Globally inspired burrito joint Boloco has decided to call it quits on its 19th and L streets NW location, which opened in Nov. 2012. In an email, the company explained that it was never able to catch on in D.C.:

To our friends & neighbors of our 19th Street, DC location

Today, we are closing our 19th Street location. In the spirit of honesty that is so important to us, we want to share the reasons for closing. The DC market has been tough for us. We struggled to build awareness of who we are and what we do. We also struggled early on with operations and, though we were eventually able to improve our operations, we unfortunately never were able to win back many of the guests that we had initially disappointed.

While boloco 19th Street was never able to fully get on its feet, it did have many fans for the two years that it was open. We are thankful to everyone who had a part in making that happen. We are thankful to you, our guests, and we are thankful to our team members. As such, we want to do all that we can to support our team members through this transition. We will be providing compensation to them through the end of this year and working closely with them to find jobs in the area.

The chain has more than 20 locations in New England, mostly in Massachusetts. It also has a location in Bethesda, which appears to be staying open. Y&H has contacted Boloco reps for more information about the restaurant’s future in D.C.

UPDATE: Boloco spokeswoman Michelle Searer follows up with more info: “As of right now, there are no current plans for additional locations in DC. boloco is exploring all options for the Bethesda location that will provide the best long-term benefit for boloco.”

Photo via Boloco