White Spot facts for kids
 |
|
A White Spot Triple O's inside a Chevron-branded station in Chilliwack, British Columbia
|
|
| Founded | June 16, 1928 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
White Spot is a popular Canadian restaurant chain. It started in Vancouver, British Columbia. People know White Spot for its tasty hamburgers, the fun Pirate Pak meal for kids, its special "Triple O" sauce, and delicious milkshakes. White Spot also has a faster restaurant brand called Triple O's. Together, these restaurants have more than 100 locations. You can find them in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and even in Asia.
Contents
The Story of White Spot
White Spot was started by a person named Nat Bailey. In the 1920s, before White Spot, Nat had a small food stand on wheels in Vancouver. He sold hotdogs and ice cream from his 1918 Model T car.
In 1928, Nat Bailey opened his first restaurant. He first thought about calling it the Granville Barbecue. But a friend suggested he name it White Spot. This name came from a restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles was sometimes called the "White Spot of America" because it was doing well and had many jobs.
The first White Spot restaurant was in the Marpole area of Vancouver. It was at 67th Avenue and Granville Street. It was first called White Spot Barbecue Sandwiches. Soon, it became a drive-in restaurant where people could eat in their cars, and it also had a dining room. By 1955, White Spot was serving 10,000 cars every day! They were serving 110,000 customers each week.
Over time, drive-in restaurants became less popular. So, by the 1990s, some White Spot drive-ins closed. The original Granville House restaurant was a favorite place to eat until 1986. A fire in the kitchen damaged the building, and the restaurant closed for good at that spot.
New Owners and Growth
Nat Bailey sold the White Spot chain in 1968 when he retired. In 1982, a businessman from British Columbia named Peter Toigo bought the company. This brought White Spot back to local ownership. After Peter Toigo passed away in 1993, his sons, Peter and Ron Toigo, took over the business.
In 1993, White Spot started letting other people open their own White Spot restaurants. This is called franchising. In 1997, they launched their faster restaurant brand, Triple O's. This brand is named after White Spot's famous hamburger sauce. Since 1999, you can even find Triple O's on some BC Ferries ships! By the 2000s, Triple O's locations were opening as places to quickly grab a burger.
In 2012, White Spot had 64 restaurants and 62 Triple O's locations. They served 17 million customers that year!
White Spot has also worked with famous chefs from Vancouver. These chefs have helped create new and exciting dishes for the restaurants.
In 2020, White Spot made a bigger deal with Parkland Corporation, a company that runs gas stations. Parkland already had some Triple O's inside their gas stations in British Columbia. With the new agreement, Triple O's started opening in Alberta and Ontario too, at more Parkland-owned gas stations.
White Spot Around the World
White Spot has expanded its Triple O's chain to other countries. In the early 2000s, Triple O's opened in Hong Kong. In 2014, it opened in Manila, and also in Mainland China. In Hong Kong, you can find four Triple O's stores in big shopping areas like Pacific Place and Harbour City. These Hong Kong restaurants often sell more than twice as many meals as the average location in British Columbia!
In 2009, there were also Triple O's branches in Taiwan. Macau got its first Triple O's in November 2017.
Past Locations
White Spot tried opening its first international location in the United States in 1993. This was in Bellingham, Washington, which is close to the Canadian border. They hoped to open more in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. However, the Bellingham location closed three years later. This was because not enough people visited, and the Canadian dollar was weak at the time.
A Triple O's location also opened in Seoul, South Korea, in September 2008.
All Triple O's branches in Singapore closed in the 2010s. There was also one Triple O's branch in Thailand. It closed permanently after being damaged during protests in 2010.
See also
- List of Canadian restaurant chains
- List of hamburger restaurants
- List of restaurants in Vancouver
