The kitchens and dining rooms are empty at Boston Market locations across Connecticut after the chain was served eviction notices and faces lawsuits for unpaid rent.
According to court filings, the company hasn’t paid rent at multiple restaurants in the state, including in East Haven, East Hartford, Meriden, West Hartford and Wilton.
On Monday, a steady stream of people tried to get food from the Meriden location, only to find signs on the door and drive-through window reading, “Sales and use tax permit has been suspended. No sales can be transacted.”
Yet, on the Boston Market app, the location is still listed as open, as are several other locations in the state that were served eviction notices.
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The commercial property owners that have rented to Boston Market for decades claim the chain stopped paying rent, and they’re now asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars in repayment, according to court filings.
It’s the latest issue in a string of problems with the chain that's known for its homestyle dinners and Thanksgiving meals.
Earlier this year, food distributor U.S. Foods filed a lawsuit against Boston Market for $11.3 million. Then in August, 27 locations in New Jersey were issued stop work orders after reports of more than $600,000 in back wages were owed to hundreds of workers.
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In Connecticut, the state's Department of Labor confirmed to NBC Connecticut that it is investigating four claims of unpaid wages.
“Basically, it boils down to having not enough cash flow. To overcome that, they should really plan in advance and foresee this coming. When sales are down and when expenses need to be paid, they should have restructured and done something way in advance,” Demissew Ejara, PhD, associate professor of finance at the University of New Haven, said.
“They probably, they just gave up," he added. "If the market is not there and there’s no good prospect of turning around, there’s no point in fighting just to pay their debts and close and reduce their expenses.”
Boston Market did not respond to our request for comment.
