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
entrée selections, the first of which was a delicious
barbecue sauce-covered ground sirloin meatloaf.
But offering the other entrées 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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