Kelseys Original Roadhouse is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

chain

headquarter Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top ...

ed in

Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

owned by

Recipe Unlimited Recipe Unlimited Corporation is a Canadian company that operates several restaurant chains such as Swiss Chalet, Harvey's and The Keg, and food distribution for large operations. The company was originated in 1883 as Canada Railway News Compan ...

. Recipe Unlimited also owns other restaurants including

Swiss Chalet Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places *Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss International ...

Milestones A milestone is a marker of distance along roads. Milestone may also refer to: Measurements *Milestone (project management), metaphorically, markers of reaching an identifiable stage in any task or the project *Software release life cycle state, s ...

, Montana's and

Harvey's Harvey's is a fast food restaurant chain operating in Canada, with locations in every province except British Columbia. It serves hamburgers, poutine, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings, and other traditional Canadian fast-food fare. The chain i ...

. Founded in 1978, there are Kelseys restaurants across Canada, excluding the province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

(where the chain was withdrawn in 2008).

History

Once a chain of more than 140 locations from Quebec westerly to British Columbia, the company has closed all but two locations in British Columbia, shuttered nine locations in Alberta, closed all locations in Saskatchewan, and closed all locations in Manitoba. In Ontario, numerous locations across the company have closed including locations in Kitchener, Simcoe, and Fort Erie. The Owen Sound location was due to close on December 20, 2013. As of November 2013 there are just 88 Kelseys locations left in Canada, primarily in the province of Ontario. Kelseys has a licensing agreement through early 2011 with

CBS Consumer Products Paramount Consumer Products (formerly Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, then ViacomCBS Consumer Products) is the retailing and licensing division of Paramount Global. The department is in charge of merchandising for Paramount-owned brands. ...

for the rights to the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

from the 1980s sitcom ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'', which the chain says could lead to "other opportunities" in the future. Kelseys also uses the show's title in its slogan "Cheers to good friends", although (due to the generic nature of the word "cheers" in regards to

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s and the like) it is not clear whether permission from CBS was required for this.

Rebranding

Kelseys'

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

has been going through an era of rebranding and renovations including its location at 1011

The Queensway The Queensway (or Queensway) is a major street in the municipalities of Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is a western continuation of Queen Street, after it crosses Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in Toronto. The Queensway is ...

Etobicoke, Ontario Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamation of Toronto, amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 17 ...

where the company is piloting a new restaurant design that features an emphasis on a newer style of Kelseys dining experience. Many under-performing Kelseys restaurants have been closing down over the past couple of years and the new design is going to try to change the customer's eating experience to become more lively and exciting. The restaurant's old slogan "Neighbourhood Bar and Grill" has been upgraded to "Ambitiously Hardworking and Sociably Unpredictable". Bright neon colours are found throughout the restaurant along with an upgraded menu that features a smaller and more limited selection of the most popular items found at other Kelseys locations. The new bar menu that was first used at this Kelseys is now available throughout all 88 locations in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia. The new bar menu is modelled after its location in Etobicoke featuring bright neon colours along with new items that reflect more of a pub than a bar and grill. The restaurant design is going to be applied to more locations when the franchisees choose to upgrade.

Criticism

CBC Marketplace ''CBC Marketplace'' is a Canadian investigative consumer program which has been broadcast on CBC Television since 1972. The program investigates consumer reports on issues such as product testing, health and safety, fraudulent business practi ...

investigation in February 2018 found the Kelseys servers in Ontario had to tip out 3% of their sales, a rise from 2% prior to the province's minimum wage increase.

History

Rebranding

Criticism

See also