McDonald’s chickens out on Boston Market

Article by Jim Coen

With over 25 years of franchise, marketing, and entrepreneurial experience, and the owner of Franchise Perfection, Jim Coen, brings key skills to franchise consulting for those interested in buying a franchise business opportunity. Jim has been a franchisee, worked for franchisors, ran a multi unit operation for a franchisee, and served as a franchise consultant matching candidates with the right franchise. At Franchise Perfection there is no perfect franchise, but there is always a perfect match. For over 20 years Jim worked with Super Coups. Super Coups is a MA based direct mail franchise business to business opportunity. Prior to Super Coups Jim successfully marketed franchises in the New England area for Uniglobe Travel Northeast a travel franchise, Merry Maids a maid cleaning franchise, & Emack & Bolio an Ice Cream franchise. Jim was the host of a popular radio show in the Boston Area called "Let's Talk Franchising" that was broadcast on AM 1060 WBIX The Boston Business Station. Jim currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Franchise Association (NEFA) www.nefranchise.org Read 51 articles by Jim Coen

The Boston Business Journal reported today that Boston Market, co-created by Boston-based franchise guru George Nadaff, is being sold to Sun Capital Partners Inc.McDonald’s Corp., the Illinois fast-food giant that owns Boston Market, is selling the franchise to the Florida buyout firm to focus on hamburgers.

As of June 30, 2007, Boston Market’s total assets and total liabilities were $180 million and $89.1 million, respectively, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Boston Market currently has 630 locations in 28 states.

In early August 2007, McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) signed a definitive agreement for the sale of Boston Market. The company expects to complete the transaction in the third quarter 2007 and does not expect to record a loss.

McDonald’s acquired Boston Market’s operations for $176.2 million in May 2000. Since then, McDonald’s has pared down its partner brands, shedding Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMGB), Donato’s Pizza and its stake in Fazoli’s Italian fast-food restaurants.

“It was more a distraction than anything,” Morningstar analyst John Owens said of Boston Market. “McDonald’s is really singularly focused on the Golden Arches, so this was not a surprise to me.”

Sun Capital, which now owns Fazoli’s, has a portfolio that also includes bakery chain Bruegger’s Enterprises, Garden Fresh salad restaurants and cheese-and-meat retailer Hickory Farms. Two years earlier, Boston Market had run out of cash to pay creditors and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Boston Market Corp., founded as Boston Chicken in 1985, expanded under the wing of franchise specialist Nadaff, who partnered with the founders in 1989.

Cross Posted at: Let’s Talk Franchising

Similar Posts:

Start the discussion, why not leave a comment?

Leave a Reply




RSS Discussion Forum

  • Re: margins March 7, 2010
    You seem to be assuming there are profit margins.   Why is that?   Please be aware that you need to go back in time and recalculate old numbers for current lease obligations.   FuwaFuwaUsagi […]
  • Re: Searching for insights good/bad on Blimpies? March 4, 2010
    Is this the same Paul W. Steinberg who failed to pay the taxes on his franchise operations to the extent of over $33,000 with the result that NY State had to go to the expenses of issuing a series of Tax Warrants against him.  Go to:  http://appsext8.d... […]
  • margins February 28, 2010
    I am looking at a few fast food franchises and wondering what type of profit margins I should be calculating.  Guidelines? […]
  • Re: ARE CICIS PIZZA PROFITABLE February 17, 2010
    Quote from: FuwaFuwaUsagi on February 16, 2010, 05:03:15 PMThe Pundit writes:I was browsing through old posts and came across this one.  It's a great one for all to read.My reply:Thanks for the kind words Ryan, but did you up... […]
  • Re: ARE CICIS PIZZA PROFITABLE February 16, 2010
    The Pundit writes:I was browsing through old posts and came across this one.  It's a great one for all to read.My reply:Thanks for the kind words Ryan, but did you up my karma points - NOOOO!!!!!!  Cheap &(*%$&^ - LOL!!!Once a year, whether ... […]

Blog Categories

Old Posts