Clover Reopens Some Stores After Investor Rescue, Days After 12 Locations Shut
Updated
Updated · The Boston Globe · Jun 3
Clover Reopens Some Stores After Investor Rescue, Days After 12 Locations Shut
2 articles · Updated · The Boston Globe · Jun 3
Summary
Tuesday lunch service will resume at a small number of Clover stores in Boston and Cambridge, though the chain has not decided which locations will survive.
A last-minute cash infusion from an unidentified “mission-aligned” investor closed Friday after Clover had already shut all 12 restaurants and kiosks and nearly sold out its food.
Julia Wrin Piper said the restart will run at a much smaller footprint with a limited menu, while the company winds down its 10,000-square-foot East Cambridge commissary and shifts prep in-store.
Clover still has major gaps to solve, including how many of its 170 employees can stay, how to rebuild inventory, and how to craft a longer-term plan against ingredient costs up 30% to 50% from two years ago.
The reversal gives the 17-year-old vegetarian chain another chance after Chapter 11 and a failed search for a buyer, but its next iteration remains unsettled.