The restaurant b.good plans to open within two weeks in Concord at the Fort Eddy Road location formerly occupied by Boloco.
But no kale salads will be served before the eatery finishes a significant overhaul and receives a few final inspections.
The company’s marketing director, Brittany Bang, wrote in an email Tuesday that the Boston-based chain is aiming for a Jan. 17 opening, “but as you can imagine with any restaurant opening, there always might be slight delays,” she said.
The city’s health and licensing officer, Gene Blake, said the company was issued a building permit and is working toward a health inspection. He planned to visit this week to check on its progress.
Boloco closed its 10 Fort Eddy Road location in mid-October, announcing that the eight-year-old business would be among a package of five restaurants sold to b.good.
Boloco CEO John Pepper said in a letter to customers that the move was necessary for the burrito chain to survive.
Meanwhile, b.good was planning an expansion, and its founder, Anthony Ackil, had a long-standing business relationship with Pepper. Ackil said in a YouTube video that his first restaurant job was at Boloco, where he learned many of the systems that are in place now at b.good.
Pepper said his former employees working at Boloco restaurants would begin “interviewing and onboarding” at b.good the day after the Bolocos closed. But the changeover has proven to be less than a turn-key operation.
If b.good achieves its goal of a mid-January opening, it’ll be three months after Boloco closed its doors. Bang didn’t respond to further questions about the intervening time.
Blake said he met with representatives of b.good before Christmas “and went over all their plans.” The restaurant would require a number of inspections to go along with the changes it’s planning, he said.
“They had to gut the entire inside and start all over,” he said.
At its December meeting, the city’s planning board approved the new signs b.good proposed as replacements. The red-and-white logo was accepted as submitted.
The Concord b.good location would be the chain’s second in New Hampshire. Its Nashua restaurant opened in September 2014.
In a promotional video on b.good’s website, Ackil said he hoped his restaurants would spread across the country and “change the fast-food industry forever” by partnering with local farmers to deliver “real food.”
Its menu includes kale and grain bowls, salads, burgers and sandwiches, french fries, smoothies, and milkshakes.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @NickBReid.)