Fast-food chains of Canada

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Fast-food chains of Canada

Answer 1

Country Style

Country Style Food Services Inc.

Country Style Food Services, Inc., formerly Country Style Donuts, is a fast/casual chain of coffee shops operating primarily in the Canadian province of Ontario (where it ranks second among coffee chains), which serves oatmeal, soup, sandwiches, salads, and coffee. The chain is based in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

In January 2006, there were 120 "traditional" locations in Ontario. There are over 420 "non-traditional" locations embedded in other stores such as gas stations, convenience stores, arenas and movie theatres. Over 70% of customer purchases in 2001 were coffee. In total, Country Style has over 1000 locations in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick under the Country Style/Bistro name.

Country Style has been in business since 1963 when it opened its first location in Toronto. Donut stores only accounted for about 17% of donut sales in Canada at that time so there was still a lot of room for growth (most were sold at supermarkets in bulk). Country Style experienced a lot of growth early on, opening 100 stores in the first 15–20 years of existence. It had 50 outlets in 1974 when it was the leading coffee and donut establishment in Canada above Tim Hortons (which passed it two years later). It began to expand into Western Canada in the 1970s (including Vancouver and Calgary) and the East in the early 1980s. Poor results caused the franchise to withdraw from these regions: locations in Alberta were the only ones to survive into the 1990s, while in the East, it was ones in Nova Scotia and PEI.

By 2001, Country Style had been forced to close a quarter of its stores due to decreasing market share in an increasingly competitive Canadian market. Since then, it has opened many new stores and now ranks third behind Tim Hortons and Starbucks in the Canadian coffee market. On November 1, 2011, its parent company, MTY Food Group, bought Mr. Sub for $23 million merging it with Country style to become Country Style Food Services Holdings Inc.

In the mid-1990s the Country Style logo was changed to use a font similar to Palatino instead of its former handwriting font.

In 2006, Country Style changed its image to a more upscale style: "Country Style Bistro Deli". The new image includes a new logo, a new website, and an enhanced branded deli menu that will be phased into all stores. The logo still uses the Palatino style font and will also be phased into all stores. New stores will feature more modern design features, somewhat similar to Starbucks, and provides wide range of wraps, smoothies, breakfast, salads and sweets. In 2009, the brand rights to Country Style, used at 900 locations, were purchased by MTY Food Group of Montreal for $14.6 million in cash and debt.

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Answer 2

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen, often abbreviated DQ, is a chain of soft serve ice cream and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. International Dairy Queen, Inc. also owns Orange Julius and Karmelkorn.

The first DQ restaurant was located in Joliet, Illinois. It was operated by Sherb Noble and opened for business on June 22, 1940. It served a variety of frozen products, such as soft serve ice cream.

The company's corporate offices are located in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, Minnesota.

The soft-serve formula was first developed in 1938 by Douds, Iowa-born John Fremont "J.F." "Grandpa" McCullough (1871‒1963) and his son Alex. They convinced friend and loyal customer Sherb Noble to offer the product in his ice cream store in Kankakee, Illinois. On the first day of sales, Noble dished out more than 1,600 servings of the new dessert within two hours. Noble and the McCulloughs went on to open the first Dairy Queen store in 1940 in Joliet, Illinois. While this Dairy Queen has not been in operation since the 1950s, the building still stands at 501 N Chicago St. as a city-designated landmark. Since 1940, the chain has used a franchise system to expand its operations globally. In the US, the state with the most Dairy Queen restaurants is Texas. Dairy Queen International is the parent company of Dairy Queen. In the United States, it operates under American Dairy Queen. IDQ is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. At the end of its fiscal year 2014, Dairy Queen reported over 6,400 stores in more than 25 countries; about 4,500 of its stores (approximately 70%) were located in the United States. DQ was an early pioneer of food franchising, expanding its 10 stores in 1941 to 100 by 1947, 1,446 in 1950, and 2,600 in 1955. The first store in Canada opened in Melville, Saskatchewan, in 1953. The red Dairy Queen symbol was introduced in 1959. The company became International Dairy Queen, Inc. (IDQ) in 1962. In 1987, IDQ bought the Orange Julius chain. IDQ was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 1998. Dairy Queens were a fixture of social life in small towns of the Midwestern and Southern United States during the 1950s and 1960s. In that role, they have often come to be referenced as a symbol of life in small-town America, as in Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond by Larry McMurtry, Dairy Queen Days by Robert Inman, and Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights by Bob Greene.

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Answer 3

Dic Ann%27s Hamburgers

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Answer 4

Dixie Lee Fried Chicken

Dixie Lee Fried Chicken

Dixie Lee is a regional franchised fried chicken fast-food restaurant founded in Belleville, Ontario in 1964 by Ramon Leon Walmsley and now based in Kingston and Bruce Mines, Ontario, near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Its largest group of franchise operators is Dixie Lee Maritimes, based in New Brunswick with 38 locations in two provinces. The parent organization is the direct franchisor of ten restaurants in small-town Ontario.

The first Dixie Lee restaurant opened in 1964 in Belleville, Ontario.

The first Dixie Lee restaurant in New Brunswick opened its door in Caraquet in a small take-out restaurant just past the wharf. It moved to a new location, following a fire during a winter storm, where is now situated Cinéma Vidéo, not far from what was once the Enfant-Jésus hospital and adjacent to the Petro-Canada gas station. It then moved to a bigger building in the mid-1990s, where the Trio-Éclatant's clothing store used to be. Other restaurants opened in Grande-Anse, Shippagan, Tracadie-Sheila and then in Lamèque. The Tracadie-Sheila location is one of the biggest Dixie Lee restaurants in New-Brunswick, and one of the first to include a drive-through function.

In 1974, Alton Scott, owner of a Dixie Lee in , built and operated a U.S. location in Houlton, Maine which went bankrupt in 1981. A 1970s location franchised in Ogdensburg, New York was sold in 2012.

By 1975, the chain claimed "over 101 fried chicken and seafood takeout stores in the U.S. and Canada" and was actively recruiting new franchisees through a U.S. office in Massena, New York. Many of these locations were existing restaurants under local branding who carried Dixie Lee chicken as a sideline.

David Silvester started in the business in 1977 as an owner/operator of a single Dixie Lee outlet in Castlegar, British Columbia. He then acquired a Dixie Lee area franchise for British Columbia where he opened and sold 17 franchises. After developing British Columbia, he bought the Dixie Lee franchise parent company in 1979. Silvester moved to Dixie Lee's Head Office in Belleville. He was responsible for developing Dixie Lee from eight outlets in Ontario to more than 50 by 1987; he sold the company in January 2006.

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Answer 5

Donut Diner

Donut Diner was a Canadian coffee and doughnut franchise with locations and kiosks in and around the Niagara Region and greater Golden Horseshoe areas of Ontario. It was established in 1988 in St. Catharines, Ontario and grew to 30 outlets in the Niagara Peninsula. It was renowned for its old fashioned style of baked goods, its 1950s-era decor, and unique local flavour until the chain went bankrupt in 2005. All corporate owned locations closed that year, while franchised locations remained opened being allowed to continue to use the name Donut Diner without corporate support. Over the years many franchised locations have closed and very few locations remain. Avondale Food Stores Limited, a partner of The Donut Diner, still sells and promotes its coffee in some of their convenience stores.

At its peak, all Donut Diner locations were open 24 hours a day and was a major competitor to national donut giant Tim Hortons in Niagara and the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario.

The Donut Diner corporate offices were located in St. Catharines, Ontario. There were approximately 50 operational franchises and at least a dozen kiosks in the Golden Horseshoe.

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Answer 6

Druxy%27s

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Answer 7

Edo Japan (restaurant)

Edo Japan is a Canadian fast food chain specializing in Japanese traditional Teppanyaki style cooking. Its head offices are located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Founded by Reverend Susumu Ikuta in 1979, Edo Japan was designed to bring fresh and healthy Japanese Teppanyaki-style cooking to suburban shopping centres and food courts across Canada. The first store opened in Calgary at Southcentre Mall.

Competing against predominantly burgers, subs, pizza and fried chicken establishments, the teppanyaki-style concept grew in popularity with its customers as it offered an alternative to North American cuisine. In 1986, Ikuta switched from a "mom and pop" operation to offering franchises of his company. The franchise expansion had in part been started to help sustain the Calgary Buddhist Temple, which Ikuta had founded in 1981.

In 1998, Ikuta felt he needed to find someone to run his business. In 1999, sales were $10 million; at the close of last year, they had topped $24.5 million. That year, Tom Donaldson was hired to run the company. In 2003, Ikuta, wanting to retire, agreed to sell the company to Donaldson.

With locations in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, the company started targeting the United States and Eastern Canadian markets. Not wanting to be limited to shopping centers, the company slowly introduced it street-front restaurants.

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Answer 8

Extreme Pita

Extreme Pita

Extreme Pita is a Canadian-based fast-casual chain, owned by MTY Group. Headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario, the company has more than 175 units throughout Canada and the United States.

Extreme Pita serves pita sandwiches, salads, and pizza-style "flat-baked" pitas. Available ingredients include fresh vegetables, cheeses, meats and vegetarian options such as falafel and hummus.

Extreme Pita was founded in 1997. The first Extreme Pita opened near Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario in 1997, but the original location is no longer operating.

The company continued to expand and grow over the years, expanding into new locations in Canada, from 1997 (the year when the first Extreme Pita was opened) to 2003 (when Extreme Pita began to expand into the United States). The expansion challenged already-established fast food companies like Subway and McDonald's. By 2007, there were about 200 stores in Canada. Extreme Pita claims they are a healthy low fat snack, and is also well known for its vegetarian options. The Canadian-based Extreme Pita began to expand to include stores in the United States in 2003, beginning with Arizona. The company has continued to add locations throughout the United States, mainly through franchising. Since 2003, Extreme Pita has expanded into locations in California, New York, Texas, and other parts of the Western, Mideastern, and Northeastern United States.

Extreme Pita sells a variety of pita wraps, including cheese steak, falafel and chicken Caesar selections, wrapped in "Lebanese-style" pita bread. These pitas are available in 6 inch and 9 inch sizes. The company also offers soups, salads, and a variety of flat-bread pizza pitas, baked on location. Its products are portrayed as a "healthy alternative to fast food." For example, the cheese and meat used to make their products are unprocessed.

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Answer 9

Fast Eddies

Fast Eddie's is a burger franchise started in Brantford, Ontario, Canada in 1987 and focused on drive through and walk up service only. Currently Fast Eddie's operates in five Ontario cities with eight different locations and serves a variety of typical fast food with notable, relatively unique items like the Crazy Fry.

Fast Eddie's originally started by Ted and Mike Gorski in Brantford with their trademark 69¢ burgers. As success grew they began franchising their business to ten locations in five cities.

Fast Eddie's locations typically feature the twin drive through approach similar to the US restaurant Rallys. In addition to the drive through windows they operate a walk up window as well. Offering a standard fast food menu with hamburgers, chicken burgers, milkshakes and fries they also sell their signature "Crazy Fries" which they spell "Crazy Frys" and include ingredients such as ranch dressing or chili and cheese. The current (September 2006) website advertises both the food and the opportunity to own a franchise.

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Answer 10

Jimmy the Greek (restaurant)

Jimmy the Greek is a quick service restaurant franchise serving Greek and Mediterranean cuisine. In 1963, Jim Antonopoulos from Nafplio, Greece, arrived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He started the Epikourion, Exquisite Greek Restaurant & Bar in First Canadian Place. The success of the restaurant spun off the current franchise which has 45 locations in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, including more than 25 in the Greater Toronto Area. There are also locations in Dubai, UAE. Its outlets are almost exclusively located in the food courts of suburban shopping malls.

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