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Heritage

The Java Shoppe

Closed 1960s (absorbed into later ventures)

Coffee shops · North York (Toronto) · Greater Toronto Area

A fourteen-stool coffee counter opened by a teenaged John Bitove Sr. — with Dotsa beside him — became five locations by 1962 and the seed of the largest privately held food-service company in Canada. Every airport meal and stadium beer the Bitove Corporation later served traces back to this room.

Details

Founded
circa 1946–49
People
John Bitove Sr. and Dotsa Bitove

Sources (2)

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bitove_Sr.
  2. https://www.foodserviceandhospitality.com/john-bitove-sr-dies/

  • Slave Petroff and Company

    Steamship agency, banking & labour bureau · Toronto (King St E district)

    Before there were restaurants there was the agency: Slave Petroff and Company sold steamship passages, moved remittances to the villages and ran a labour bureau...

    Macedonian connection: The pre-First-World-War agency that sold the tickets, wired the money and found the jobs for Toronto's first Macedonian colony.

    Sources: https://torontomanyfaces.wixsite.com/ebook/47-the-macedonian-community

  • The Toronto Raptors — the Bitove founding

    Professional basketball · Toronto

    Closed Bitove sold his stake in 1996–97

    On 30 September 1993 the NBA awarded Toronto its expansion franchise to a bid led by 33-year-old John Bitove Jr., who named the team the Raptors, served as its...

    Macedonian connection: The NBA came to Canada because John Bitove Jr. — grandson of Gabresh immigrants — won the expansion bid.

    Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bitove

  • Toronto Travel Advantage — Danny Ry

    Travel agency · Toronto

    The society's news archive preserves the scene: a community charity evening, a 'lucky draw' of prizes donated by Macedonian businesses, and the grand prize — a...

    Macedonian connection: A community travel agency remembered in the society's archive as donor of the grand prize — a Florida trip — at a Macedonian charity evening.

    Sources: https://macedonianhistory.ca/news/macedonian-kolede-costume-ball — Society news archive — the Kolede ball, whose grand prize Danny Ry and Toronto Travel Advantage donated

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