, AA, DL, SW) were OK (not great but not bad).

[quote]Disney reported bad earnings at their parks too.

Disney's poor earnings are because of their bullshit. People take their kids to the park to have a good time. Not to be met by a male Snow White. If Disney would stay out of transgender politics and just do what they've done for 60+ years, their earnings wouldn't be bad.

COVID has a lot to do with these restaurants shutting down…

I went to a Boston Market in Southern California 3 summers ago. It was so awful I felt like going back to the store and throwing at them.

Is the Boston Market in Chelsea still there?

My BF introduced me to their Chicken Caesar Salad, which became one of our favorite take-out meals for many years. I'll be sorry to see them go.

Wait! Wait! I haven’t tried it yet!

[quote] Disney's poor earnings are because of their bullshit. People take their kids to the park to have a good time. Not to be met by a male Snow White. If Disney would stay out of transgender politics and just do what they've done for 60+ years, their earnings wouldn't be bad.

Or they’ve gotten too expensive.

Not a male Snow White lol. Please tell me this ain’t true.

Overpriced...

only been once, no fucking clue why it even exists

I knew the original location of Boston Chicken in Newtonville near the big old Star Market. This was way back in 1990. Nice upbeat gay guys owned it and it was a fun little place. Their rotisserie chicken was somehow better than any of the hundred franchise places a decade later. I hope those sweet men made off well and didn’t get swindled when the suits swooped in and talked buyout $$ and bought the rights etc etc.

ps. just noticed R65 about the gay original owners after I posted. Sad to hear one of them died but glad to hear they ended up rich. They worked very hard with a smile back when they had just the one place.

Yeah I used to go to the one in Chelsea on 23rd st. It was def a good meal for a college kid. But it closed quite a while ago- mid aughts. Anyone remember the funky restaurant next door - something white trash themed? I can’t remember what it was called but they had great sweet potato fries.

[quote]COVID has a lot to do with these restaurants shutting down…

I totally disagree with this - if anything COVID was the best thing for these places. The sit-in dining restaurants were hurt, since families couldn't patronize these places during the first 6 - 9 months of the pandemic. Restuarants lost tons of money - especially in the very profitable alcohol sales. No one was sitting at the bar ordering drinks, or having drinks served at the tables.

However, fast-food take out restaurants (such as BM, McDs, Panera, etc.) made bank. Between pick-up orders and delivery orders, these restaurants were rolling in the dough.

There is an Italian family restaurant in my neighborhood which has been here for as long as I can remember. The dining room is on the smaller side (seats about 100) , they only have a beer and wine liquor license (so they are not profiting on alcohol as they would a full liquor license) and a take-out service with its own entry on the side of the restaurant. Their food is authentic Italian, home-made, and delicious (even the bread is baked on the premises). When the pandemic hit, they closed the dining room and went strictly to take-out. Each evening, the line was out the door and wrapped around the side of the building. One of my favorite servers in the dining room was now working take out, and he told me the owners were having serious thoughts about keeping the dining room closed for good and just keeping a take-out business, that's how profitable it was. (They ended up reopening the dining room about a year and a half ago - took their time).

[quote]he told me the owners were having serious thoughts about keeping the dining room closed for good and just keeping a take-out business, that's how profitable it was

My Mom had a favorite Chinese restaurant, that she and her friends liked going to. During Covid, they switched to take-out only, and have NEVER looked back. I go there occasionally to pickup takeout for my Mom, and they are still in the same building. Dining room is still intact but they are just not doing it.

They obviously made the decision that enough people were willing to do take out (which is a Chinese food norm/staple), rather than pay servers.

Sad indeed. Boston Market reminds me of my beloved late mom, who absolutely loved that place in its heyday.

Miss you, Mom.

Think about the money saved from restaurants during the 'COVID' shut-down of their dining room services. I'm talking local mom & pop restaurants to Dunkin' Donuts and KFC.

They were still doing the same amount of business (if not more) through take out. Their only increase in expense was probably in take-out supplies (take-out containers, plastic utensils and paper bags). Yet they saved on everything else - starting with janitorial / cleaning supplies (no one using the dining room and restrooms); utilities (many restaurants kept their lights off in the dining room as well as the heat or AC; water usage was cut way back with no one using restrooms constantly) ; paying staff (I know most servers left the industry, but a lot of good places kept their best help on the take-out line and paid them very well to keep them). It really was a win / win for the industry even though they were complaining about the burden of changing their operation.

[quote]Yeah I used to go to the one in Chelsea on 23rd st. It was def a good meal for a college kid. But it closed quite a while ago- mid aughts. Anyone remember the funky restaurant next door - something white trash themed? I can’t remember what it was called but they had great sweet potato fries.

Was it Trailer Park?

Don’t let the door bang your azzz!!!

Why has the quality of their product declined?

R87 It happens when an outsider comes in, sees the business as a cash-cow, drains it of all equity and cash value, and then has no money left to keep the businesses running or to keep the quality standards of the products (they start cutting corners and buying inferior quality products at cheap prices, hoping the customer doesn't notice). Tale as old as time.

Boston Market expanded too quickly. They had like 5 locations in Manhattan and a couple of them closed very quickly. I think the one on 23rd and 8thth lasted the longest.

In the 90s I lived in deep suburbia. The Boston Chicken (pre-“Market”) about 15 minutes away had the best reasonably-priced food in the area.

Haven’t eaten there in years, though.

'90s Boston Market was good.

It was Always frozen foid reheated except for the chicken. Yuck !

Nooooooo! I loved Boston Market. Prime rib on Sunday was my only reason for living.

[quote] frozen foid

Boid.

Well, let's just hope that this is a harbinger of doom for Chick-fil-a.

The lines used to be ridiculous when Boston Market was at it's peak - like the lines for Chick-fil-a are now.

[quote]'90s Boston Chicken was great.

Fixed.

I also enjoyed their stuffing.

[quote] I also enjoyed their stuffing.

I'm sure you did, slut.

Besides the cornbread and baked beans (and baked apples), I'm trying to remember what else I enjoyed. I think I did like the Caesar salad.

[quote] It was Always frozen foid reheated except for the chicken. Yuck !

You wouldn't believe how many restaurants do this - and not just fast food- fast casual. A friend of mine worked in a very expensive, upscale steakhouse up until the end of last year. All the menu side items were ala carte - so if you wanted a vegetable and potato with your prime rib, you paid extra for each (I think they were around $10-12 each item). What they did was by frozen vegetables and mix them with a small amount of fresh vegetables for each serving. (He described the ratio as 75% frozen mixed with 25% fresh per serving - they saved a ton of money). They then dressed it up on a side plate, to make it look appetizing. So that side dish of sautéed asparagus you order as the 'chef's special' was what you can buy in your grocer's freezer. They got away with it - not one customer ever detected they were frozen.

Same for the steaks - all came in frozen. The bread was also frozen - just thawed and then warmed before they brought it to your table 'freshly baked, hot out of the oven'. Customers went crazy for their bread baskets.

Yes, it's all about ease & speed of preparation, plus consistency. Even if you're a proficient home cook, there are probably shortcuts you'll take (frozen stuff mixed with fresh stuff, etc.).

I can’t remember the desserts? I recall brownies.

R102 IIRC they had brownies and over-sized cookies, both packaged in crinkly cellophane and a twist-tie (at least the ones in my area). The brownies were pretty good (considering), yet the cookies were awful.

The cornbread was like a dessert.

Their meatloaf and mashed potatoes were always good. Their chicken has a flavor that always made me nauseous.

Boston Market wasn’t really for fatties. Their stuff wasn’t McDonald’s crap. It was mainly protein and vegetables.

[quote]The cornbread was like a dessert.

And it was always kind of damp.

Creamed Spinach

[quote]And it was always kind of damp.

That’s because they set it on the steam table with the vegetables.

[quote]This really isn’t food you could eat every single day.

Who would go there every single day?

I went there a few times in mid 1990’s- The sandwiches were pretty good but something in them would knock me out afterwards. So I did not consider their food that good.

They were sold in 1995. The new company took them downmarket.Happy new year’s ago I walked into a Boston market just for the hell of it I can see how low end all the food like compared to what it was in 1994 and 95 just before it was sold.

Not damp, but moist. Like momma’s mussy when she gets letters from prison.

R102 The double chocolate layer cake was to die for. Super dense and moist and fudgy. We would buy a whole cake sometimes. It was like $13 but so worth it. The chicken soup was really good too. It was the go-to if someone had a nasty cold. It tasted like Grandma made it from scratch.

Boston Chicken was actually great in the Boston area in the early 1990s. Their entire food concept depends on crowds and popularity because the trays of food are sitting out there in plain view, and it all has to look and taste fresh. With big crowds, it works great: the cooks in the back are working hard to keep up and there's always something new and steaming being marched out every other minute. And it's all consistently fresh and tasty.

But when the crowds are not there, the same ol' food just sits there and, well, you know the sad repulsive crusty glaze that appears over supermarket chicken salad when it's been untouched for too many hours. That's what Boston "Market" food eventually started to look and feel like. Along with bottom-of-the-barrel poorly paid staff standing around. Plus they increasingly oversalted the food to ward off the not so fresh flavor.

McDonalds bought Boston Market in 2000 and then regretted it and dumped it onto some capital holdings firm for a loss in 2007. The firm sold it to some Indian guy who probably never ate American rotisserie chicken even once growing up. And so now it's dying.

I failed to try the one near me assuming the memory of it from decades ago would be superior to reality.

They could have tried a rebrand: (we have stuffing smoothies! Turkey neck açai bowls!), or ads. Just ads.