Boston Pizza, New York Fries: Tariff war tests Canadian companies with U.S. names

A closed Boston Pizza restaurant is shown in Oakville, Ont., Saturday, Feb.25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Richard Buchan

TORONTO — Canada’s tariff war with the U.S. has many homegrown companies hoping customers remember there’s more to them than their names.

Despite branding themselves with nods to the U.S., Boston Pizza, New York Fries, Montana’s, California Sandwiches and The Great American Backrub are all Canadian and have been working to ensure the public doesn’t forget.

“Not going to lie, we’ve had to do a little bit of pivoting,” said Alyssa Berenstein, senior director of marketing at Vaughan, Ont.-headquartered New York Fries.

“We’ve had to do a little bit of answering questions to consumers who may or may not understand the fact that we are wholeheartedly a Canadian brand owned by a Canadian company.”

That work is being taken on across a slew of Canadian companies with U.S. names, who have found the tariff war U.S. President Donald Trump is waging is putting consumer knowledge of their brands’ ownership and heritage to the test.

While they insist their monikers aren’t in need of changing because they’ve been able to cut through any confusion and aren’t seeing their sales slump, they’re relishing any opportunity they get to share where their allegiances lie.

At The Great American Backrub’s two Toronto locations, patriotism comes in the form of signs advertising that the business is Canadian.

“I thought about ... putting a big red ribbon across American, but I didn’t think the landlords would like that too much,” owner Nazir Lalani said.

His massage parlour business started as a franchise of a U.S. company about 25 years ago but hasn’t had ties to the master franchisor for about 20 years. The franchisor has folded, but Lalani didn’t change the name because he wanted to hang onto the brand awareness he built under name.

He recently retitled the company’s website The Backrub but insists that was a branding “experiment” that had nothing to do with Trump or customer confusion and won’t extend to stores, even now that the U.S. has become unpalatable.

“I’m reluctant because ... this guy’s a yo-yo,” Lalani said referencing Trump. “This whole thing could disappear in a month.”

By sticking with The Great American Backrub name for the physical stores, Lalani estimates he’s saving thousands. New, permanent signage for stores would cost him $10,000 and a switch would require new contracts and marketing materials.

Customers don’t seem bothered by the name either. In fact, sales have risen since the Canadian signs went up, Lalani said.

Boston Pizza also hasn’t taken a hit because of its American name.

“The majority of Canadians know that we are Canadian, so it’s not as big of an issue for us, and we haven’t seen a negative impact on business, luckily,” said James Kawalecki, Boston Pizza’s vice-president of marketing.

“But we absolutely do feel for others (because) that wasn’t always the case.”

The pizza chain was founded in Edmonton in 1964 by Greek sailor Gus Agioritis, who wanted to visit Boston but started a restaurant with the city’s name instead.

The chain’s history has become more well-known in recent years because of “Dragon’s Den” appearances by Jim Treliving, an RCMP officer who opened his first Boston Pizza franchise in 1968 and charted the company’s modern success.

Kawalecki also credits a recent “This Hour has 22 Minutes” sketch on how to buy Canadian and the move to back local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic with dispelling any misnomers about the brand’s origins.

Sharing a company’s story is always important but has become even more crucial these days as shoppers look to support domestic brands and U.S. companies play up their Canadian ties to try to hold onto sales, said Jo-Ann McArthur, president at Toronto advertising agency Nourish Food Marketing.

“We (in the industry) all assume consumers have the same amount of knowledge as we do, but they don’t,” she said.

“There’s so much confusion right now out there, too. Consumers are really distrustful with this whole maple washing of products of Canada and made in Canada.”

Rather than resorting to a hasty and expensive name change that would erase brand awareness, she said the best strategy for Canadian companies with American names is clever marketing

That’s what Montana’s BBQ & Bar, which first opened in Oakville, Ont., in 1995, is doing, chief operating officer Mark Sozanski said.

The company is posting on social media that it is comprised of locally owned and operated locations overseen by Recipe Unlimited, a restaurant conglomerate based in Vaughan, Ont.

New York Fries, which became Canadian owned after an Ontario entrepreneur transplanted the chip shop’s concept from New York City’s South Street Seaport in the 1980s, is also under the Recipe Unlimited banner and relying on new marketing to make its history clear.

It’s not considering a name change — so far.

“I don’t think we’re going to reverse course yet, but stranger things have happened, I suppose,” Berenstein said.

The refrain is much the same at California Sandwiches, a chain of quick-serve restaurants that has sold Italian panini to Torontonians since 1967.

“We’ve been around a long time. We can’t just change our name,” president Mary Bernaudo said.

“But I’ll tell you this, we’ve had conversations. If things get really bad, then, we will do whatever is best for our country.”

The family-owned company started by Bernaudo’s parents has cycled through many names. It began as Mama Cristina’s and was once called La Rinacente, but became California Sandwiches after customers started teasing the family when its members came back from vacation tanned.

Across the company’s 16 restaurants, Bernaudo has only heard of one customer who suggested it was time for California Sandwiches to change its name again.

“My customers are very verbal,” said Bernaudo. “Trust me. If they’re not happy with the situation, they’ll let you know.”

So far, the little they’ve said has given her confidence to forge ahead with California Sandwiches but that’s not set in stone.

“We’re open to anything,” she said. “If we had to (change our name) to stand behind our country, after having the same name for all these years, it’s on the table.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2025.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press