Last Thursday a group of journalists learned more about restaurant beef promotions. As part of a tour organized jointly by Alberta Milk and Alberta Beef Producers, several media types heard Chris Svensson of Cara talk about Montana’s Cookhouse restaurants.
Cara, a Canadian company based in Vaughan, Ont., owns Montana’s, Harvey’s, Kelsey’s, Swiss Chalet Rotisserie & Grill, Milestones Grill & Bar and Coza Tuscan Grill restaurants.
But back up for a moment: Montana’s is Canadian? There is something odd about that. A restaurant that shares a name with an American state doesn’t exactly stand up and salute Canadian nationalism. What gives?
I asked Svensson about this apparent anomaly but he couldn’t enlighten me about the origins of the name. Upon calling the Montana’s guest services number, Justin couldn’t answer the question either. And a call to the Cara head office led to a series of telephone recordings that eventually arrived back at the beginning of the process without involving an actual human.
The Cara website indicates the company bought the Montana’s Cookhouse and Kelsey’s International chain between 1999 and 2002, so quite possibly Cara had nothing at all to do with the name selection.
The mystery remains, for the moment.
Notwithstanding this confusion, journalists did learn that Montana’s has a major steak promotion underway. The Canada Beef logo is prominent in its menus and in Alberta outlets, Alberta AAA beef is also mentioned.
Read Also
Invigor Gold variety viewed as threat to condiment mustard
Invigor Gold, the canola-quality mustard developed by BASF, is on a collision course with Canada’s condiment mustard industry. It’s difficult to see how the two can co-exist.
This appears to be one of the first restaurant promotions featuring the Canada Beef logo. As cattle producers are aware, Canada Beef is the new organization formed through amalgamation earlier this year of the Beef Information Centre, Canada Beef Export Federation and the Canadian Beef Cattle Research, Market Development and Promotion Agency.
As for Cara, a major player in the Canadian restaurant picture, it began as a news agency, the Canadian Railway News Company, which sold newspapers to the railway and ship travelling public. Over time it increased its food services to include airline service and eventually restaurants. According to the Cara website, the company now has annual revenues of about $2 billion.
It’s good to know that Canadian beef plays a part in it all.
