Longtime Boston burrito chain closing three of its remaining five outlets

They seemed like they were destined to grow as a chain and but then something happened.

I had a friend who was the manager of the Berklee store eons ago and he worked for Boloco before they were purchased by an investco in the mid-2000s.

Like all investco's, if the chain isn't making $ for them, they find other ways to recoup their investment, which usually means liquidation.

as there is no definite date for it closing.

The location on Tremont across from the Common had competition from a Hererra's location a short distance away that did a much better job. At burritos, that is, not "wraps".

Especially for the breakfast wrap.

Back in 2012, I was working a dumb job where they didn't really care what you did at work as long as you were there at the start of the day and the end. In the summer, we worked 9 hour days (with a mandated 1 hour lunch) and took every other Friday off, but this meant that we worked 7:30 to 5:30. November Project started that summer, and all of the sudden it meant that I was doing a hard workout at 6:30 in Brookline or Allston, getting on a bike at 7:05 and somehow supposed to be at my desk at 7:30.

Luckily, there was a Boloco in the building. I had a routine the specifics of which I don't remember perfectly but which I think involved running into the Boloco and ordering a breakfast burrito (or maybe via early online/app ordering), parking my bike, taking a World's Fastest Shower®, running down and grabbing the burrito, and somehow skidding into work by 7:35. Those burritos were good.

They seemed to treat their employees well before the labor market necessitated it, would add pretty much anything to a burrito (my go-to lunch there is/was a buffalo chicken adding peppers and onions, black beans, tomatoes, broccoli and extra blue cheese to make it seem healthy and certainly be hearty) and the product is/was dependable. Not really Mexican (although they had a Mexican-style burrito) but more of a wrap; I think there was a wrap trend in the late-'90s and then a burrito trend and they sort of tried to rebrand to grab those.

Anyway, there are lots of new options but sometimes I will still crave a Boloco and won't be able to get it. I with John and his staff well in their next endeavors. He's been honest about the struggles of running a small-to-medium business and keeping quality and pay reasonable in the past and a quarter century is nothing to sneeze at.

I started eating there during the “peak Boloco “ phase. I visited then in the city and the suburbs. When their Copley Square location, I started trekking to the Common for lunch. I’ve always had great service with food ranging from excellent to, um, well, sometimes the menu changes didn’t work, but they realized this quick.

So long as the Boston Common location stays open, I’ll keep on going. I wish everyone associated with the company the best.

Visit them at the remaining locations until they close.

Though visiting Hanover, NH, might be a tough one. Still, the Common location should be around for another few months.