Harvey's
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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded |  Richmond Hill, Ontario |
| Headquarters | Vaughan, Canada |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Products | Fast food (including hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings, poutines) |
| Employees | 7,000 employees |
| Parent | Cara Operations Limited |
| Website | Harveys.ca |
Harvey's is a fast food restaurant chain that operates in Canada, with locations concentrated in southern and eastern Ontario, southern Quebec, the Maritimes, and urban Alberta. It serves hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings, and other traditional fast food fare. The chain is owned by Cara Operations. Harvey's is the second-largest Canadian-established restaurant chain behind Tim Hortons, and is the fourth-largest burger chain in Canada.[1]
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[edit] Products
Harvey's is known for its fresh-grilled burgers, allowing customers the choice of 11 different toppings, including lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, onions, hot peppers, and a wide selection of condiments ranging from ketchup and mayonnaise to Frank's Red Hot sauce. Unique here is that cooked burgers are placed in view of the customer, behind a glass counter, while an employee garnishes the burger as per the customer's choice before wrapping it in paper and serving it to them. This fresh topping of burgers allows for a very fresh taste, but can create bottlenecks and delays during busy periods. In this sense, Harvey's is closer to the model used by submarine sandwich chains like Subway, as opposed to other burger chains which use a set list of toppings for each burger, removing toppings only at the customer's specific request.
Harvey's offers hot dogs, veggie burgers, and grilled chicken burgers, which can be topped as desired by the customer, as well as chicken strips and garden and chicken salads. Also, Harvey's is one of the few fast food chain restaurants to offer poutine on its menu nationally.
One of Harvey's most famous promotional menu items was Frings, a specially designed french fry box that's half-full of french fries and half-full of onion rings. On July 28, 2008, Frings were welcomed back to the menu, but only for a limited time.
In August and September 2006, menu selections were cut significantly, resulting in the withdrawal of such items as Angus burger and other specialty burgers, a short-lived line of deli sandwiches, milkshakes, caesar salad, and the chain's "value" burgers. The hamburger menu at the time included six basic varieties: hamburger, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, and double-patty versions of each. In March 2007, the popular Angus burger was brought back permanently, while an improved milkshake recipe was rolled out beginning in late April. Basic grilled chicken and veggie burgers also remain. In all cases, the choice of toppings is unchanged; with the addition of Frank's Red Hot sauce as of June 2008, replacing Spicy Buffalo Sauce.
At a small number of locations, breakfast is also served, only for the traditional morning period. The breakfast menu includes real fried eggs with bacon/sausage and toast, and other familiar fast-food breakfast items. Harvey's is unusual in offering fried eggs with yolks, as other chains, like McDonald's, only offer poached eggs (in sandwiches) or scrambled eggs, eliminating the ability for the customer to puncture the egg yolk for dunking.
Some Harvey's locations are located adjacent to fellow Cara chain Swiss Chalet, or serve selected Swiss Chalet products, although the number of locations in the latter category is now small. In the early 1990s, Harvey's also featured items from Church's Chicken, an American chain, on its menu at selected locations, although that co-venture has since been disbanded. There are also a few Home Depot Harvey's stores that are co-located with the affiliated Second Cup coffee chain.
A long-time purveyor of Coca-Cola products, as are most hamburger chains in Canada, Harvey's switched to Pepsi products in summer 2005.[1][unreliable source?] In early spring 2006, Harvey's eliminated Diet 7 Up and Mountain Dew products from all of its locations as part of its simplified menu.
[edit] Organization
Harvey's has sales of $269 million, 286 restaurants, almost 7,000 employees, and 50 million guests annually. Many, but not all, Canadian Home Depot locations feature Harvey's restaurants. In fact, the chain's only locations in British Columbia and Manitoba are inside Home Depot stores or local airports, specifically those in Vancouver and Winnipeg.
The chain's remaining locations in Saskatchewan, all in Home Depots, closed in 2006. Before the opening of the Home Depot locations, Harvey's was operated as a free-standing restaurant in Saskatoon and Regina before closing in 1990. Harvey's also currently lacks a presence in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the only two locations closed no later than the mid-1990s. Harvey's closed several Montreal-area locations throughout the 2000s, including two Dollard-des-Ormeaux locations in 2007 and a newly-renovated one in 2008 (however, it moved to Montreal's nearby Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough, respectively. Most Harvey's locations in Montreal (particularly standalone locations) remain open. Three Harvey's locations in Halifax, Nova Scotia have closed between 2004 and 2008.
[edit] History
Harvey's was founded by Rick Mauran in 1959 with its first location on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, Ontario. In the next few years, it began franchising restaurants throughout southern Ontario, later expanding throughout Canada. The first franchised location was at 238 Bloor Street West in Toronto, which remained there until early 2006, when a new condo project, One Bedford, needed its site. Harvey's introduced an interesting concept, in which customers could customize their burgers with a wide array of toppings, organized much like a salad bar. In the early days, Harvey's had a wider selection of toppings than it does now.
Many names were considered by Mauran who was looking for a simple name. "Humphrey's" was one contender. While reading the Toronto Telegram on July 11, 1959 under the heading "Bargains at 2300 Danforth" Mauran found the name "Harvey's" - an auto dealer near Danforth and Woodbine, in East Toronto. He bought the "Harvey's" sign from the auto dealer, who was going out of business, and used it for the restaurant.[2]
[edit] Free Burger Day
On the last Sunday of May each year (since 2007), Harvey's holds a Free Original Hamburger Day at all locations across Ontario and Quebec. The purpose of this event is to "celebrate Canada's best tasting burger" and to bring in new customers who might not otherwise go into Harvey's.[3]
The event was extended across Canada in 2009 to celebrate the chain's 50th anniversary.
[edit] Harvey's vs. Hardee's
There is no affiliation between Harvey's and the American hamburger chain Hardee's. The latter's parent company CKE Restaurants has in fact been prevented from opening stores in Canada under the Hardee's name due to a trademark dispute. CKE is instead attempting to launch the Carl's Jr. brand in Canada.[4]
[edit] Marketing
[edit] Advertising slogans
English
- 1970s: "Harvey's makes a hamburger a beautiful thing"
- 1980s: "Harvey's makes your hamburger a beautiful thing"
- early 1990s: "Harvey's: beautiful choice"
- 1992? to 1993 "We make you spoiled with charbroiled"
- 1994 to 1995 "When you want what you want, you want Harvey's"
- early 2000s: "Harvey's makes your hamburger a beautiful thing" and "Real, big, taste."
- 2003 to 2006: "Long live the grill", "Noooo problem" and "Meat. Fire. Good."
- 2006 to present: "Harvey's makes your hamburger a beautiful thing" (or simply "It's a beautiful thing") and "At Harvey's, there's a burger with your name on it."
[edit] Logos
 Used up to 1998 |
 Harvey's logo in use from 1998 to 2006 |
 Slightly-modified version in use since late spring 2006 |
[edit] External links
[edit] Harvey's Uniform
Shirt: blue with orange stiches Hat: Black with orange "H" Pants: Black Shoes: Black
[edit] References
- ^ Canadian Business. CB Media. 1977. pp. 30. http://books.google.ca/books?id=nqaZAAAAIAAJ&q=harvey%27s+fourth+largest+burger+chain+in+canada&dq=harvey%27s+fourth+largest+burger+chain+in+canada&pgis=1. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
- ^ Filey, Mike (2003). Toronto Sketches 7: The Way We Were. Dundurn Press. pp. 53-54. ISBN 9781550024487. http://books.google.ca/books?id=Z_5A5TPu7aAC&pg=PA53. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
- ^ Harvey's expanding
- ^ http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=219620&page=7
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