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Heritage

JB's of Canada (Big Boy & Roy Rogers franchises)

Closed circa 1979

Restaurant franchising · Ontario · Ontario, beyond the GTA

Through the 1970s, JB's of Canada ran roughly forty Big Boy and Roy Rogers outlets under John Bitove Sr.'s Canadian franchise rights — the decade in which a Macedonian family's coffee-shop instincts scaled to national chains, and the rehearsal for the airport contract that followed.

Details

Founded
1969
People
John Bitove Sr.

Sources (2)

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

  • Gateway Fish & Chips (Aurora) and Villa Fish & Chips (West Rouge)

    Fish & chips · Aurora; Scarborough

    After selling the 3 Star in 1970, Tom Gulin did what a Macedonian restaurateur did between restaurants: opened two more — Gateway Fish and Chips in Aurora and V...

    Macedonian connection: Tom Gulin's shops after he sold the 3 Star — the fish-and-chips trade was a Macedonian staple.

    Sources: https://beachmetro.com/2023/03/31/remembering-the-3-star-restaurant-on-kingston-road/

  • Julie's

    Fine dining · Toronto

    The fine-dining room in John Bitove Sr.'s first portfolio — the polished end of a spectrum that ran from coffee counters to nightclubs, and the apprenticeship f...

    Macedonian connection: Bitove Sr.'s fine-dining house, part of the family's first restaurant portfolio.

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

  • Knob Hill Farms

    Grocery chain · Toronto, Markham, Pickering, Mississauga, Oshawa, Weston, Cambridge

    Closed 2000–2001

    Steve Stavro's produce stand at 1598 Queen Street East — across the road from his father's butcher shop — grew into the grocery chain that taught Canada to shop...

    Macedonian connection: Founded by Steve Stavro, who arrived from Gabresh as a boy in 1933 and left school after Grade 10 to work in his father's butcher shop.

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

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