In the early 90s Boston Chicken was on a roll.

The home meal replacement chain’s stock was

soaring and the lines were filled with hungry

customers waiting to sink their teeth into a

serving of the chain’s delicious rotisserie chicken.

So successful was the chain with chicken, that the

company quickly decided it was time to introduce other

entr?e selections, the first of which was a delicious

barbecue sauce-covered ground sirloin meatloaf.

But offering the other entr?es presented the company

with a dilemma: what to do about the name. The bigwigs

decided it was time to change the name to Boston Market,

to reflect a wider menu. That meant replacing signs on

hundreds of units and retooling the marketing campaigns.

That name change, plus rapid expansion of the chain

and growth of other similar home-style meal concepts

sent the company into a tailspin. By 1988, Boston Market’s

goose was cooked: the company filed for bankruptcy.

Soon McDonald’s stepped in to purchase the company,

with the idea of closing many of the stores for good,

and slapping Golden Arches on the rest. But that plan

was scrapped when, after selling many of the under-performing

Boston Markets, the chain began to fly once again.

Within a year of the acquisition Boston Market was profitable,

and those meals with the home-cooked taste are still being

served at over 700 Boston Market restaurants across the country.

1 cup tomato sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons Kraft original barbecue sauce

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin (10 percent fat)

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

dash garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine the tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, and sugar in

a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat the mixture until

it begins to bubble, stirring often, then remove it from

the heat.

3. In a large bowl, add all but 2 tablespoons of the tomato

sauce to the meat. Use a large wooden spoon or your hands to

work the sauce into the meat until it is very well combined.

4. Combine the remaining ingredients with the ground

sirloin – flour, salt, onion powder, ground pepper,

and garlic powder. Use the wooden spoon or your hands to work

the spices and flour into the meat.

5. Load the meat into a loaf pan (preferably a meatloaf pan

with two sections that allows the fat to drain, but if you

don’t have one of those a regular loaf pan will work). Wrap

foil over the pan and place it into the oven for 30 minutes.

6. After 30 minutes, take the meatloaf from the oven, remove

the foil and, if you aren’t using a meatloaf pan, drain the fat.

7. Using a knife, slice the meatloaf all the way through into

8 slices while it is still in the pan. This will help to cook

the center of the meatloaf. Pour the remaining 2 tablespoons

of sauce over the top of the meatloaf, in a stream down the center. Don’t spread the sauce.

8. Place the meatloaf back into the oven, uncovered, for 25 – 30

minutes or until it is done. Remove and allow it to cool for a

few minutes before serving.

Serves 4.

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