A federal court judge has handed the owner of Corner Bakery a $38 million default judgment against Boston Market and some of its owners in a two-year-old case over inappropriate transfers and other accounting issues.
SSCP Restaurant Investors, a franchisee of concepts like Applebee’s and the owner of Cici’s, won the judgment after Boston Market and Pandya Restaurant Growth Brands (PRGB) didn’t respond to the lawsuit and were declared in default.
Boston Market, meanwhile, appears to be down to around a half-dozen restaurants. At one point, the brand operated 1,200 locations across the country but has been in a steady decline for decades that accelerated since the pandemic.
Jay Pandya bought Boston Market through a company called Engage Brands in April 2020 and then acquired Corner Bakery the following October. The two chains then largely stopped paying bills, leading to well over 200 lawsuits against the two brands from landlords, utility companies, and other vendors.
Numerous stores closed over unpaid rent, utilities and other bills. The state of New Jersey at one point closed 27 Boston Market locations in the state, accusing the company of not paying employees.
SSCP bought Corner Bakery’s debt on the secondary market and then forced the company into bankruptcy in 2023, where it acquired the chain by exchanging debt for equity.
(Read more about Boston Market here.)
SSCP in 2024 took Jay Pandya and his son Ronak, Boston Market and others to court, accusing them of transferring $34 million out of Corner Bakery “without justification.” It accused them of “shocking, systemic breaches of fiduciary duties” and “a near complete dereliction of the finance, accounting and record-keeping functions” that companies have a duty to perform.
Process servers could not serve Jay Pandya with the lawsuit and he was dismissed as a defendant, according to court records. Ronak, who had been given the title of president and CEO of Corner Bakery in 2020, was served and remained a defendant.
Neither Boston Market nor any of its codefendants responded to the lawsuit. The company was declared in default and SSCP asked for summary judgment. The judge ruled in its favor last week.
Corner Bakery under SSCP has taken various steps to stabilize the brand and has reopened some locations.
Boston Market, however, has remained under Pandya’s control and has kept closing locations.
The chain, known for its rotisserie chicken, operated just under 400 locations going into the pandemic. It finished 2025 with 15 locations, according to data from Restaurant Business sibling company Technomic.
Boston Market’s website, however, lists just six restaurants: Two in New Jersey and one each in Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York. Restaurant Business called all six and was able to verify three were open and operating. In two cases our calls were not answered. The sixth was greeted by a busy signal.
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