Lived in Montreal all of my adult life... need advice?

berrylew wrote:

I may need your help one day.
Bee...

Planning a trip to Montreal? I have a web link to help you get your visitor's visa for Canada.

K..s

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

Dunkin Donuts is to donuts what cardboard and government cheese is to pizza.

Not in Montreal;

Dunkin' Donuts (DD) used to have the lion's share of the donut business in Canada. Then DD became complacent with the Canadian end of business. During that time an ex-hockey player Tim Horton's(TH)little biz got new investors and real money and the new owners of TH launched a huge campaign and ripped DD a new donut hole.
Canadian franchise owners of DD cried out for help. DD wasn't advertising, wasn't promoting their products. No new products had been sent their way. It had been years since DD paid any kind of attention to their Canadian franchises. By the time DD woke-up and smelled the burnt coffee they were completely over run by TH.
A small company named Coffee Time tried to recuperate all of the ex DD restaurants and re-open them under the new name. It floundered along for a few years and they've also turned to icing sugar and blew away one winter.
TH is the king of donuts in Canada at the moment. Nothing comes close to it anymore. People walk in and use catch phrases such as "a double-double" to which is so well known it's used in other coffee shops around the country.

When it comes to cheese on pizza in Montreal it's not government cheese, it's mafia cheese.
The now international company Saputo had it's beginings like any other small business in Montreal. Grandpa Saputo used to make cheese at home and delivered it on his bike in the early 1900s. A typical Italian immigrant Saputo did what it took to make a living. He sold cheese to local retaurants and families. Slowly his cheese became more and more popular and business grew. His sons however felt that business could be much better. They began muscling restaurant owners to buy more cheese than they needed. Pizza restaurants were forced to buy more cheese they needed. The restaurant owners came to the conclusion in order to not throw away the cheese they started adding more to the pizzas. As it turns out Montrealers loved the tons of melted cheese on they're pizzas. Business grew for the pizza restaurants and pizza became a staple for many people. As well the Saputo family became the wealthiest family in Montreal and still rank as the richest families in Montreal. Their home is compound resembling a fortress with high concrete wall, high tech security and so forth. But, since those mafia like days the Saputo company is truly runned like a business today and they sponsor all sorts of sporting events such as soccor (football for our Euro and Asian friends), not just the local international team but minor leagues as well.