What Happened to The Chicken Bone After Bar Rescue? (Framingham, MA)

The Chicken Bone had been open in Framingham, Massachusetts for about five years when Bar Rescue's crew arrived. Owner Bill Rodenhiser, a former excavating-company owner with no prior bar experience, had also opened and closed a second Chicken Bone location in downtown Boston within five months. The 42,000-square-foot Framingham bar was taking in roughly two million dollars a year in revenue but still losing money; recon visits described an unwashed floor, a confusing menu with misspellings, spoiled chicken in the kitchen's walk-in cooler, and a family-friendly atmosphere -- complete with children running around -- that worked against the space functioning as a bar.

The rescue's changes focused on tightening the menu, correcting food-safety issues in the kitchen, and retraining bartenders on consistent pours. Jon Taffer also pushed to change the bar's name, over the owner's initial objection, settling on The Bone: Chicken and Tunes as a shorter, more upscale-sounding identity. On relaunch night, kitchen computer problems briefly backed up food orders, but staff worked through it and reported a positive response to the new drinks, food, and live music. Reviews in the following years describe the business drifting back toward its earlier habits: the five-page original menu returned, the pre-rescue decor came back, and by 2014 the bar's own signage and marketing had reverted to The Chicken Bone name.

In a statement posted to its own Facebook page, the business said it would suspend operations for the summer of 2014, calling summer "a very slow time of year," with plans to reopen after Labor Day; a follow-up post that October cited permitting delays and said no firm reopening date was available yet. The bar never successfully reopened, closing for good in November 2014, a little over three years after its Bar Rescue episode aired. The owners later attempted to sell the business for $175,000 without success. A Mexican restaurant, El Mariachi, later occupied the same Waverly Street building before also closing in 2020; more recent accounts describe the property as vacant and fenced off.