The front door of Boston’s Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar with “CLOSED” signs posted. Photo by Thomas

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - Boston’s Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar at 5511 Sunrise Blvd. in Citrus Heights has closed.

Notice of closure was posted on the restaurant’s front doors over the weekend of November 4th by franchise owner Gurtej Gill. Gill opened the restaurant on January 27, 2020. Gill was unavailable for comment concerning the reason for the restaurant’s closure and a call for comment from Boston’s corporate office was not returned.

The Citrus Heights restaurant, located at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Uplands Way, was Boston’s first to open in Northern California. The location has since been deleted from the company website although single and multi-unit restaurant development opportunities in the Sacramento region remain listed. Another Boston’s remains open in Fontana in Southern California.

Boston’s Pizza, a Canadian-based restaurant chain with over 40 locations in the United States and Mexico, specializes in scratch-made pizzas, craft cocktails, and local beers. Each of its locations is typically locally-owned and operated. The chain’s menu includes burgers, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, ribs and other entrees. Regular customers who frequented Boston’s could participate in a loyalty rewards program with discounts on further purchases.

Boston’s faced a difficult first year in Citrus Heights, holding their grand opening just before the first round of state pandemic shutdown orders.

The 8,570 square-foot restaurant, built in 1978 along what was Citrus Heights restaurant row on Sunrise Boulevard, was the site of the Peppermill Restaurant and Lounge and later became a Logan’s Roadhouse location before becoming Boston’s.

Former restaurant staff who were seen entering the premises on Tuesday, November 7th who were willing to speak publicly, especially thanked customers for their loyalty and support, but referred further comment concerning the reasons for the restaurant’s closure directly to the owner.

Tractor trailers were seen loading restaurant equipment and furnishings throughout the past week.

The shuttered Boston’s Pizza and Sports Bar sits just adjacent to the shuttered former Marie Callendar’s Restaurant and Bakery on Sunrise Boulevard.

While more than 500 businesses in Citrus Heights received millions in forgivable loans from the well-known Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during pandemic-related shutdowns last year, 19 local restaurants were lucky enough this year to have their applications approved for new funding allocated to restaurants in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

A total of $28.6 billion was allocated to the American Rescue Plan’s “Restaurant Revitalization Fund,” of which $5.7 billion went to restaurants in California and $4.85 million of that went to restaurants in Citrus Heights. Cal Restaurants (Boston’s Pizza) received a $651,177 grant from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

“Shutdown has affected us severely and we struggled throughout the year with all the closures,” Gill said in an earlier interview.

 “We had just opened about six weeks before (the) pandemic hit and had trained our team, (only) to end up losing several team members and (then) rehiring and training again several times throughout the year,” Gill had said. J. Sullivan