WORCESTER — Boston Market’s days on Park Avenue could be numbered, records and interviews show, as its landlord has secured eviction paperwork for nonpayment of rent.
“Ultimately I think we’re going to foreclose on the property,” Rich Carr, a landlord of the 14 Park Ave. eatery, told the Telegram & Gazette Monday.
Court records show Carr and his team at WCC Realty, which owns the building, have secured eviction paperwork and a judgment for more than $165,000 against the restaurant chain for unpaid rent dating to 2018.
The judgments – neither of which the company contested in court – follow a similar pattern of lawsuits it has faced across the country.
“After years of steady decline, the fast-casual brand appears to be in a death spiral of unpaid bills, legal filings and angry customers,” Restaurant Business Magazine reported in September.
The company has shuttered hundreds of stores in recent years and, according to Restaurant Business, is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor amid complaints of late and unpaid wages.
According to RetailWire, Boston Market has closed more than 200 locations since 2017 including about 50 this year. The Hartford Courant reported Monday that all seven of the company’s locations in Connecticut have been served eviction notices following court processes that the company never contested.
A similar pattern exists in Massachusetts. In addition to losing its eviction case in Worcester by never contesting it, records show that Boston Market was ordered to pay McDonald’s more than $910,000 in October after failing to answer a lawsuit pertaining to its Westborough and Framingham locations on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Court documents show that McDonald’s – which used to own Boston Market and now acts as its landlord for those locations – sued the chain in Suffolk Superior Court in January.
According to the lawsuit, Boston Market failed to pay back rent for both locations and, despite coming to an agreement following a prior lawsuit, stopped operating the Westborough location in July 2022.
Boston Market is also facing a proposed class-action lawsuit by employees of its Chelmsford location for nonpayment of wages. A Middlesex Superior Court judge in August, after the company failed to answer legal documents, ordered a legal attachment of $50,000 for employees of that store, writing there appeared to be a “reasonable likelihood of success” in establishing a class for all Massachusetts workers.
Court records show landlords have also been granted eviction orders against Boston Market in Fitchburg, where the 152 Whalen St. location appears to have closed, and Springfield.
A plan to turn things around?
Boston Market is owned by Jay Pandya, a Philadelphia businessman who bought it amidst continued struggles in 2020.
Restaurant Business has published multiple stories questioning Pandya’s stewardship, noting that lawsuits for nonpayment of rent and wages have cropped up in many states.
Reached by telephone Monday night, Pandya’s son, Ronak Pandya – who said he provides management for Boston Market’s northeast locations – said he is working hard to turn things around.
“I would not be here, and I would not have gotten involved, if I did not think this could be turned around,” said Ronak Pandya, adding that Worcester is among many locations that are a priority for the company.
Pandya said in his opinion, the story should be that Boston Market has a plan to turn things around with the landlords and customers in its most important markets including Worcester.
Ronak Pandya said the company is on a payment plan with its Worcester landlords, adding things were “all good” with them.
Informed of the comment, Carr disagreed. He said that while Boston Market did make a payment it owed in November, he has seen too many other missed payments and promises broken, and that he is still owed somewhere around six figures.
Carr said he would give the business until Dec. 15 to make its next installment, but does not see the company lasting on Park Avenue for long.
“Ultimately, I think we’re going to foreclose on the property,” he said, adding that the location is a “very high traffic, high-demand spot,” that could be filled with a reliable tenant.
Ronak Pandya did not return a call Tuesday morning seeking comment on Carr’s statement.
He acknowledged the negative press surrounding the business Monday, but said he believes there is a path forward. He declined to offer specifics for how that plan will work, other than saying it would start by making landlords whole.
Pandya also declined to comment on an $11 million federal lawsuit Boston Market is facing from a supplier, saying he was not at liberty to speak about the case.
Read More: Boston Market in Worcester, Mass., facing possible eviction