News

Boloco announces menu changes

January 17, 2014

Boloco has made a few changes to its menu, which includes a price increase to help cover higher ingredient costs and the chain's commitment to Boloco team members, according to a company press release.

All registered Boloco card holders, however, will receive a free menu item tonight at midnight in order to tests the new dishes, which include two new salads, the Kale Cobb Salad made with organic baby kale, crisp romaine, sliced tomatoes, crispy bacon, hard-boiled egg, aged cheddar, herbed croutons, & blue cheese dressing, and the New England Harvest Salad made with organic baby kale, warm quinoa, roasted squash with cranberries, chilled beet salsa, roasted garlic mushrooms, goat cheese, & balsamic vinaigrette).

For no additional charge, guests can also substitute quinoa for rice in any burrito or bowl and choose to replace romaine with organic baby kale, according to the release.

The burrito joint is also changing up one of its key components: its flour and whole wheat tortillas have been replaced with a new, thinner version that has 21 fewer less calories, 42 percent less fat, and 13 fewer carbs.

Its Classic Mexican burrito has also been revamped, offering three new levels of heat via new salsas – mild tomato salsa, verde-style medium and smoky-hot bold salsa.

"To stay true to the 'inspired' part of 'globally inspired', changes need to be made from time to time," said CFO Patrick Renna. "We're very excited about the new additions to our menu and understand some guests will be disappointed with the departures of a few of our items, but innovation within our menu is critical as we continue to evolve our globally inspired offerings."

Boloco's last price increase occurred two years ago in February 2012, and while in an ideal world Boloco's prices would stay the same forever the reality isn't so easy, said Renna. Boloco sees it as the single most important job to fulfill its mission "to positively impact the lives and futures of our people through bold and inspired food and practices," and so, a portion of the price increase will directly benefit the lives of the people making globally inspired burritos every day. It will also, in part, support an increased cost of ingredients, Renna said.

"Yes, our prices are going up, and we'll most likely receive some pushback, but we felt it was the right time, in order to stay current with our increased costs and help us work on fulfilling our mission," Renna said.

Boloco also rolled out two new bowl sizes, replacing its formerly recyclable bowls, with the "little bowl" and the "big bowl," which are fully compostable with 100 percent post-consumer recycled lids, Renna said. Boloco's new menus are displayed at most of the restaurants on reclaimed maple wood planks salvaged from barns in Vermont. And, in another effort to monitor its footprint, the former "paper menus" have gone digital with easy online access via the in-store kiosks or website, and the menus still in the restaurants have been made more permanent, so they can be used again.

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