RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CBSLA) — A series of personnel and store problems led to a Boston Market store in Rancho Cucamonga keeping its doors closed on Thanksgiving Day, leaving customers who prepaid for large meals hungry and scrambling for a Plan B.
Several customers posted to social media that they arrived at Boston Market, 10890 Foothill Boulevard, on Thanksgiving Day only to find the store locked tight and a hand-written sign of apology posted on the door.
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“No employees showing up today…we are unable to fulfill the orders!!! We are sorry!!!” the sign said.
Several people reported driving as much as an hour to get to this store to pick up their prepaid orders. And even though no employees were in the store to hand out the food, the orders were apparently visible through the store’s glass windows, stacked up and ready to go.
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In a Facebook post, David Kinder, who says he recently returned to work for Boston Market as an hourly shift manager, claims the walkout was the result of several weeks of mismanagement. In a series of posts that included his resignation letter, he wrote the store has been without a working water heater for three weeks, has only one working point-of-sale system, his general manager was hospitalized last week, and the area manager who had been helping with some catering orders had already put in his notice and is leaving at the end of Thanksgiving week.
“It’s time for Boston Market corporate to stop being the ‘fat cats’ and reinvest in their facilities and their people,” Kinder wrote in his two-page resignation letter. “What has been happening here is appalling. Fix it. But you won’t fix it with me.”
In a statement, Boston Market says they will refund the orders of every guest “impacted by our Rancho Cucamonga store.”
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“We are investigating the cause of this issue,” the company said. “We sincerely apologize to every guest who placed an order and came to the restaurant today.”