- La Belle Province (restaurant)
La Belle Province (French for "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. Each location is independently franchised; some are open 24 hours a day.History
Founder
Peter Kivitos , a native ofGreece , opened the first La Belle Province onSherbrooke Street East in 1970. He took the name with permission from a restaurant onSaint 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. [cite news|title=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|publisher=The Gazette|author=Delean, Mark|date=1997-03-24|pages=C8]Kivitos' 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. [cite news|title=$3 million worth of hot dogs: String of bankruptcies an all-dressed fiasco for taxpayers|publisher=The Gazette|author=MACDONELL, ROD and CLARK, CAMPBELL|date=1993-03-01|pages=A1]
Menu
La Belle Province serves breakfast and lunch, including items such as
poutine ,club sandwich es,hamburgers ,Montreal hot dog s [Block, Sheri. [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/20080318/CI6_Ben_Food_080318/20080401/?hub=IdolScoop&subhub=PrintStory Ben Mulroney's Food Tour of Montreal] , "CTV.ca",April 1 ,2008 . AccessedAugust 18 ,2008 .] , smoked meat sandwiches, andsouvlaki .Reason for the various names
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. 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. Notable knock-offs include Belle Province II, La Plus Belle Province, La Belle Quebecoise and La Très Belle Province.
References
ee also
*
Dic Ann's Hamburgers
*Lafleur Restaurants
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