All of this about Boston Market jibes with my memory, too. We went to them a lot in the late 90s, and the food was fine. It was a favorite for office lunches, because everyone was sick of sandwiches and pizza.
Then for some reason I didn’t revisit one for several years, and when I tried them again, the food was pretty sucky. I thought that I must have been misremembering how good they used to be, or that my palate had changed or something. Glad to know it wasn’t just me.
My husband used to really like them back in the late 80’s to mid 90’s, and they had enough vegetarian sides that I could put together a meal for myself. All the sweet things were too sweet (including, oddly, the cornbread), the salty things were too salty, and everything was a little too greasy, but it was a cut above most fast foods in flavor and cheaper than a sit-down restaurant. We had tiny children during that time, so it was a way to get food that was close to restaurant quality without having to get toddlers to behave in public.
I don’t remember why we stopped going, but I do have an impression of the food declining in quality at the same time that service took a turn for the worse. I definitely remember having to check everything over before leaving the store, because they inevitably left something out.
Aside from the issue of quality(which I have no experince with)-- I’m interested in the “cultural” aspect of Boston Market.
It seemed to have a unique niche in the restaurant ecosystem.
I think it was one of the first fast-casual style places. But unlike, say,Panera, BM isn’t a sandwich place. It’s food on a plate, with silverware. But cheaper than a sit down restaurant.
That was a new idea back in the 1980’s. Maybe it’s not such a good fit in today’s culture?
(disclaimer: I’m just relying on my memories. The only Boston Market near me closed 20 years ago, and I haven’t been in one since then…so maybe I’m way off base.)
I think that that was its original niche. They started out with rotisserie chicken, at a time when that wasn’t necessarily widely available. Much of the rest of their menu (meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, sweet corn, cornbread) was comfort-food items that you couldn’t typically get outside of sit-down restaurants. And, as noted above, at least prior to their original bankruptcy, their quality was pretty good, for the price point.
They had sandwiches when I worked there. The meatloaf sandwich, with a side of cranberry relish or tortellini salad, was my usual lunch.
As is, I can’t even seem to find a menu on their website.
We went there fairly often when Celtling was a tyke. But over the years the employees just went from happy to miserable, and it was depressing to even walk in there by about 2012. I haven’t been back since.
I had food from the Joplin, Missouri location twice, both times it was disgusting. I wouldn’t have gone back a second time (and I didn’t, technically), but somehow I wound up with some food from there, in my possession, from someone else not wanting it, or something. I don’t remember the specifics. It was worth what I paid for it (which was $0).
On the subject of the Joplin location, I remember reading in the local rag one day that the entire staff of the restaurant just up and quit one night. As in, they walked out during dinner service.
They added sandwiches at some point, in hopes of attracting the lunch crowd.
That’s one of the points made in the Company Man video that Joey_P linked above. When they started out, serving rotisserie chicken relatively quickly, they didn’t really have any competition. Nobody else was doing that. When they added sandwiches, now they’re suddenly competing with places like Subway. So adding sandwiches may have been one of the things that contributed to their downfall.
I remember at least in the mid-late 90s there was a Boston Market in Silverdale, WA within walking distance of where I worked at the time (Toys R Us). It’s long gone, I am not sure for how long, but it has certainly been quite a while. I haven’t seen a physical restaurant anywhere for a long time.
I remember it was okay, the best thing I could say about the place was that it was definitely something different. It had some of the same foods you’d expect to see in a buffet place (like Golden Corral) without being a buffet. I even vaguely remember taking a date there before a movie. (Yeah I know, but she wanted to go there.)
As mentioned earlier in this thread, they still sell frozen meals which are decent. Maybe slightly better in quality than usual. I buy them for my wife every once in a while when she asks me to pick up a couple of frozen meals to take to work. I’m hoping that if the restaurants all go away that their frozen meals will still be available.
I’ve eaten in Boston Market restaurants several times, and I liked their approach to menu. I wish there were more restaurants targeting this style.
Unfortunately, I got sick afterwards, EVERY TIME. I think they must use some ingredient that most people are fine with but I react to.
That started happening to me towards the end of my time going to Boston Market. I feel like by 2010 we stopped going. It was better if I took the skin off and threw it out. So it was probably a cooking oil/seasoning mix that changed and was getting to me.
Just Dunkin’ now.[/nitpicking]
Moe’s seems to be the next former icon to fall-if you peruse reviews for a random franchisee, you’ll typically see a lot of the new reviews bemoaning the decline in quality, the loss of certain menu choices, dirty restaurants and food preparation areas, and apathetic employees. The last time or two that I went in nobody greeted me with “Moe’s!” The three nearest to me in my new digs are all “permanently closed”…
Those aren’t made by Boston Market themselves, however. The frozen meals are made by a company called Bellisio Foods, undoubtedly under a license. Bellisio, which specializes in frozen foods, and licensing brand names, also makes the frozen versions of White Castle hamburgers. (In addition, Bellisio was the original manufacturer of Jeno’s Pizza Rolls and Chun King Chinese food, before selling off those brands.)
What happens to the Boston Market frozen meal license once the restaurant chain finally goes toes-up is a good question. I’d wager that someone will buy the rights to the brand, in hopes of reviving it.
Interesting, I’ve also bought White Castle’s frozen hamburgers multiple times from the grocery store. My ex-wife liked them, and my youngest daughter used to really enjoy them (though she seems to have gotten tired of them). I guess they specialize in frozen foods that I buy for other people but never eat myself. 
I guess today, not only can you get a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, you can buy all the sides, too. Mashed potatoes and corn bread and mac&cheese and if course endless salad options in the salad bar. That’s a good option in the “traditional foods for takeout” market.
A not-uncommon dinner for us involves my wife having me stop at the supermarket on the way home from work, to pick up a rotisserie chicken, refrigerated containers of Bob Evans mashed potatoes and macaroni & cheese, and a jar of Heinz chicken gravy. If one were to add in some cornbread, it’d basically be what we would get at Boston Market, 25 years ago.
Though a whole rotisserie chicken is more than just a single meal.
Absolutely, and I’ve done it myself.
I never got Boston Market to go. I always dined in. Not that I ate there often; I would guess I went a few times at most.
It was like eating at a diner or buffet but getting the food a lot faster.
What’s funny to me is that KFC serves much of the same kind of food yet it’s doing fine. But that’s a real fast food place, which Boston Market wasn’t when I ate there. Maybe that’s the difference.
Speak for yourself.
It’s an entire single meal for me. While on an empty enough stomach, I could stuff in some sides as well, I wouldn’t want to unless they were amazing. In other words, I’d definitely lose an eating contest to the Hound.