Flatbread Company Bedford Snuffs Its Fires After 17 Years

Submitted by Flatbread Company

Flatbread Company, founded in Amesbury in 1998 with hearths throughout New England, Hawaii, and British Columbia, regretfully announces that their Bedford location located at 213 Burlington Rd. has closed permanently as of Monday, June 26.  Since 2005, Flatbread Company Bedford has been baking up mostly organic, all-natural pizza in their hand-built woodfired ovens for the Bedford and surrounding communities. 

“We are saddened that due to the financial impact of the pandemic combined with a slow recovery has brought us to make this difficult decision,” said founder Jay Gould while adding “It has become quite obvious to us that our current location is no longer viable as the business environment that surrounds us has changed drastically. Our team worked hard to get us back on track, we tried everything we could including attempts to negotiate with our landlord.” 

The Bedford location is not only located within an office building complex, but is also surrounded by numerous other office buildings.

“The office buildings that we relied on for a thriving lunch business are still working remotely which is similar to nationwide trends,” said President & Chief Operating Officer Jason M. Lyon who continued to explain that “our Monday through Friday lunch business which accounted for more than 50 percent of our weekly sales is no longer there. We’ve waited for two and half years for it to bounce back; unfortunately, we can’t hold out any longer to see what the future holds.” 

A lack of staff for the past two years compounded the situation as the restaurant was just able to reopen full-time this past April.  General Manager and 13-year team member, Briana Conserva added, “It was a difficult road back filled with numerous obstacles, but despite those challenges our team continued to give above and beyond efforts to revive the business. It’s heart wrenching to see that we have to close the doors.” 

“We want to thank not only the community of Bedford, but the many other communities in the area. They welcomed us when we opened the doors in 2005 and loyally supported us throughout the years. We are grateful to have been a thread in the community fabric” said Gould. “I can still recall building our wood-fired ovens 17 years ago, watching as our team placed the hand formed clay bricks in place one after another.  We put a lot of love into those ovens” Gould recalled.  Flatbread Company may not be absent long as the company already has plans to return to the area in the very near future as they actively seek new location possibilities.  The Bedford hearth employed approximately 40 team members including several members who have been there since close to day one as well as 25 percent of the staff having a tenure of 10 years or more. 

“Our staff has always been our greatest asset. We are forever grateful for all their efforts, honored to have been their chosen employer and privileged to know them personally” said Lyon. “While we have been contemplating this for some time, this was a surprising announcement for our team; we are making sure that each of our team members are well taken care of so they can find another position that they want, not just one that they need.” he added. Later this week, Flatbread Company will be throwing a team appreciation party later to celebrate their team members.

If you purchased an E-gift or Gift Card from Flatbread Company Bedford, they may be used at any Flatbread Company home. You can still satisfy that flatbread craving by visiting their other Massachusetts location in Amesbury which continues to bake up the very best, mostly organic, locally sourced pizza imaginable. For E-Gift Cards as well as other location information check Flatbreadcompany.com.