Country Style Food Services, Inc., formerly Country Style Donuts, is a fast/casual chain of coffee shops operating primarily in the

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

province of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

which serves oatmeal, soup, sandwiches, salads, baked goods including donuts, and coffee. The chain is based in

Richmond Hill, Ontario Richmond Hill ( 2021 population: 202,022) is a city in south-central York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and the 27th most populous municipality in Canada. Ric ...

Organization

In January 2006, there were 120 "traditional" locations in

. There are over 420 "non-traditional" locations embedded in other stores such as

gas stations A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

, convenience stores, arenas and movie theatres. Over 70% of customer purchases in 2001 were coffee. In total, Country Style has over 1,000 locations in Ontario,

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

under the Country Style/Bistro name.

History

Country Style has been in business since 1963 when it opened its first location in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Country Style experienced a lot of growth early on, opening 100 stores in the first 15–20 years of existence. It had 50 outlets in 1974 when it was the leading coffee and donut establishment in Canada above

Tim Hortons Tim Hortons Inc., known colloquially as Tim's, Timmies, or Timmy's, is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain with headquarters in Toronto; it serves coffee, Doughnut, donuts, sandwiches, Breakfast sandwich, breakfast egg mu ...

(which passed it two years later). It began to expand into

in the 1970s (including

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

) and the East in the early 1980s. Poor results caused the franchise to withdraw from these regions: locations in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

were the only ones to survive into the 1990s, while in the East, it was ones in Nova Scotia and PEI. By 2001, Country Style had been forced to close a quarter of its stores due to decreasing market share in an increasingly competitive Canadian market. Since then, it has opened many new stores and now ranks third behind Tim Hortons and McDonald's in the Canadian coffee market. On November 1, 2011, its parent company,

MTY Food Group MTY Food Group Inc. is a Canadian franchisor and operator of numerous casual dining, fast casual, and quick service restaurants operating under more than 70 brand names, some of them through wholly owned subsidiaries. Headquartered in the Montr ...

, bought Mr. Sub for $23 million merging it with Country style to become Country Style Food Services Holdings Inc. In the mid-1990s, the Country Style logo was changed to use a font similar to

Palatino Palatino is an old-style serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf, initially released in 1949 by the Stempel foundry and later by other companies, most notably the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. Palatino is optimised for legibility with open ...

instead of its former handwriting font. In 2006, Country Style changed its image to a more upscale style: "Country Style Bistro Deli". The new image includes a new logo, a new website, and an enhanced branded deli menu that will be phased into all stores. The logo still uses the Palatino style font and will also be phased into all stores. New stores will feature more modern design features, somewhat similar to

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

, and provides wide range of wraps, smoothies, breakfast, salads and sweets. In 2009, the brand rights to Country Style, used at 900 locations, were purchased by MTY Food Group of Montreal for $14.6 million in cash and debt. In 2017, the stores in the

Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

franchise were rebranded to "New Bistro Deli".

Charity work

In April 2003, Country Style partnered with the Make a Wish Foundation as its corporate charity of choice.

References

1963 establishments in Ontario Restaurants established in 1963 Doughnut shops Fast-food chains of Canada Fast-food franchises Coffeehouses and cafés in Canada Bakeries of Canada Companies based in Richmond Hill, Ontario {{Canada-restaurant-stub

Organization

History

Charity work

See also

References