Why Boston Market Failed: The Cautionary Tale of a Brand Getting Amnesia

I drove by the other day, what I think is the last remaining vestige of a once great brand…Boston Market. I was curious what happened to Boston Market, so I did a little digging and here are my findings of this case study.

Boston Market didn’t collapse because people stopped liking chicken, they collapsed because they forgot who they were. At its peak in the mid-90s, Boston Market (originally Boston Chicken - who knew they were originally Boston Chicken?) had more than 1,200 stores and nearly $500 million in sales (Source). The model was simple…moms and dads would swing by after work, grab a perfectly roasted chicken, and family dinner was solved, it was clarity and convenience at its finest. One problem, one solution, wrapped up in a greasy brown paper bag and a sense of relief.

And then leadership got restless, or egoic,, maybe both, but in 1995, they decided that being “Boston Chicken” wasn’t big enough, so they rebranded to Boston Market, and suddenly, chicken wasn’t the star anymore, it was just one option on a swelling menu that now included turkey, ham, meatloaf, and a dozen different sides oversteamed and over-salted..

On paper, it looked like growth, but in reality, it was proper brand dilution and identity scattering. Customers who once drove out of their way because Boston Chicken meant dinner solved, now looked at the menu and wondered what exactly Boston Market was trying to be. Was it a rotisserie joint? A fast-casual buffet? An Applebee’s competitor in disguise… and in chasing “more,” they lost the very clarity that built their trust, and in the process, cannibalized their own customers, the ones who loved them for what they already did best. This made Boston Market a textbook brand dilution example.

The result was brutal. By 1998, they had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, shuttering hundreds of stores (Funding Universe). McDonald’s scooped them up in 2000, but by 2007 had offloaded the brand. The decline never really stopped. In 2020, there were still 342 locations. By early 2024, fewer than 30 remained. As of December 2024, Boston Market is down to just 16 surviving restaurants nationwide (The Takeout).

But the autopsy isn’t as interesting as the diagnosis… Boston Market didn’t fail because their product stopped working, they failed because they forgot or failed to consider that people don’t buy products, they buy the experience, the value, the convenience, the story, YOUR STORY.

People Don’t Buy Products, They Buy Feelings

As founders, we get so obsessed with the thing, the product, the offer, the feature list, that we forget nobody actually buys the thing, what people are really buying is the feeling the thing gives them.

When Boston Market was Boston Chicken, they weren’t just selling rotisserie chicken, they were selling relief. They were selling the five minutes after work where you didn’t have to panic about dinner. They were selling the peace of mind that comes from walking in the door, setting a hot bird on the table, and being the unsung hero of a Tuesday night…this is why the pivot into ham, turkey, and meatloaf was so disastrous, customers weren’t asking for variety, and what to feed the starving family.

They weren’t thinking about “what’s next,” they had already told the brand what they wanted, to make my life easier at the end of the day. Boston Market forgot that they weren’t in the food business, they were in the stress-relief business. The strongest brands in the world avoid this mistake by working with a brand strategy expert to ensure consistency.

The strongest brands in the world understand this intuitively.

Nike doesn’t sell sneakers. They sell aspiration. They sell the electricity of seeing Michael Jordan fly through the air and whispering to yourself, “Maybe me too.” Every swoosh is a dopamine hit that connects you, not to leather and rubber, but to greatness itself.

Apple doesn’t sell laptops or phones. They sell belonging. They sell the feeling of simplicity when all your devices sync like magic. They sell the cultural badge of being “the kind of person” who uses Apple, creative, thoughtful, maybe even a little different. That’s why their ads don’t list processor speeds or RAM. Their ads say, “Think Different.”

And neuroscience proves this. Antonio Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis demonstrates that humans make decisions emotionally first, then justify them rationally afterward. Your customer didn’t sit down with a spreadsheet to decide between Coke and Pepsi, or Mac and PC, their nervous system decided, and then they found a reason.

Boston Market once owned that emotional space, dinner, solved, stress, removed, family fed. The problem was that they stopped listening to that emotional contract, and instead of deepening it, they diluted it, and when you dilute the feeling, you lose the brand.

They’re Not Alone: Other Brands That Lost the Plot

Boston Market is hardly the first brand to collapse by forgetting its essence. The corporate graveyard is full of similar stories:

RadioShack — once the go-to for electronics, they drifted into toys, phones, batteries, and became everything and nothing all at once.

Blockbuster — they defined home video, but clung to late fees and retail stores while Netflix embraced streaming. The ending was written long before the doors closed.

Sears — the Amazon of its time, with catalogs and everything from tools to clothes. But they lost identity trying to be too many things in too many categories.

JCPenney — under Ron Johnson (formerly of Apple), they tried to overhaul everything at once: no sales, new pricing, sleek redesigns. Customers had no idea what JCPenney stood for anymore, and revenue tanked.

Gap — their 2010 rebrand swapped out an iconic logo for something nobody asked for. The revolt was so swift they backtracked within a week.

New Coke (Coca-Cola) — 1985’s infamous reformulation. They abandoned their core identity for a “sweeter” taste to compete with Pepsi. Customers revolted, and Coke Classic had to return.

Yahoo — once the internet’s front door, they spread themselves thin across email, search, acquisitions like Flickr and Tumblr, without ever clarifying their center. They became irrelevant.

MySpace — tried to be music, social, and entertainment hub all at once. Got clunky, lost clarity, and Facebook passed them with a simpler story.

Different industries, same mistake… abandoning clarity for “more.”

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn

So what do we take from this? There are always external factors, economic shifts, new technology, bad management decisions, but clarity, identity, and emotional resonance sit at the center of every brand collapse.

Here are three takeaways any business owner can apply today:

1. Clarity builds trust. If customers don’t know what you stand for, they won’t stand with you.

2. Identity beats expansion. Growth should amplify your story, not overwrite it.

3. People don’t buy the thing. They buy the way the thing makes them feel.
   

Nike sells greatness. Apple sells belongings. Boston Market sold relief… and the moment they stopped selling that feeling, they unraveled. This is why studying the best branding strategies matters — so your brand grows without losing its essence.

Final Reflection

So let me leave you with this:

👉 What do people actually love you for?

👉 And are you building from that truth, or diluting it with noise?

Because in the end, branding isn’t about adding more, it’s about remembering who you are, and doubling down on it. That’s the work. That’s the brand. Always.

Citations: Wikipedia: Boston Market, Funding Universe, The Takeout.

Why Work With Me?

Because I’ve lived it. I’ve been the guy in the corporate grind, the entrepreneur chasing the next big thing, the one who’s made money and the one who’s blown it spectacularly. I’ve worn all the hats, and none of them really fit until I stopped trying to “be impressive” and started getting honest.

I won’t just make your brand look good, I’ll help it feel good. Clear. Aligned. Magnetic in a way that doesn’t feel forced. That’s the value of working with a branding consultant — someone who sees the blind spots, connects the dots, and restores clarity where it’s been lost.

We’ll laugh, we’ll challenge each other, and I’ll probably call you out on the places you’re hiding. But mostly, I’ll help you step into the version of yourself your brand has been waiting on.

If you’re done performing and ready to actually embody your brand let's talk

About Deevo

Deevo is not your typical brand strategist. He’s part storyteller, part mirror, part provocateur, the person leaders call when they’re tired of faking it, tired of polishing what doesn’t shine, and ready to build a brand that actually feels like them.

After a corporate career that left him restless, Deevo rebuilt himself through entrepreneurship, storytelling, and a relentless exploration of identity. Over the past 15 years, he has launched and scaled creative businesses, photographed hundreds of leaders and brands, delivered keynotes, and coached founders through the messy work of aligning who they are with how they show up.

His philosophy is simple but not easy: you are the brand. Your business, your relationships, your results, everything is a reflection of your identity, your story, and the patterns you’ve learned (and can unlearn). Whether he’s leading a mastermind, capturing someone’s essence through photography, or guiding clients through his Becoming You Blueprint™, Deevo combines strategy with soul, clarity with compassion, and a little irreverence to keep it real.

Working with him isn’t about quick hacks or shiny tactics. It’s about excavation, unpacking your story, uncovering blind spots, reprogramming what’s held you back, and building a brand and business that resonate because they’re rooted in truth.