Boloco Closes in Bethesda

Boston-based burrito chain leaves D.C. market

by Andrew Metcalf

Boloco in Bethesda closed New Year's Day. via Google Maps

Boloco, the burrito shop on Elm Street in Bethesda, closed for good on New Year’s Day.

In a statement published after the closing, the company said opening the location in Bethesda and another in D.C. were more challenging than they expected. The D.C. location closed at the beginning of December.

The regional chain has more than a dozen locations around Boston and in New England. The Bethesda location opened in 2012.

“Opening two locations in an area far from home proved to be more challenging than we ever could have expected,” Boloco said in its statement. “In hindsight, to drive the awareness that we needed, we would have had to open many more locations in the area.”

The company said its employees would be compensated for one month and that it’s working with them to help find other jobs in the area.

The Bethesda location was in the news last year, when U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley appeared at the restaurant in August to call for a raise in the minimum wage. The officials chose Boloco because the fast-casual restaurant pays its workers $11.53 per hour, well above the national minimum wage of $7.25, according to O’Malley.