Employees at a Boston Market that has been temporarily closed say they haven’t been paid in weeks and the owner will not return their emails and calls.
On Sunday, Ocala-News.com first reported that the Boston Market located at 2650 SW College Road had temporarily closed.
“Due to supply chain shortages, we only have a limited menu for today. Please ask our team for availability of products,” read a sign posted on the establishment at the time.
This week, Ocala-News.com heard from staff at the restaurant, who says they haven’t been paid for the last two pay cycles, equating to a month.
“We are trying to reach out to the owners, but they are not answering. No emails. No calls,” said one of the employees.
The employees and manager at the location decided that they would not open the store back up until they were paid.
Before the closure, staff had dealt with food shortages for several weeks. Ingredients to some of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, like its spiraled mac and cheese, were changed as cost-saving measures.
In social media posts and reviews of the local restaurant, customers have been reporting shortages and changes to classic ingredients for weeks.
“The mac n cheese is not their regular noodles…what’s going on at this location,” reads one Google review posted in the last two weeks.
In the past two decades, Boston Market has seen its locations dwindle from 1,200 at its peak to now just over 300 across the United States.
In April 2020, the company was purchased by Engage Brands, a company of the Rohan Group, which is owned by Jignesh “Jay” Pandya.
Corporate listings for the Ocala location show that it is owned and operated by the Boston Market Corporation, with its corporate headquarters listed as 14103 Denver W Parkway in Golden, Colorado. Pandya is listed as the president of the company.
According to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the license for Boston Market #763 on SR 200 expired on June 1, 2023. As a result, the business is currently classified as “delinquent” by the state.
“We have family to support and bills to pay. We count on those checks,” said an employee in an email to Ocala-News.com.