THE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN THE RESTAURANT

(and why your food will turn cold quickly!)

Sometime last summer we visited a Boston Market in western Suffolk County. It's located on Montauk Highway in the Village of Lindenhurst. It had been a particularly hot and steamy day with the temperature hovering around 100 degrees! The outdoor evening temperature was around 85 degrees. Still pretty hot and humid! The air-conditioning was turned on in the restaurant and at first when we walked in it felt good......but the "feel good" did not last long! After about 5 minutes or so it started to feel anything but good!

After we got our meals and sat for a few minutes the true effect of the cold air blowing straight down upon us, from the ceiling ducts, began to take a different effect. We actually began to feel pain and numbness from the cold air being pumped in. The air-conditioning ducts are located in the ceiling of the restaurant. What is important to understand here is that we were dressed appropriately in light-weight clothing in the manner that most people would dress on a hot and balmy summer evening! NO jackets, sweaters or long-sleeved shirts.

We noticed that after a very few minutes the food on our plates was no longer hot, that is, if it was hot when we first got it. Not even warm, in fact it was ice-cold! So I went up to the counter and asked for the manager. I was going to ask to have the air-conditioning turned down and to have our meals replaced with hot ones.

The counter-person went into the back of the restaurant and came back saying, "The manager will be right out!"

When the manager emerged from the back we explained about the air-conditioning being very cold. The manager agreed and sympathized with us and she explained that she would be happy to turn the air-conditioning down but that she couldn't. When we asked why she couldn't she replied, "Because the air-conditioning is controlled by temperature sensing equipment which is controlled by a company located somewhere down South. Although she didn't know exactly where she thought it might be in Georgia or perhaps Florida.

We were astonished and flabbergasted! Air-conditioning here in New York controlled by some company down South? What sense does it make to have equipment in some other state controlling the restaurant's environmental temperature here in New York? That's, however what it is friends! We have checked with managers in other Boston Markets and they all tell the same story. They have absolutely NO control over setting the temperature in the restaurant which they manage! They told us that the corporate division of Boston Market wants it that way so that they can "control" the costs of air-conditioning and heating their restaurants. (Now this makes absolutely NO sense to us!) If they are trying to "control" the costs of air-conditioning then why is it  always freezing in there in the summer? (your food gets ice-cold in seconds!) It's downright cold in there in the winter because they keep the heating way down low to save money and you still get cold food because it's seasonally cold in the restaurant!

Now I don't know about you, but when we go to a restaurant for a hot meal that's what we want, A HOT MEAL! But if you're like us, you definitely won't achieve food temperature satisfaction at Boston Market, that is, unless you happen to like cold poultry and meats....along with cold mashed potatoes and cold veggies!

They at Boston Market apparently would like you to patronize their restaurants, pay for your meals, eat them, actually I don't think that they really care if you eat them as long as you have paid for them, and just shut up! They don't want your complaints! In the beginning we complained until we apparently made "the pain-in-the-ass list" of those who have complained a few times. And why not complain when you're getting substandard service along with cold food? So after a couple of complaints they just didn't answer us anymore! You'll probably find that your complaints will go the same way. Why it's almost as if they're saying; "Just pay for your meals and shut your mouth." If you don't like the food that's just too bad! So, don't complain and you'll be a treasured and welcomed Boston Market customer!

That's why we say: