I, for one, welcome our American culture overlords

[whatnext]

Boston Pizza is headquartered in MetroVancouver. As is Earls, Cactus Club, Joeys and Browns Social House. "Premium casual" dining is apparently our gift to Western Canada.

[MacLac]

Originally Posted by drew

Yeah, the Perogy pizza is good.

Boston Pizza - pizza is OK. At least they make the dough in house.

The rest of the menu...

"In house" as in each particular restaurant? Nope, not anymore....dough, meat sauce etc are all made in a factory elsewhere...no different than Tim's crappy dough nuts.....

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadian_(automobile)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_Acadia

It's kind of funny, the idea of a Montana or Yukon clearly evokes an outdoorsy ruggedness... but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think when I hear Acadian/Acadia?!?

[Acajack]

Strangely enough, Boston Pizza is one of the only Anglo-Canadian sit-down dining chains that has secured a reasonable foothold in various regions of Quebec.

Many of the others like Casey's, Kelsey's, Milestones, Moxie's, Swiss Chalet, Montana's, etc. are either totally absent or have one or two isolated locations.

Iconic American restaurant chains like Denny's, IHOP and Perkins are also absent from Quebec AFAIK.

[Echoes]

I forgot all about this one....

A steakhouse in Greenville, SC called "Saskatoon" with imagery of a rustic hunting lodge, the wild north and.... *mountains*

https://saskatoonrestaurant.com/


Source

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's kind of funny, the idea of a Montana or Yukon clearly evokes an outdoorsy ruggedness... but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think when I hear Acadian/Acadia?!?

I feel like Acadia falls into the same sort of category as a Telluride or something - most people looking at it aren't going to think of the name as a place somewhere and will more than likely just look at it as a cool-sounding word like Sonata or Elantra.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Echoes

I forgot all about this one....

A steakhouse in Greenville, SC called "Saskatoon" with imagery of a rustic hunting lodge, the wild north and.... *mountains*

https://saskatoonrestaurant.com/


Source

"Saskatoon" the name actually has quite a bit of potential.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I feel like Acadia falls into the same sort of category as a Telluride or something - most people looking at it aren't going to think of the name as a place somewhere and will more than likely just look at it as a cool-sounding word like Sonata or Elantra.

The Americans have an Acadia National Park which probably evokes something different for a lot of them, compared to what the name is generally associated with in Canada.

Rugged, rocky forested coastline:

https://www.google.com/search?q=acad...=1577129553584

[suburbanite]

I think that Greenville sign emphasizes the point that it's more about marketing and a cool-sounding word that invokes some essence of "elsewhere"

Saskatoon kind of sounds like something from a Western. The "Saskatoon Saloon" works as a rugged, meat and potatoes kind of place.

Boston Pizza does have a nice cadence to it, even if it doesn't make culinary sense.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Boston Pizza does have a nice cadence to it, even if it doesn't make culinary sense.

Boston Pizza is a weird one that works as a name despite making next to zero sense. Maybe it helps that aside from the name, none of the branding is intended to evoke Boston or anything remotely New England themed. The food still sucks though.

[megadude]

Sask always sounds good to me. It's what comes after that isn't catchy to me whether it be -atchewan or atoon.

Acadia is definitely a cool sounding word.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by megadude

Acadia is definitely a cool sounding word.

It's related to Arcadia in Greek mythology, which was a pastoral, idyllic place.

[rousseau]

I can do Saskatoon with mountains one better: Italian Calgary.



This is in Chiayi, Taiwan, where I once lived. The owner really wanted to name his "Italian" restaurant after a little town in the mountains in Canada that he had liked, but he couldn't remember its name (this was in the 1990s before the internet took off). He had the ticket of the airport they'd flown in to, so that would have to suffice.

So by rights it should have been Banff emblazoned over a map of Italy instead of Calgary. It was actually a very cool space with live music. The foreigner crowd there hung out there, and I made lots of noise on the drums in a casual band on the stage in that place many times. "The Calgary," as we called it, looms large in my memories of Taiwan.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I can do Saskatoon with mountains one better: Italian Calgary.



This is in Chiayi, Taiwan, where I once lived. The owner really wanted to name his "Italian" restaurant after a little town in the mountains in Canada that he had liked, but he couldn't remember its name (this was in the 1990s before the internet took off). He had the ticket of the airport they'd flown in to, so that would have to suffice.

So by rights it should have been Banff emblazoned over a map of Italy instead of Calgary. It was actually a very cool space with live music. The foreigner crowd there hung out there, and I made lots of noise on the drums in a casual band on the stage in that place many times. "The Calgary," as we called it, looms large in my memories of Taiwan.

It *is* living. No doubt...

[Acajack]

Interesting how words evolve:

Arcadie (Arcadie)
Acadie
Acadiens
Cadiens
Cadjiens
Cadjeuns
Cajuns (in French)
Cajuns (in English)

[esquire]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I think that Greenville sign emphasizes the point that it's more about marketing and a cool-sounding word that invokes some essence of "elsewhere"

Saskatoon kind of sounds like something from a Western. The "Saskatoon Saloon" works as a rugged, meat and potatoes kind of place.

Kind of reminds me of the NYC punk landmark Manitoba's, named after the proprietor Handsome Dick Manitoba. He reportedly picked the name based on how Manitoba sounded kind of exotic, or something along those lines.

[Denscity]

Im trying to think of a place name in BC, which itself as a whole some SSPers have mentioned felt foreign or exotic, and is next door to both Montana and the Yukon, that would have a good ring to it so to speak.

Skookumchuk lol
Whistler
Pemberton
Sorrento (already a car but not because of this place?)
Tsawassen
Chilliwack
Revelstoke
Spuzzum
Race Rocks
Active Pass

Boston Bar!

[MacLac]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Boston Pizza is headquartered in MetroVancouver. As is Earls, Cactus Club, Joeys and Browns Social House. "Premium casual" dining is apparently our gift to Western Canada.

Hardly Vancouver's "gift." Both BP's and Earl's started in Edmonton...so it's EDM's gift - nothing wrong with Premium casual btw. Earl's, Joey's and Cactus Club all share one office in Vancouver. Brown's - who know's......

[kool maudit]

Saskatoon is a very lyrical and evocative word.

"I left her there that afternoon
and drove clean through to Saskatoon..."

It evokes remoteness and wildness somehow.

[once]

Originally Posted by rousseau

And yet they chose to name their restaurants after American geographic locations. Why?\

The marketing clearly works.

I would also argue that in general Canadians respect US business way more than Canadian ones. There are extremely limited examples of Canadian brands leveraging Canada to become a desirable brand. Canada Goose is the only one that come to mind but I'm sure there are more.

Canadians recognize themselves that the USA is ahead - technology, business, culture, you name it. They know it, and marketing Canadian things with American names works. Your four examples prove it.

"Made in Canada" doesn't draw Canadian customers, and many see it as a disadvantage, until it reaches the point other countries massively buy in, like Canada Goose.