Burrito chain eyes Saugus location

SAUGUS – If a recent tweet by Boloco founder and CEO John Pepper is any indication, Route 1 in Saugus could be the newest location for the Boston-based burrito chain.?Should we open in Saugus on Route 1 North? It?s a possibility… a few RTs would seal the deal – in terms of online fan support ;),” said Pepper in his tweet, which urged followers to retweet (RT) his message.In phone interview on Wednesday, Pepper said he saw a great response from Boloco fans as 37 people retweeted the message.?There are a few opportunities we?re looking at along Route 1 North,” said Pepper. “There are a lot of positive things about that strip and a lot of operators get really excited about it, but there have also been a lot of disappointments.”Pepper said one place he?s looking is the property recently vacated by rival burrito chain Qdoba, which closed down last month.?We?re sort of cautious,” he said. “The last I heard the numbers they were doing out of there were pretty horrific ? which is why that was one of 67 closures. But I love that site and the Trader Joe?s is there. I like the traffic and I always wanted to be more accessible to the north of Boston.”With 21 restaurants mostly located in Boston, Pepper said he has branched out to towns like Natick and Wellesley, and is opening a location in Lynnfield in the next month.There are also Bolocos in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maryland.But Pepper, who said he?s been looking for a Route 1 location for five years, stressed it?s not a definite that Saugus will be next, especially since Qdoba did so poorly and there?s a Chipotle right down the highway.?Qdoba, Chipotle and Moe?s ? they all sort of serve the same product,” said Pepper. “When they kind of go next to each other, one of them wins and one of them loses and usually Chipotle wins. But Boloco is very different. We do have a classic Mexican burrito ? but Mexican-inspired food is about 20 percent of our sales and the other 80 percent is other. The difference is just that we take culinary traditions that are very popular that people want, and we take those recipes and put them inside of a tortilla. That?s why we have what we call, ?globally inspired burritos.?”Pepper, who started Boloco in 1997 as a business school project, also said his focus on paying employees the highest wages he can separates Boloco from the other chains.?One thing that people don?t really know about Boloco ? the mission of our business ? is really using our food and our restaurants to sort of change the trajectory of employees who work in fast food,” he said. “How do we build a business model that actually supports higher wages, real benefits and really focusing on people?s future?”Pepper said right now there?s probably a 30 percent chance he?ll open in Saugus.?If I want something, the chances may be very slim, but 100 percent of my energy would be focused on that 30 percent if we felt it was important, which gives those odds a higher chance over time,” he said.