2017, 2012, 2011, 2009, 2008 Top 100 Fast-Casual Shakers & Movers in the US – Fast Casual Magazine 2012 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Winner – New England – Ernst & Young 2011 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist – New England – Ernst & Young 2008 Boston Globe Blind Taste Test – Burritos 2008, 2007, 2006, 1998 Best of Boston – Boston Magazine 2006, 2000, 1999, 1998 Boston’s Best – Improper Bostonian 2006 Best Fast Food in the US – Barstool Sports

Gregg Harris and John Pepper meet in their hometown, Cincinnati, OH while in high school.   Gregg is the dog walker for John’s girlfriend.

Gregg handed Pepper a copy of How to Open a Restaurant at a San Francisco party. Pepper never read it. No matter — the seed was planted. Both had fallen hard for the Mission District taqueria scene and the early wrap concepts sweeping the city. The rest of America, they agreed, was being tragically underserved in the burrito department. Gregg and Adam reunited in SF and, in a move their parents didn't exactly celebrate, quit their real jobs to sling burritos professionally. It was at World Wrapps on Chestnut Street in the Marina District where they met Jason Hutchinson — a talented cook whose musical sensibilities, the two privately agreed, left something to be desired. Night after night, the trio whispered dreams of bringing this food culture back East over the hiss of a flat-top grill. Meanwhile, Pepper packed up his burrito evangelism and headed to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he made a point of befriending every Bay Area classmate he could find — less for networking purposes, more to have someone to commiserate with about New England's desperate wrap and burrito deficiency. Locations open: 0

On February 24th, the first Under Wraps opens at 137 Massachusetts Avenue across from Berklee College of Music. The concept is simple: perfect the traditional Mexican burrito, then riff on it with globally-inspired flavors. Add smoothies. Print money. 200 people show up on day one. The team had expected 500. Work to be done. Then Marriott sends a cease and desist — turns out they own the "Under Wraps" trademark. A customer naming contest doubles as damage control. The winner: The Wrap. Boston's wrap scene heats up fast. Wrap Culture and Fresh City Wraps emerge as competitors, though talks begin almost immediately with Wrap Culture's owner about joining forces rather than fighting them. Locations open: 1

The Wrap adds a Simple IRA match for full-time and most part-time employees. The Buffalo Chicken debuts as a special — few suspect it will one day achieve cult status. Water Street opens in the Financial District (#4), the first location designed by professional architects. Lines pour out the door like never before, and the team makes a quietly brilliant move: engineering all post-tax prices to end in "0" or "5." Eliminating pennies saves 2-3 seconds per transaction. At 150+ transactions per hour, this math matters. Customers love quarters to feed their parking meters. The Fed follows suit and discontinues the penny 25 years later. #restaurantinnovation Breakfast launches, anchored by the Truckstop Special — a tribute to the legendary Flatbed #2 at Harry's Truck Stop in Lebanon, NH. The Improper Bostonian names The Wrap "Boston's Best Wraps" for the second consecutive year. The advertising contract is quietly renewed. Recent BC grad Claire Sousa begins teaching in-house English lessons to Spanish-speaking employees. The cultural impact is immediate and real. Then, a bittersweet moment: co-founder Gregg Harris departs to pursue his MBA at Columbia. Thank you Gregg! 🙏 The Wrap location total = 4

Sales grow in all restaurants.  All restaurants are profitable. Berlitz is hired to teach English and Spanish to all employees to improve internal communications and to help immigrants for whom English is a second language take on greater responsibility and earn higher incomes. The Summer Burrito is first introduced as a Special, eventually to become a customer favorite and permanent menu item. Introduces first Wrap Gift and Loyalty Card the same month as Starbucks introduces theirs (except we actually rewarded people when they use it) Raised minimum...

Children’s Hospital (#7) location opens. Pearl Street (#8) location opens in Boston’s financial district. Both locations open well below projections. Work to be done. The Wrap invests in start-up restaurant B.Good, a healthier burger concept in which Pepper is a co-founder. All employees are eligible for performance-based bonus plans. The last Jera’s Juice is closed at the end...

Mike Harder joins as President and COO.  With over 25 years in the business, he makes drastic improvements to operations immediately.  Referring to these changes as “low hanging fruit”, he “insults” the founders who never even knew such “fruit” existed.  Customer lines accelerate (from 150/hour to over 250/hour), food becomes fresher than ever, safety and customer service practices reach new levels.  Customers seem to notice.  Lines grow, sales increase. Brand Name Analysis determines 6 potential names to compare The Wrap against.  Concerns have grown about the evolving meaning of the word “wrap” to things such as cold deli meats, pita bread, sprouts, and even convenience store items – uninspired descriptors that The Wrap had never been associated with.  In markets outside of Boston, and even in Boston...

Instead of sprinkling small donations to anyone who asked, Boloco commits $15,000 in “earned” donations per year to an inspirational Boston non-profit, Community Servings (www.servings.org). Earning the $15,000 meant that any activities outside of the normal course of business that took place included a matching donation to CS to achieve the $15,000. One example was when we instituted a speaker series for our management teams called Delivering Leadership where local leaders come to speak to Boloco managers and in return for their time a $500 donation is made to Community Servings.   Boloco also “volunteers” in Community Servings kitchens once per month  – paying our team members for their time and matching that pay with further earned donations to CS – and...

The Boloco Airstream is launched in front of a crowd of 50,000 at the Mardi Gras parade in Burlington, VT.  400 Original Boloco pong balls were lost during the parade which led to a reward offer of 2 burritos for every pong ball returned.   The Boloco Airstream did not win the float beauty contest… we’ll be back. John Pepper announces to the press he is running for Mayor of Boston at the #16 School Street ribbon-cuttingceremony.  The joke is not appreciated by our friend Mayor Menino who is there to support the opening and campaigning for reelection in November.   Within a month of celebrating his presence on this earth for half a century, Mike Harder becomes poster child for...

IPhone app?  Yeah, we’ve got one (finally).  And it’s pretty dang cool, too.  But it’s V1.  It will get better.  It must get better.  Nobody uses it.  That’s ok, it’s a start. Nothing was built in a day.     Restaurant #17 opens at Copley Square.  Free Burrito Day in early February draws lines down to Clarendon Street, and in the end over 3,000 brave souls wait up to 45 minutes for a freebie.  A group of 2nd Years at the Tuck School of Business publish a paper on the magic powers of the word “free” trying to explain why so many customers are willing to accept less than minimum hourly wage for a free pound of rice and beans (ok, and some other goodies) Boloco finally gives up the fight to be different,...

Boloco opens #22 in Warwick, RI with our first drive thru! 30% of sales are delivered straight into customer’s vehicles. A whole new expansion strategy seems imminent… especially as Starbucks begins opening drive-throughs, we think we might be onto something. Not just for the fast food chains anymore! Sales in DC and Bethesda slip and make raising our Series E round more challenging than expected. After turning down a $20 million growth capital offer in 2012 to wait for DC locations to open, we sign a term sheet for $15 million with the goal of reaching 60 locations by 2016. Due diligence to finalize the investment begins in July, leading into one the most challenging periods the company and its team have ever...

Co-Founder John Pepper buys back the company in June. Boloco raises minimum starting wage to $12.00 per hour, with goal of reaching average wage of $15 by 2016. To repay debt and shore up operations, Boloco sells #16 School Street (Boston) to Clover Food Lab, a local business that founder John Pepper invested in 2014. Total Boloco Locations: 17

Boloco surprisingly earns a spot on Fast Casual’s Top Movers and Shakers in the US. When co-founder Pepper protests the recognition and points the publisher to the recent blog post about Boloco’s challenges, the publisher adds Pepper’s name to the Top CEOs list for transparency and vulnerability in business. “Why the hell would you write that?” asked one industry vet. To this day, we don’t know if transparency and vulnerability are yet good for business results in the 21st century, but since they are so sorely lacking in business we thought we could at least push the concept to a new level. Boloco sells 2 additional locations to Australian entrant Zambrero – #2 Harvard Square and #22 Warwick, RI. Boloco completes the turnaround and returns to full profitability in...

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