Canadian Retail Thread

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by jamincan

This reminds me of something I recently learned: beyond meat-type food is technically not vegan as part of the food safety standards requires that they do animal testing before it is certified for human consumption.

Beyond Meat does not test on animals. Never have.

[WhipperSnapper]

The closest McDonald's is always busy at eating times and I honestly don't know why. There are Hamburger joints all around that offer a much better burger for a dollar or two more than the Big Mac. Service time is much different. I'm not counting retirees that buy a coffee and a double hamburger to nibble while reading a newspaper on a plastic stool between those peak periods.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by esquire

From what I can tell, they put all their effort into the drive-thru. The people waiting inside they are less fussed about.

I actually kind of miss the days when they had a pile of burgers ready to go at peak periods such that when you ordered, they'd grab a Big Mac from the pile under the warming light, and you'd be on your way

Let's face it, fast food is supposed to be FAST!

yep the bin was faster. and fresher too. I know, I worked at McShitties from 1985-1993. For all but the last year, we cooked in batches. But everything was cooked at once, and put together. You'd lay the patties on the grill, pop the buns in the toaster, sear the meat, flip the meat, remove the buns, dress the buns, put the meat on the dressed buns, pass the tray to the production manager, who wrapped and stored the product in the bin. It was supposed to be tossed out after 10 minutes in the bin (in practice, this sometimes was extended to 20 minutes, but much of the time, it was quite busy so product would go out as fast as it was going in).

Now, they stage all the meat and buns, cooked long before they are slapped together. The meat may sit around for an hour or so in some steamer drawer; toasted buns for up to four hours (or more...who knows). slapped together a la carte (but from staged components) and then microwaved.

They've done something to their buns too. They don't taste as good as they once did.

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

^Yes. One opened recently at Bloor and Bathurst.

I wish there was a 100% gluten-free burger joint with affordable prices. Maybe using a rice-based dough it would be possible?

The vegan burger places don't seem very busy.

Not sure if it’s up your alley, but there’s Balista - a new Indian chain specializing in vegan burgers, pizza and wraps with an Indian twist. They only have 3 locations right now including one in Brampton, so it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a chain, but it looks like they are expanding. Reasonable prices and very good stuff. Not sure they offer gluten-free options though.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by jamincan

This reminds me of something I recently learned: beyond meat-type food is technically not vegan as part of the food safety standards requires that they do animal testing before it is certified for human consumption.

What part? Feeding it to people to see if they like it?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

The closest McDonald's is always busy at eating times and I honestly don't know why. There are Hamburger joints all around that offer a much better burger for a dollar or two more than the Big Mac. Service time is much different. I'm not counting retirees that buy a coffee and a double hamburger to nibble while reading a newspaper on a plastic stool between those peak periods.

McDonald's does put stuff on sale via their app or other methods which might be what people are doing. I agree regular price is crap, but Big Macs are $3 every time the Canucks (or your local team) play. Coffee regularly goes for $1. Inflation busters!

[Airboy]

Stopped by Lowes last night, in conversation with some staff about the new owners. The staff have been informed that they are rebranding back to RONA.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Stopped by Lowes last night, in conversation with some staff about the new owners. The staff have been informed that they are rebranding back to RONA.

So I guess my local Lowe's that is a couple blocks away from Rona will be closing?

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by esquire

So I guess my local Lowe's that is a couple blocks away from Rona will be closing?

One will, or get rebranded again.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I think there is only 1 original Harveys location in London from my youth and it was renovated recently. All the others are relocated from nearby old locations or new locations entirely. They were my favourite burger chain from the 80's but I'd rather McDonalds now if it was a choice of the 2. I'm not actually much of a fan of burgers of any type anymore anyway so I don't really miss the old style.

I'm your complete opposite I love burgers of all tiers, from Fast Eddies to gourmet sit down. I probably eat a burger 3x per week on average

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Burger's Priest has replaced Harvey's in the fast burger space in Ontario. ?

Originally Posted by Djeffery

290 Harveys in Canada, 201 of them in Ontario. 30 Burger Priests, 27 in Ontario. A little ways to go before you can say they have been replaced. I don't really think they are in the same category honestly.

Djeffery has it right, those are not the same tier of fast food at all.

Harvey's is in the same "default fast food" category as McD's, A+W, Wendy's etc. It's "differentiator" is that it's flame grilled but it's of no greater quality than the rest of them. Burger's Priest is aimed at least one tier higher, in the same range as 5 Guys and loads of independent/small local chains - in Hamilton I'm thinking of Pinks, Delirious Burger Co, and not known as a burger place but The Burnt Tongue makes killer burgers. I call those "fast-quality", dunno if there's a more standard term.

Above that you get into sit-down places that can either be pretty generic (Kelseys/Montana's etc), or really deliver on fancier burgers like local chain HAMBRGR

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

McDonald's has gone downhill since the late 80s when I worked there. I still like their breakfast sandwiches (they beat Rim Whoreton's), although A&W has made improvements here.

As for fast food burgers (from best to worst):
Shake Shack (but there are none)
Burger's Priest/5 Guys
A&W/White-Spot/Harveys
Wendy's
Burger King/McDonald's/DQ

I'd go:

Fast-Quality
5 guys
Burger's Priest (haven't been to one in a long while)

Fast-Food:
A+W - overall best quality, good beef, I like their default topping combos. Eat there at least once a week. LOVE it.
Wendy's - never frozen beef and I feel like it makes a difference. Ends up being a little greasier, but that's not inherently a negative. Baconator is the best hangover food.
McDonalds - never great but not actively bad. Just bland-ish. I tend to either go for their "specialty" burgers that change, or the value menu burgers alongside nuggets if I can't choose between beef and chicken.
Harvey's - "okay" but I think they attempt to use their "flame grilled" process as an excuse to use an inferior patty. Tastes like a frozen grocery store patty that you'd cook at home, but less good since it's not fresh off an actual BBQ.
Burger King - I try it about every 10 years, and am left disappointed every time. Don't what it is but they suck.

I haven't had Shake Shack, In'n'Out, Whattaburger or most other US chains to know where they stack up. I had Sonic in February, and I'd say it was about par with McDs.

Super-Cheap-Fast-Food
Fast Eddies - dirt cheap but at least they aren't pretending to be anything but. I'd take 3 Fast Eddies burgers over 1 BK burger.
I think White Castle would fall into this tier as well?

Damn... now I really want 5 Guys or something but this is the week I decided to get serious about actually taking a lunch to work

[esquire]

Burger's Priest is just the dumbest name for a restaurant.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Boston Pizza is Edmonton. All things considered, it's preferable to Ontario's Pizza Pizza acid on cardboard. Of course, Pizza Pizza is a take out/ delivery establishment than a sit down restaurant.

Earls also started in Edmonton, but it's been headquartered in Vancouver for a while now.

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Beyond Meat does not test on animals. Never have.

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

What part? Feeding it to people to see if they like it?

So I did a bit more research. Beyond Meat apparently hasn't done animal testing, but Impossible Burgers did as part of FDA certification for the soy-based heme they use in their product.

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/does-...est-on-animals

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by jamincan

So I did a bit more research. Beyond Meat apparently hasn't done animal testing, but Impossible Burgers did as part of FDA certification for the soy-based heme they use in their product.

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/does-...est-on-animals

Seem like red tape. The FDA forced them to feed one of their ingredients to rats, then the process of animal testing forced them to kill the rats.

Impossible Foods applied, and the FDA shut it down, saying this variation of heme could be a potential allergen, as it had never been consumed by humans before. The next step in getting the FDA’s approval meant submitting to three separate experiments on rats – a total of 188 rats. As part of standard animal testing procedure, the rats were then killed.

Hard to blame Impossible Foods too much here.

They do make a better burger than beyond though! It's awesome.

[SpongeG]

Depending on the restaurant beyond meat burgers are often cooked on the same grill as meat burgers so will technically not be vegan to some eaters.

[casper]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Depending on the restaurant beyond meat burgers are often cooked on the same grill as meat burgers so will technically not be vegan to some eaters.

Vegan's are presented with confusing and contradictory situations every day. Just image what happens when they see this

[DrJoe]

If you want to confuse someone, tell a meat eater that you eat dog meat.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by esquire

Burger's Priest is just the dumbest name for a restaurant.

I'd say it's in a dead heat with The Captain's Boil.

[Loco101]

I'm one of the people who actually liked the Arch Deluxe at McD's. I worked there when they were serving them. Another one I liked that was only for a limited time was the Batman Superhero burger.

[theman23]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

McDonald's does put stuff on sale via their app or other methods which might be what people are doing. I agree regular price is crap, but Big Macs are $3 every time the Canucks (or your local team) play. Coffee regularly goes for $1. Inflation busters!

Hasn’t the price of a Big Mac also not really changed much anyways? It’s been around $5 for as long as I can remember.