Campus, News

West Campus UBurger closes

The UBurger location in Boston University’s West Campus closed Sunday. SOFIA KOYAMA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

The UBurger location in Boston University’s West Campus closed Sunday due to the lease on the building expiring, and now, the franchise has decided not to renew it.

Nick Kesaris, one of the owners of UBurger, said the restaurant business in Boston is “so saturated” that the franchise decided to branch out of Boston to build new locations.

“We’re focusing, us as corporate and also as our franchisees, more outside of the city,” Kesaris said. “It just makes more sense financially.”

The UBurger location in Andover is thriving, he said, and he believes the company will be better off finding opportunities outside of Boston because of the success in Andover.

Another factor in the decision is that the West Campus location’s rent has risen, said the location’s franchise manager, Jim Chen.

“It is bittersweet,” Chen said. “The rent has gone up, so unfortunately we are forced to close because it doesn’t make business sense.”

Chen had been at that location for five years, he said, and has mixed feelings about leaving.

The employees at that location will move where more help is needed, Chen said, whether it is at the Kenmore Square location or in Andover.

Akram Semakula, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said he would miss the West Campus UBurger location.

“I’ve been to both of them, and I was devastated when I found out,” Semakula said.

Semakula said he has many friends in West Campus he likes to visit and often finds himself at that UBurger.

“If there were something, I’d prefer another burger place,” Semakula said, “because I love burgers, and if there was another burger place by West it would be so nice.”

Jesse Chan, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, reminisced about walking past that UBurger location when he was a freshman. Chan said he remembers hearing his friends talk about it being a popular place to eat.

“It’s always sad to see a community business that I’ve seen since freshman year go away,” Chan said. “There is some kind of nostalgia factor to it.”

Several other BU students said they were shocked and sad to hear about the UBurger West Campus location closing.

“It’s the best place to get a burger ever,” Eli Saracino, an arts and sciences graduate student, said.

Although Saracino primarily goes to the East Campus location, he said he is saddened that there is “one less place to get a burger like that.”

CAS junior Flannery Gallagher said she went to UBurger a lot and had observed that more people frequented the East Campus location than the one in West Campus.

“It’s weird,” Gallagher said, “the one in West is usually more empty.”

UBurger is seeking out areas to expand, Kesaris said. With BU’s West Campus location closing, there will be three locations open. He said UBurger is close to signing a lease deal in Needham, which would bump that number up to four locations.

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