White Spot
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A typical White Spot restaurant in Saanich, British Columbia.

White Spot is a Canadian restaurant chain based in Vancouver, British Columbia, best known for its hamburgers, Pirate Pak children's meal, and other home-style food, as well as its "carhop" drive-in service and "Triple O" burger sauce. In recent years, the chain has attempted to move into more upscale but still family-friendly decor and food, including menus developed with local celebrity chefs, while also expanding with fast-food oriented, retro-decorated White Spot Triple-O's outlets.

History

The restaurant was founded on June 16, 1928 by Nat Bailey. His first idea for a name for the eatery had been Granville Barbecue, but Nat instead took the advice of a friend who suggested he call it White Spot after a restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The original White Spot location, and long-time flagship restaurant, was located in the Marpole neighbourhood, at 67th and Granville Street at what would be known to many as Granville House, in Vancouver. Originally, it was White Spot Barbecue Sandwiches, and then evolved into a full-fledge drive-in and dining room by the 1990s the White Spot Drive-ins slowly phased out due to the increase in franchises and decrease in popularity .

The original location was a popular dining spot in the area, until 1988 when a fire in the kitchen badly damaged the building. The restaurant closed at that location for good, shortly thereafter. There was talk at the time of rebuilding on the site, but the ownership of the chain decided against it. It was years later that the chain would restore a White Spot restaurant to Marpole.

In 1981, a White Spot restaurant was the location where police met and recorded Clifford Robert Olson. ¹

In 1986, White Spot was sued in the court case Gee v. White Spot which helped set Canadian case law. The plaintiffs, Mr. Gee and Mr. & Mrs. Pan, claimed damages for botulism poisoning related to a beef dip. The decision made it easier for diners to sue restaurants for breach of contract and implied warranty instead of the harder-to-prove negligence.

Up through the 1990s, many White Spot franchises had an old-fashioned drive-in, with servers (known as "carhops") bringing trays and food to diners' car to eat on-site, using long trays that fit across the seats between vehicles' windows. Some locations, such as those in North Burnaby, in North and West Vancouver, and on Marine Drive and on West Broadway in Vancouver, still offer this service. From 1999 onward, White Spot franchises have been installed on 11 ships in the BC Ferries fleet.

Food

A pirate pak plundered of its chocolate doubloon and ice cream.

White Spot is famous for its "Pirate Paks", a children's meal introduced in 1968. The meal is set in a cardboard model of a pirate ship with small details like a chocolate coin wrapped in gold foil, a cardboard sail on a drinking straw mast, and a cup of ice cream in the captain's quarters.

At present, the restaurant has evolved for a West Coast look and upscale dining, although their trademark hamburgers are unchanged and still a staple of the menu. White Spot executive Chef Chuck Currie is featured in marketing campaigns alongside guest celebrity chefs hailing from Vancouver, including John Bishop, Rob Feenie and Umberto Menghi.²

White Spot serves more full service meals than any restaurant chain in British Columbia; more than 15 million guests dine at the restaurant every year.^{citation needed} Mystery shoppers often visit White Spot restaurants to rate the quality of service and food received.^{citation needed}

There is also a fast food subset called "Triple-O's White Spot", named after the trademark "Triple-O" hamburger sauce (a savory mix of mayonnaise and red relish), which are frequently located at Chevron gas stations.

International locations

In the 1990s, White Spot experimented with opening outlets across the nearby U.S. border in Washington, without much success. Abroad, White Spot has in the past few years expanded its Triple-O's fast food chain into Hong Kong and, most recently, Bangkok. In Hong Kong, four such stores can be found at the basement of Pacific Place, and in Exchange Square, on the Hong Kong Island; and at Cooked Deli in the Harbour City shopping mall in Kowloon and in Shatin . The three Hong Kong franchises each record more than twice as many sales as the average location in BC.³

A location in Seoul, South Korea opened in September, 2008.⁴ It is located near Dosan Park, in the fashionable Apgujeong neighborhood. Seven more locations are planned for Seoul.

External links

• White Spot Ltd.
• Triple-O's Hong Kong

References