Boston Market's two-buck chick
About a week ago, I came upon a sign advertising $1.99 chickens hanging across a Boston Market Window. Wow, I thought, here’s economic collapse writ large: a signature menu item as discounted inducement. Talk about loss leaders!
But after wheeling my car around and pulling into the lot, I spotted the small type. Two-buck chick was available only when a customer purchased a $19.99 family dinner. The flapping banner wasn’t the harbinger of doom that I imagined.
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BM, as some of you may recall, has seen its share of troubles. The company cratered in the ’90s after an ill-begotten expansion and a lack of transparency that raised suspicions on Wall Street. A bankruptcy ensued and eventually McDonald’s acquired it, weeding out unprofitable stores and restructuring the balance sheet. The burger (and coffee) giant sold the chain to Sun Capital Partners in August 2007.
I went online this morning to see if BM’s Web site was touting cheap chicken. Yup. But what really caught my attention was Boston Market’s boast about the healthfulness of its offerings. "It’s everything you’d expect — craveable chef-inspired recipes made with wholesome natural ingredients," the Web site said.
Key word: Inspired. I bet chefs aren’t in the vicinity of the units because, though I’m sure the following ingredients — from the site’s nutritional information section — are "wholesome" on some level, I doubt many chefs would need as many as below to whip up a Caesar Salad:
| Caesar Side Salad: CAESAR DRESSING (SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, PARMESAN CHEESE [MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES], RED WINE VINEGAR, EGG YOLK, SALT, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, SUGAR, SPICES (INCLUDING MUSTARD SEED), ANCHOVY, DEHYDRATED GARLIC, DEHYDRATED WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE [VINEGAR, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICES, DEHYDRATED GARLIC, TAMARIND, NATURAL FLAVOR], XANTHAN GUM, DEHYDRATED ONION), ROMAINE LETTUCE, THREE CHEESE BLEND (PARMESAN, ASIAGO AND ROMANO [MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES AND ANTI-CAKING AGENT]), BUTTERY GARLIC CROUTONS (ENRICHED FLOUR [WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID], PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, MALTODEXTRINS, CORN SYRUP, SALT, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: GARLIC POWDER, YEAST, CORN MEAL, CALCIUM SULFATE, AUTOLYZED YEAST, CALCIUM PROPIONATE {PRESERVATIVE}, DEHYDRATED PARSLEY, NATURAL FLAVOR & COLOR, SPICE, TOCOPHEROLS {ANTIOXIDANT}, ENZYMES). Contains: WHEAT, SOY, MILK, EGG, FISH. . |
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