Mother's Pizza Parlour and Spaghetti House, or simply Mother's Pizza, was a restaurant revival of a major 1970s and 1980s chain of the same name, which grew to 120 locations in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
The restaurant is remembered for parlour-style pizza,
big mugs,
root beer floats, and nostalgic decor such as Tiffany lamps.
Along with pizza, the reestablished location includes pasta and salads.
History
Grey Sisson, Ken Fowler and Pasquale Marra partnered to found Mother's in 1970, opening their first restaurant at
Westdale, a residential neighbourhood in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
the same year.
Just a month later, the ''
Hamilton Spectator
''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar.
History
''The Hami ...
''′s Gourmet Guide named it as one of the ten best restaurants in the city.
As of 1976, an advertisement for the new
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...
location cited 17 locations,
in Brantford, Burlington, Cambridge, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Oakville, Oshawa, Peterborough, Waterloo, and Windsor. They served pizzas, spaghetti, and
submarine sandwiches
A submarine sandwich, commonly known as a sub, hoagie (Philadelphia metropolitan area and Western Pennsylvania English), hero (New York City English), Italian ( Maine English), grinder (New England English), wedge (Westchester, NY), or a spuckie ...
, and a variety of other items, including
spumoni
Spumone (from ''spuma'' or "foam"), plural spumoni, is a molded gelato (a lower-fat Italian form of ice cream) made with layers of different colors and flavors, usually containing candied fruits and nuts.
Typically, it is of three flavors, wi ...
ice cream.
No frozen food was used in preparation, spumoni and lasagna excepted.
Promotions included Wednesday night NoodleNight,
A 1928
Model A Ford was converted into the Mother's Pie Wagon, which participated in parades, fairs, and festivals across Ontario.
Fifteen corporate Mother's restaurants were purchased in 1987, with Bayswater Partnership as the primary investor. Bayswater included Toronto Blue Jays catcher
Ernie Whitt
Leo Ernest Whitt (born June 13, 1952) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), including twelve for the Toronto Blue Jays, and was the last player from the franchise's inaugural sea ...
and three partners, who paid $9.8 million for the locations, deemed under performing as they didn't have active, hands-on owners.
Lloyd Moseby
Lloyd Anthony Moseby (born November 5, 1959) is an American former Major League Baseball player. A center fielder, and good all-around athlete, Moseby's nickname, Shaker, was said to stem from his ability to get away from or "shake" players who at ...
and batting coach
Cito Gaston
Clarence Edwin "Cito" Gaston (; born March 17, 1944) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. His major league career as a player lasted from 1967 to 1978, most notably with the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves. He spent his en ...
were persuaded to become limited partners in the chain. Whitt was to become a spokesperson and appear at charity fundraising events. The chain frequently ran "Ernie Whitt Specials" on pizza deliveries. Television commercials featured such international celebrities as
Dennis Weaver
William Dennis Weaver (June 4, 1924 – February 24, 2006) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, best known for his work in television and films from the early 1950s until just before his death in 2006. Weave ...
.
The company went into receivership, and was purchased by the
Little Caesars
Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. (doing business as Little Caesars) is an American multi-national pizza chain. Based on 2020 statistics, Little Caesars is the third-largest pizza chain by total sales in the United States, behind Pizza Hut and Do ...
pizza chain in 1989.
Within a few years, locations began closing, including Westdale in 1992.
Co-founder
Grey Sisson is now chair of the
Service Inspired Restaurants board, which owns
Jack Astor's,
Alice Fazooli's and
Canyon Creek; the group is based out of the same South Service Road building that Mother's was, in
Burlington, Ontario
Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...
.
Their flare glasses are considered drinking glass collectibles.
Reestablishment (2013-ca. 2019)
The chain is now owned by Brian Alger and Geeve Sandhu, who both fondly remember the original chain.
Alger bought the Mother's and
The Pop Shoppe trademarks, reestablishing the latter in 2004 and waiting until 2011 to reestablish Mother's.
Sandhu joined as operational partner in 2010.
Sandhu previously worked for
Jack Astor's, and owns three pubs as of 2013.
Many of the old franchisees have helped the new location;
one of the former franchisees is working to perfect the original dough recipe.
The new restaurant retains some classic features, but with a more contemporary feel.
Their aim was to replicate what the restaurant would have been like, if it had never left the marketplace.
Retained are pitchers of pop, red and white fabric on seats, Tiffany glass panels, and projected black and white films, and newly introduced are old barn beams, and stone walls and distressed oak.
Removed are elements including tables made of sewing machines, flashing marquee signs, and swinging parlour-style doors.
Alger suggested that he wanted the old uniforms to return, but realized in might not be popular with employees.
The new uniforms make reference to the old.
The first location was intentionally in Hamilton, given that it hosted the original location of the first chain.
Before opening the first location, the partners were scouting for a second.
The first relaunched Mother's Pizza location opened April 1, 2013 at 701 Queenston Road in Hamilton, Ontario.
The second Mother's Pizza location opened on May 5, 2014 in Kitchener, Ontario at 4391 King Street East.
A third Mother's Pizza location opened in Spring 2015 in Brantford, Ontario at 185 King George Road.
A fourth Location opened in fall 2016 in Waterloo, Ontario at 183 Weber Street North.
The Hamilton location closed September 2017. The Brantford location closed April 2018. The Waterloo location closed in May 2018, and by the end of January of 2019, the last location in Kitchener had also closed.
References
{{portalbar, Companies
Restaurants in Ontario
Pizza chains of Canada
Defunct restaurants in Canada
1970 establishments in Ontario
1992 disestablishments in Ontario
2013 establishments in Ontario
Canadian companies disestablished in 1992
Canadian companies established in 1970
Canadian companies established in 2013
Restaurants established in 1970
Restaurants established in 2013
Restaurants disestablished in 1992