News

Boston Market completes restaurant upgrades

February 21, 2011

Boston Market has announced that 400 of the company’s restaurants have completed upgrades meant to enhance the customer experience, increase sales and reduce waste.

Changes include new menu items, the replacement of disposable plates and utensils with real plates and stainless ware and upgraded serving stations. The restaurant chain also has increased its staff by more than 3,000 nationwide.

“We made a tremendous investment in physical upgrades, small wares and hospitality training, and we’re very pleased by the positive reaction we’ve received from our guests,” said George Michel, CEO, Boston Market. “We implemented more than 70 different changes in our restaurants, and we were able to transform more than 370 locations in less than three months. This was by far the biggest undertaking we’ve attempted as a company in our 25-year history, and we couldn’t be happier about the results.”

The start of the national relaunch in 2010 followed a successful pilot in 10 restaurants throughout the West Palm Beach, Fla., area earlier this year in which the company experienced a 25 percent increase in transactions and a 20 percent rise in sales.

Specific restaurant enhancements included:

• Improved employee training programs
• Addition of Dining Room Ambassadors
• New uniforms
• Chef’s hot case
• Hand-carved-to-order serving station
• Hand-tossed-to-order salad service
• Gourmet sides (such as loaded mashed potatoes, garlicky lemon savoy spinach, squash casserole and Mediterranean green beans)
• Hand-carved sandwiches
• Hand-tossed entrée salads – Mediterranean, Southwest Santa Fe and Asian – each made with rotisserie chicken
• Soups – chicken tortilla and broccoli cheese
• Sauces –orange chipotle glaze, Island Mojo, Zesty Barbecue, sweet Thai chili garlic and honey habanero were created to complement the signature rotisserie chicken
• More healthy options