La Belle Province (restaurant)
La Belle Province (English: The Beautiful Province) is a well-known fast-food eatery in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is known as La Belle Pro, Belle Pro, or La Belle for short nicknames. Each location is independently franchised; some are open 24 hours a day.
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History [edit]
Founder Peter Kivetos, a native of Greece, opened the first La Belle Province on Sherbrooke Street East in 1970. He took the name with permission from a restaurant on Saint Catherine Street where he had worked, which had burned down in the 1960s. It became a franchise when the second location was opened in Saint-Hubert in 1976.[1]
Kivetos' ownership group had 45 locations in 1997. By 1999 there were 125 locations under the name La Belle Province. It is not strictly a franchise operation, in 1999 there were six different ownership groups, mostly relatives of Kivetos.[2]
In 2010, two restaurant owners were fined $22,000 for failure to pay the Goods and Services Tax and were charged an additional $45,000 for the amount that they owed.[3]
In the early 2000s, a location opened in Oakville, ON, a suburb of Toronto, in hopes of taking advantage of the influx of former Montrealers living in the area. The restaurant would later close down.
Menu [edit]
La Belle Province serves breakfast and lunch, including items such as poutine, club sandwiches, hamburgers, Montreal hot dogs,[4] smoked meat sandwiches, and souvlaki.
Usually, their beverage menu comes from Pepsi-QTG Canada, but at locations in Dorval (the Dorval Ave. location) and Kirkland, products from Coca-Cola Ltd. are served instead.
Reason for the various names [edit]
A Quebec judge ruled that the La Belle Province franchise owners could not prevent others from giving a similar name to their restaurants, because "la belle province" is an official nickname for the province of Quebec.[citation needed] This resulted in several knock-off franchises that had menus and prices similar to the original franchise in order to capitalize on its existing image and marketing.[citation needed] Notable knock-offs include Belle Province II, La Plus Belle Province, La Belle Québécoise and La Très Belle Province.[citation needed]
References [edit]
- ^ Delean, Mark (1997-03-24). "Fries, two dogs and a Coke: By keeping their business simple, Lafleur's and La Belle Province continue to expand while some of their fast-food rivals are in retreat". The Gazette. pp. C8.
- ^ MACDONELL, ROD and CLARK, CAMPBELL (1993-03-01). "$3 million worth of hot dogs: String of bankruptcies an all-dressed fiasco for taxpayers". The Gazette. pp. A1.
- ^ "Deux restaurants La Belle Province de Montréal condamnés pour fraude fiscale" (in French). Québec: La Presse Canadienne. 15 April 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.[dead link]
- ^ Block, Sheri. Ben Mulroney's Food Tour of Montreal, CTV.ca, April 1, 2008. Accessed August 18, 2008.
