Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American

fast casual restaurant A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate conce ...

chain headquartered in

Golden, Colorado Golden is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Censu ...

. It is owned by the Rohan Group. Boston Market has its greatest presence in the

Northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

, but also has a large presence in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. , the chain has approximately 346 company-owned restaurant locations in 28 states, Puerto Rico, and

Ramstein-Miesenbach Ramstein-Miesenbach is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, adjacent to the U.S. Ramstein Air Base. History As a result of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz administrative reform, Ramstein-Miesenbach, which ...

, with 14,000 employees. 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 the Australian market later that year due to competitive pressures.

History

Boston Chicken was founded by Steven Kolow and

Arthur Cores Arthur Richard Cores (August 11, 1957 – December 16, 2009) was an American businessman and entrepreneur who was a co-founder of Boston Market. In 1985, while a student at Northeastern University in Boston, the 27-year-old Cores partnered wi ...

in 1985 in Newton, a suburb of Boston. The chain expanded rapidly in the early and mid-1990s. 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. Boston Market was purchased by

McDonald's Corporation McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger s ...

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 2007, McDonald's announced that it was "exploring strategic options" for the subsidiary. On August 6, 2007, McDonald's announced plans to sell the chain to

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 the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and ...

, a transaction that was completed on August 27, 2007. When it was known as Boston Chicken, restaurants specialized in rotisserie chicken and a variety of

side dish A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

meatloaf Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat that has been combined with other ingredients and formed into the shape of a loaf, then baked or smoked. The final shape is either hand-formed on a baking tray, or pan-formed by cooking it in a loaf pan. ...

, and

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...

and changed the name to Boston Market in fall 1995 to reflect this. However, the corporate name remained "Boston Chicken, Inc." until 1997, when it became so popular with the new name, the corporate name was changed to "Boston Market Corporation." In 1996, 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. In 2005, Boston Market also started offering limited-time offers, such as Crispy Country Chicken, an oven-baked chicken breast with gravy. Baked whitefish, haddock or cod was also offered on Fridays during

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

. Boston Market continues to introduce new items and flavors, such as their popular BBQ Ribs, Oven Crisp Chicken, and Parmesan Tuscan Chicken Premium Dish. In April 2018, Boston Market announced that it was expanding its menu to offer rotisserie prime rib nationwide, three days a week. Boston Chicken created the Einstein Bros. Bagels chain of bakery cafés in 1995, after acquiring several smaller chains of bagel-centric bakeries. A selection of Boston Market-branded items have been available since April 1999 in many supermarkets across the United States. 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. Frozen meals and side dishes are sold nationally under the Boston Market brand name; these were previously manufactured by

H. J. Heinz Company The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contin ...

and Overhill Farms of Vernon, California, until Overhill Foods was purchased by

Bellisio Foods Bellisio Foods Incorporated (formerly Michelina's) is an American frozen food manufacturer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company was founded by Jeno Paulucci in Duluth, Minnesota and is now owned by Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Li ...

of Duluth, Minnesota. Boston Market also provides catering for any size event for office meetings, office holiday parties, and private events, available with delivery or pick-up at the restaurant. In April 2020, Sun Capital Partners sold Boston Market to Engage Brands, LLC, a company of Rohan Group, owned by Jignesh Pandy

Trademark dispute

In 2002,

Boston Pizza Boston Pizza (BP), known as Boston's The Gourmet Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar outside of Canada, is a Canadian multinational restaurant chain that owns and franchises locations in Canada, the United States and Mexico. History Boston Pizza ...

commenced 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 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 will not challenge Boston Pizza's use in Canada of any trademark that uses the words "Boston" or "Boston Pizza" (with certain exceptions).

References

External links

*
100 Meals: Boston Market Home Video Contest Winner Personal Documentary

{{Portalbar, Colorado, Companies, Food Companies based in Golden, Colorado Companies based in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Newton, Massachusetts Restaurants in Colorado Economy of the Northeastern United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States Fast-food chains of the United States Former McDonald's subsidiaries Restaurants established in 1985 1985 establishments in Massachusetts Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1998 Heinz brands Fast-food franchises Fast casual restaurants Fast-food poultry restaurants 2000 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions

History

Menu

Trademark dispute

See also

References

External links