2 new Burrito places coming to Davis?

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

So Boloco is taking the place of O'Naturals, and now Chipotle is moving into the Halloween Scream place according to:

http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/721786.html#cutid1

I'm willing to give Boloco a try because I've never had it before and their menu looks good. But I had Chipotle in Vegas before and I didn't like it. Isn't Chipotle owned by McDonalds?

I feel really bad for Anna's.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Chipotle is no longer owned by McDonald's, as of last month. See my post on the subject yesterday.

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

sorry for the re-post. I missed yours.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

it used to be owned by mcdonald's until last month.

i'm not too worried about anna's. they can hold their own. boloco is pretty mediocre.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Anna's beats Chipotle and Boloco hands down.

[pooka-madness.livejournal.com]

Chipotle is godlike. I've missed it ever since I moved here from Chicago.

[cosinezero.livejournal.com]

Anna's outlived Picante... they sure as hell can outlive Boloco.

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

Yes, Anna's will probably not go out of business. But it's a guarantee that these 2 places will take away business.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

....excepting those of us who are fiendishly loyal to Anna's.......

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

I'm loyal to Anna's and Taco's Lupita.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

I love taco's lupita!!!

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

:: raises hand ::

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Turns out the restaurant business doesn't always work that way, especially in destination neighborhoods, where more restaurants often just means more people eat there. At any rate, Anna's sets a pretty high standard, and a competitor would either have to beat them at their own game (not likely) or play a different game altogether, and play it in a way that was overwhelming more pleasing than what Anna's does, to actually do them any harm.

[denonymous.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about Anna's. They still have the best burritos, hands-down.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'm getting sick of burrito joints!

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

anna's will still be the best place to get a good burrito for not much money. boloco looks more like it'll be competition for the blue shirt cafe, anyway - more wrap and less burrito.

Boloco - Blue Shirt competition?

[ariwriter.livejournal.com]

Not for the yummy smoothies!

Re: Boloco - Blue Shirt competition?

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

They have smoothies at Boloco too. Boloco is the new incarnation of The Wrap, btw, if you've ever been to one of those (I haven't).

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

I'm not enthused about more chains, but Chipotle impresses me with their "Food With Integrity" manifesto. They try to serve naturally-raised food, and use free-range meat (I don't think it's all that way -- but that was the case with O'Natural's too, even though they made a bigger deal of their "naturalness").

But if I were going to pick competition for Anna's, I'd take Picante back -- or Boca Grande. Mmmm!

[komos.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the franchise wars (http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/the_burrito_war).

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

Wow -- I knew they were related, but not that there was such a feud. Thanks for the link. Well, I guess I know what side I'm on. :)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

The last time I was in a Chipotle, they had some of the most offensively sexist advertising, that I really don't care to go back.

I, too, would welcome the return of Picante.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

really? do tell.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

It was some crap about some meat-loaded burrito being all manly and shit, as opposed to those burritos with veggies in them. Or less meat. Cause heaven forbid a man be mistaken for a girl by ordering a burrito with a shred of lettuce on it, I guess. I don't remember the exact phrasing any more (it's been months since I saw the damn thing), and I suppose for advertising, it's a little tame (I don't watch TV, so I have little sense of what kinds of BS is going on in that medium) - but this was hanging in the damn restaurant. And I just don't want to support a company that's perpetuating that kind of shit, attempts at organic meat or not.

[kglue.livejournal.com]

The "Food with Integrity" thing would be cool, but unfortunately not all of their ingredients are natural or organic ... yet (or perhaps ever). The article below mentions all of their pork, half of their chicken, a third of their beef are naturally raised and a fifth of their beans are organic.

So right now you may be paying more but still getting some or all non-natural ingredients. To me, the whole slogan right now is still just a gimmick.

The article seemed to have disappeared between yesterday and today, but here's the Google cached version:
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:QeedACt2g6YJ:money.cnn.com/2006/09/12/news/companies/pluggedin_gunther.fortune/index.htm+chipotle+organic+meat&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3&client=firefox-a

Boloco, Chipotle, Anna's and Davis

[bolopep.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone,

Trust me, as the founder of Boloco (and The Wrap) and a huge fan of Anna's. Chipotle and Anna's and of course i hope Boloco will all be fine. Chipotle is the 800lb gorilla... they will come in and come in strong, and even those of you who say you won't go will probably venture in... and some will stay. They are very good at what they do, make no mistake about it.

At Boloco, we hope we are different enough to co-exist with strong neighbors like Anna's and Chipotle (and Qdoba and Anna's over in Porter for that matter). We do serve a Classic Burrito that won't make you keel over (check nutrition of our competitors for those that care - i realize most don't) and on most days tastes ridiculously good, but most of our customers order our other items that we're well known for... the Buffalo, Teriyaki, Summer, you name it. We like to give people options, in addition to our smoothies, salads, soups, and other sides - we're actually night and day with our competitors.

Most of all, we're local. BOston LOcal COmpany... get it? Lame, some say, but it makes us feel good, and if you can make 200 employees feel good about the company they work for and our focus on improving their lives and careers, that's all that really matters. And it gives us a great chance, if we do all of those things, to bring some pretty cool experiences to each of our customers.

So hopefully you all will give us a try.

We're way too easy on freebies too - ESPECIALLY for people who give us valuable feedback (that's the good and bad and ugly)... try us... email me with a mailing address and comments (or with your 16 digit Boloco card #) and i'll send back a tasty treat or two.

Here's to all that Davis Square means to so many of us... especially our head chef and another co-founder Jason who has lived there for the better part of the last decade. See you all soon

Cheers,

John Pepper

Re: Boloco, Chipotle, Anna's and Davis

[ron_newman]

Cool, thanks for stopping by! Do you have an opening date set?

Re: Boloco, Chipotle, Anna's and Davis

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

Thanks for keeping the O'Natural's playarea open -- that's very cool of you.

Any idea which pastries are going to continue to be made?

Re: Boloco, Chipotle, Anna's and Davis

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't see this post before I posted above! Thanks for your comments. It's cool when businesses stay in touch with the community and I've noticed Boloco doing this on Yelp.com too; kudos.

[x-bluerose-x.livejournal.com]

Are they veggie and vegan friendly? If so I may try them... otherwise if Anna's is I'll go there instead. That's usually my test of customer loyalty :)

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

Wikipedia says yes for Chipotle. Vegetarian rennet, and vegan options.

[bolopep.livejournal.com]

Hi Bluerose,

veggie options are key - options in general are key. Every burrito at Boloco starts out vegetarian, including the beans (years ago we had had meat mixed in to give that "addictive" flavor - most burrito joints still do)

We also sautee tofu in house (which i didn't touch till starting the business nearly 10 years ago... even then it took me 2 years to give it a shot!)

I don't know the details of vegetarian options at Chipotle and Anna's... even though i've eaten at both many times, i'm mostly (too often actually) a meat eater...

take care!

john
(co-founder, Boloco)

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

The tofu at Boloco is fantastic - I'm not a vegetarian, but I pretty much order the wraps with tofu exclusively. And my boyfriend is hopelessly devoted to your buffalo steak wraps :)

[x-bluerose-x.livejournal.com]

*squee* I will have to try them then. Thanks!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I am in that camp as well. While I can get vegan food many places, any establishment that actually marks what's what or otherwise makes it very easy for me to know what I can eat is a place I am likely to return to often.

O'Naturals is/was great about that.

(I have no idea about Chipotle, but Anna's is quite veggie and vegan-friendly.)

[greenbeats.livejournal.com]

I think this is a war of tastes, really. I've heard people proclaim to "know [their] burritos" being from California or Texas. And being from Texas and knowing burritos, I find my taste different from others from the same areas.

In my experience, Anna's is cheapest and serves smaller portions, Chipotle is more expensive with oversized portions, and Boloco (most expensive?)has the most options.

But really, eat what you like. Now we'll have more than enough options.

[larksdream]

I really like Boloco.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I don't feel bad for Anna's. Most of their menu doesn't overlap with Boloco. I love the buffalo chicken wrap at Boloco ... mmm. I still think Anna's has a unique offering and they'll beat the pants of off Chipotle in terms of price.