Quote:
Originally Posted by giallo
There's definitely something different with BC-based F&B businesses. They expand outside of the province with extreme caution it seems:
Milestones, for instance, skipped all of western Canada and set up restaurants in Ontario and Washington.
Blenz is scarce through-out the country, but you can find them in Beijing and Hangzhou, China.
Cactus Club expanded to Alberta, but it almost ruined the company. Not sure if there are any in the province still.
The Keg seems to be the most successful restaurant chain out of BC. It can be found everywhere in Canada and, to a lesser extent, the US.
Probably the most well-known brand out of BC these days isn't a restaurant at all. It's Lululemon.
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I know this was posted more than a year ago but it was wrong then and is wrong now- mostly.
1. Milestones did not "skip all of western Canada." There are three in Calgary, including a very prominent one on Stephen Ave across from the Telus Convention Centre.
2. You can keep Blenz- it's horrible. But two Vancouver coffeehouse chains are present and growing in Calgary: Waves, which now has 8 locations in the Calgary area, and Caffe Artigiano, which has two including the first ever to open outside greater Vancouver with at least one more in the works.
3. There are now and have for many years been two Cactus Clubs in Calgary and there is a rumoured third opening in the old HMV space in The Core.
What we DON'T have and what I wish we had- and what we had in some deep-south suburb until a few years ago- is Triple O's. Fantastic burger chain- ordering a Triple O at a table-service White Spot is not the same at all. If I want fast food I want counter service.