Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Boston Market manager Tim Perry exemplifies the tradition of exemplary service in the popular restaurant chain.

Boston Market boasts good food and exemplary service

By Suzanne Cristallo

When you walk in to the Boston Market on Blossom Hill Road in Los Gatos, be prepared to be offered a taste of whatever looks good in the deli-style showcase.

You will see fruit, Caesar and Oriental chicken salads; meat loaf; carved ham, turkey and chicken; pasta, noodles, mashed potatoes, beans, stuffing, vegetables of several kinds and cranberry relish; cheesecake, shortcake, cookies and cornbread. The selection goes on, and prices for individual items stay under $6.

You will also meet two young and eager managers and a cordial staff of fresh faces who have been on the job for five weeks. It is a brand-new restaurant--the 40th to open in a string of grand openings in the area. The franchisee and chief operating officer, Saratogan John Cutter, essentially bought a territory as part of franchising conditions. He plans 220 more store openings by the year 2000 in California alone.

What Boston Market is offering is "homestyle meals" and exemplary customer service, according to assistant manager Michele Bell, 20. Recently graduated from high school in Santa Cruz, she started with the company just nine months ago and moved into a management position after three and a half months from her starting job as a server.

Manager Tim Perry, 23, has a year with the restaurant chain. He started as a cutter in the Capitola store, where it was his job to take the whole honey hams or roasted turkeys and chickens from their turning spits and carve fresh slices for each order of the Boston Carver sandwiches.

Their eagerness to provide the customer service they feel is their trademark plus their ability to move quickly between jobs at various area stores keeps both Perry and Bell in an upwardly mobile state--and happy, as a result.

"Our company philosophy is as long as the staff is happy, it follows that our customers will be," says Bell.

Boston Market, 624 Blossom Hill Road at Los Gatos Blvd., Los Gatos. Open Sun.-Thu., 11 a.m.- 9 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.