My love letter to Boston Market as fans like me worry it’ll close for good

Picture this: It’s 1998, and your mom just got home from work. She asks what you want for dinner, and your mind immediately goes to the crispy rotisserie chicken going around and around on a spit behind a plethora of hot sides at Boston Market. Your family piles into the car, you drive to the nearest location and dive into your perfectly divided plate filled out with chicken breast, sweet potatoes, creamed spinach and cornbread.

No, this is not an ad — this was my lived experience as a ‘90s kid growing up in Trumbull, Connecticut.

Fast forward to April 2024 when my 32-year-old self is listening to a recent episode on The Ringer’s “Food News” podcast. Admittedly, I haven’t been to (or really thought about) a Boston Market in nearly two years, but when one of the hosts said, “Boston Market, going away!” I froze. Then, I turned to Google for more answers. A local Connecticut news outlet reported the remaining seven storefronts across the state had closed as of November 2023, and the chain’s store locator proved it to be true.

As I did more top-line research, I stumbled across Restaurant Business Magazine’s blunt headline: “Boston Market is down to 27 restaurants.” My heart sunk into my chest, just like seeing a customer in front of you take the last scoop of sweet corn right before your eyes.

My first thought was, “How did I not notice?” My second thought: “But the mac and cheese!?” My third and fourth thoughts: “Sad me” and “I have to call my mom.”

I heard her gasp on the other line when I told her the chain might be on its last legs. She and my dad still live in my childhood home, where a Boston Market used to be just a 10-minute drive away. Now, that space is a hibachi restaurant.

“Dark meat, the mac and cheese, the grilled veggies,” my mom recalled when I asked what her go-to order was.

“Do you remember anything else?” I asked, hopeful that she would help refresh my own childhood memories.

Her mind started to cook. She said we wouldn’t go to Boston Market frequently, maybe once a month. She remembered my yiayia used to buy the chicken pot pies for us to eat together at home. She recalled getting coupons from purchasing chicken dinners that incentivized our next visit, always coming back for more.

Those moments were baked into her memory like brown sugar in the sweet potato casserole. They were moments I was definitely present for, but ones I don’t quite remember the same way.

While we both recall breaking cornbread, it dawned on me that our respective relationships with Boston Market are very different. What my mom has in her memory are specific moments she can point to as a mother taking care of her two daughters. As for me, I have more of a fuzzy recollection of childhood feelings: safe, cozy, warm, happy, home. Both, however, are rooted in the importance of family dinner — a sentiment that echoes within Boston Market’s origin story.

The chain first opened in 1985 as Boston Chicken, according to The New York Times. In the ‘90s and 2000s it became a novelty (and some might argue it still is). Boston Market’s meats — especially the rotisserie chicken — and sides became an elevated version of TV dinners. Commercials promoted the chain’s food options as “real meals,” putting family at the center of the experience. Spend more time together by cooking less and still getting a cozy, homemade meal? It was revolutionary — until it wasn’t.

Supermarkets across the country have since picked up on the to-go rotisserie chicken trend, selling the poultry at a cheaper price point than what you’d spend at Boston Market. The grocers even added a wide array of hot sides ready to scoop at your leisure. My love for a roasted chicken leg stems from my Boston Market childhood, no doubt, but I can’t deny the convenience that comes with picking up a Nature’s Promise rotisserie chicken at Stop & Shop.

The last time I stepped into a Boston Market was summer 2022 while on my way to Pennsylvania. I saw an ad for their new rotisserie chicken bites, and to a massive spit-roasted chicken fan like myself, the concept sounded pretty innovative. I decided to record my taste test for fun, though the takeaway was anything but that: dry chicken, with a side of tasty dipping sauces that made it eatable.

Before that, my husband and I went to a Boston Market at a rest stop in summer 2021. We figured we’d pop in to get a quick bite while on the road. It ended up being a long bite — the location had run out of rotisserie chicken (although they told us one more was coming), there were barely any sides left and the staff seemed like they wanted to hang up their aprons.

I subconsciously picked up on the red flags throughout recent years, but I thought Boston Market would always be there, like that can of soup you were saving for a rainy day or that one hamburger patty that’s iced over in your freezer.

Have I taken the chain restaurant for granted? Am I, along with other self-proclaimed fans who haven’t walked through Boston Market’s doors in years, responsible for its downfall?

The truth is, the chain's seemingly sudden decline has been a slow burn for the last few decades. In 1998, Boston Market filed for bankruptcy. Then, in 2002, it was purchased by McDonalds before being sold to a private equity firm called Sun Capital Partners in 2007. In 2013, Nation’s Restaurant News reported Boston Market opened its first location since Sun Capital Partners took over, while nearly 200 locations had closed. In 2020, it was purchased by Rohan Group, owned by Jay Pandya, who has reportedly been sued several times for failure to make timely payments to employees, commercial property owners and major food distributor US Foods.

When asked by TODAY.com about the report that only 27 locations remained open, Pandya, whose company still owns Boston Market, denies this number and claims there are over 50 stores currently operating. (TODAY.com was not able to confirm this number.) He says he’s optimistic the chain can “bounce back into over 100 restaurants before the end of this year.”

At its peak, Boston Market reportedly had 1,200 locations, and after a long line of events, no more than 5% of that number remains. My adult self believes the comeback isn’t realistic, but my inner child is holding onto hope that the once-blissful experience of eating at a Boston Market can return — even if that version of the restaurant hasn’t existed for decades.

Maybe Boston Market can cut down its price point to be cheaper than supermarkets. Maybe a newfound appreciation for rotisserie chicken will sweep the nation. Maybe Gen Z-ers will make the chain trendy again after a TikTok goes viral.

Maybe ... it’s time to say goodbye.

Who knows? But for now, I’m Googling the nearest location, which is about 35 minutes away in the Bronx, and mapping out one last car ride to Boston Market — with my mom, of course.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com