GREENSBORO, N.C. — Boston Market has served Greensboro residents at their Friendly Avenue location for decades.
But lately, managers have encountered some challenges, from food to pay.
"The last time I had food was maybe a week and a half ago," said General Manager Musa Hunter.
Hunter said with food orders going unfulfilled, he was forced to stock up at Sam's Club or drive nearly two hours to their next closest location.
The inconsistent pay has also frustrated employees.
Hunter said some would get their check days after payday, others would not receive the right amount.
On Tuesday, to the surprise of customers and employees, the store's doors were locked for good.
"I received a call on Tuesday from John, the regional vice president, who called me about 7:30 a.m. and said your store's closing," said Hunter.
After weeks of inventory struggles and months of payroll issues, the company closed the restaurant.
Hunter fell behind on his June rent and said he is still playing catch up on his bills after finally receiving his June paycheck.
With this week's paycheck already several days late, he said they have no idea when they'll get paid.
"The excuses that we keep getting, we're processing we're processing, and that well has run dry," said Hunter.
Boston Market's Regional Vice President declined to interview but in a statement said, "The decision to close down was not sudden. We continuously evaluate the performances of each location and make decisions to close or stay open accordingly. There were more stores closed this week. Not just Greensboro."
Our request for comment on the employee's missing paycheck from this week has gone unanswered.
"It feels like you're working for free and the pay that we are supposed to get on Monday, the pay dates are so jacked up you don't know what's going on. Nobody seems to have the answers so everybody's just left, and blind," Hunter added.
Hunter said he is lucky because he does have another job lined up.
Meanwhile, many of his other employees are now left unemployed.
"It gets overwhelming. It gets to the point where the customers are already kind of sensing it and saying are you guys going to be closing soon? It's sad to say but the customers were right," Hunter said.