A well-known restaurant chain has shut down its last location for good as employees complained about the working conditions of the job.
Boston Market, known for its rotisserie meals, closed its final store in Toledo, Ohio.
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While the casual restaurant chain has not revealed a reason why, the former general manager of the location put the company on blast for sometimes paying employees up to three weeks late.
"For the whole time I was there, we hadn't gotten paid on time," Jeremy Dukeshire told local news outlet WTOL.
"There were a lot of promises it would get better every paycheck and it would get worse and worse, and when we did get it, we were missing money."
But it gets worse.
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Dukeshire said that the company even stopped paying for dumpster services.
That was enough to get employees sick – causing moldy and spoiled food, according to the former GM.
In addition, Dukeshire said that he and other general managers of other local Boston Market location stores were forced to pick up food in unrefrigerated U-Hauls to save the company money.
LARGER PROBLEM
But this just appears to be one example of Boston Market's issues across the country.
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The chain was ordered to shut down 27 locations in New Jersey after complaints from employees.
Workers alleged Boston Market failed to pay minimum wage, sick leave, and to maintain records for earned sick leave.
The company was also fined more than $2.5million back wages, liquidated damages, and administrative damages.
In addition, U.S. Foods has filed a lawsuit against Boston markets, according to WTOL.
The food supplier claims that the company owes more than $11.6million in unpaid bills.
Boston Markets has more than 300 locations in the U.S.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Boston Market for comment.
MORE CLOSURES
In addition to Boston Market, other restaurant chains have closed – but maybe not for the same reason.
Some have not been able to recover from the slowdown caused by the pandemic.
For one, TGI Fridays shut down shut down its last remaining Idaho location.
The move by TGI Friday's comes after the company faced the pain of declining sales in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief executive officer at the time, Ray Blanchette, warned in a Bloomberg interview that 20 percent of its 386 restaurants would likely be forced to close.
Fatz Cafe, known for its presence in the southeast, has shut down all of its remaining restaurants.
“We are sorry to announce that after proudly serving this and many other communities for years Fatz Cafe will be closed permanently,” the former casual diner told customers in a note.
“All existing locations closed effective 8/23/2023. We thank you for your support throughout our years in business.”
Fatz previously operated nearly 20 locations in states including Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
And Cracker Barrell shut down multiple locations recently.
This includes one in Jackson, Mississippi, and four locations in Oregon in recent months.
"It is not uncommon for a store’s traffic patterns and volumes to change over time, and we saw this occur in Jackson coming out of the pandemic," the restaurant chain said in a statement to The U.S. Sun.
"Despite the strong efforts of our employees, our Jackson store was unable to overcome these and other challenges."
For more related stories, Burger King has abruptly closed a store.
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And here is the full list of retailers that have filed for bankruptcy.
