Toronto restaurant offers Bo Bichette free steak for life if he re-signs with Blue Jays

Tony Chapman discusses the week’s top brand news, including Canadian companies connecting with the winter games, and Animl offering Bo Bichette ‘steak for life.

One Toronto steakhouse is offering Bo Bichette a deal that he can, hopefully, sink his teeth into—should he re-sign with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Animl Steakhouse, located on King West, has offered the 27-year-old the juicy deal of having free steak for life at their restaurant should he choose to continue to sport blue and white with the Blue Jays.

In the online letter, complete with its own virtual wax seal of a cow, the steakhouse addresses the shortstop before starting off with how well Toronto suits Bichette—“much like a perfectly cooked steak.”

“No negotiations. No fine print. Just a standing reservation at our table,” the letter reads. “Stay in Toronto. We’ll handle dinner, you bring home the hardware.”

‘It might tip the scale a little bit’

Speaking to CTV News Toronto in an interview, Charles Khabouth, CEO of INK Entertainment which owns Animl, says they wanted to bring this to Bichette as he has visited the steakhouse a few times with his wife.

“He’s really been one of the nicest people, a great gentleman with his wife and he stated in an interview that Animl was his favourite steakhouse in the city,” Khabouth said. “When I found out that he was looking at possibly signing with another team, I’m like, ‘Hey, listen, if we can add a couple of more points to make it more interesting to him and his wife and his fans.’”

Khabouth said every time Bichette has eaten at his restaurant, he has been a pleasure to serve.

“We put together this offer and we really mean it … he loves steak, so a perfect client, perfect host, perfect guest,” he said. “It might tip the scale a little bit. I think it’s not so much the steak as much as now he sees the amount of excitement from people in the city that want to him to stay here.”

Khabouth said that offer would still stand should Bichette return to the Blue Jays and head to a different team afterwards.

“He’ll get tired of steak before we stop doing this for him,” Khabouth said.

Bichette, a two-time All-Star, is a free agent for the first time in his career and is considered to be one of the premier picks available this winter, alongside outfielders Kyle Tucker and Kyle Schwarber.

The Blue Jays just signed Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto to a four-year US$60-million contract over the weekend. Before signing to the MLB, the 29-year-old infielder played with the Yomiuri Giants in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB) and has been named an All-Star six times since 2015.

When asked about Bichette’s future with the Blue Jays on Wednesday, General Manager Ross Atkins did not offer new details, saying: “All the things that I said previously: if there’s an opportunity for us to think about improving the organization, we’re going to lean into creative ways to do so.”

Remember Ka’Wine and Dine?

This not the first time restaurants tried charming their favourite athletes to stay in Toronto with the promise of a lifetime supply of free meals.

On the heels of the Toronto Raptors historic NBA Championship win in 2019, Kawhi Leonard’s fate with the team was in limbo. Leonard, who played a pivotal role in bringing the Raptors to victory, was a premier free agent and at least nine restaurants throughout the city tried to lure him back to Toronto with a Ka’Wine and Dine campaign.

Ultimately, Leonard signed a now-contentious contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. Leonard joined the L.A. franchise in 2019, then signed extensions in 2021 for a reported four-year, $176 million deal, before signing again with the team in 2024.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Phil Tsekouras