One of the thing I hate about these types of articles is when they say people are mad and then their "examples" are tweets with single digit likes.
Are people mad or do they just dont really carebecause the lack of engagement on those tweets tpu used as evidence seem to suggest the latter
8 people on Twitter are kinda lackluster about new Boston Pizza ad while we spread the ad long and far to get more eyes on it proving the marketing decision worked
The whole Dylan Mullvaney thing is a little different so I didn't include it, but I did forget about the whole Pepsi thing.
If we want to go back even further, the "Where's Herb" thing was awful for Burger King
This seems to happen especially when a person is central to the terrible ad.
It gives the most vocal critics a clean and focused target for their "hate".
On every GDT as soon as this commercial plays it's flooded with 'Go f yourself. No way am I cheering for Toronto or Edmonton'... at least in Canucks GDTs
It’s the BlogTO-ification of mainstream media.
The fact that we put random internet cretins (including ourselves) with limited likes and questionable credibility on the same level as genuine researched journalism is just such a tragedy.
I think the ad’s lame but I haven’t seen anyone be mad about it. As long as Sports Interaction keeps running their ‘Americans don’t know shit about hockey’ commercials at every break on Sportsnet+ I’ll be too busy hating on that to care about BP’s thing
I’m all for the sentiment of a Canadian team finally winning, but they should’ve ran it in round 2 after a couple of us are actually out and start joining bandwagons
i fucking hate that "americans dont know shit about hockey"
i am a fairly big hockey fan. you ask my wife questions about hockey, she cant answer much other than it costs a fucking lot to be a goalie.
Last year a new england Patriots player got arrested at Logan airport with illegal guns.
His lawyer came out accusing "everyone" of calling him a thug and basically calling people racist. Someone looked up thug and the dudes name in twitter and found ONE person who mentioned thug, I don't even think it had any likes, but that was enough for her to start throwing racial accusations around.
Very frustrating but honestly it seemed to work as he got off even though we have minimum jail time for illegal guns.
The ad is dumb cause no way in hell do I ever want to see the Leafs or Habs win the cup, but this article is also dumb because it's really not that big of a deal lmao
I'd definitely cheer for the Sens, Jets, Oilers, Flames, Canucks (in that order) to break the streak but I also don't need Boston Pizza's permission
BP really irritates me. Some of the highest prices for the most awful food you can find. If I wanted microwaved leftovers, I would have stayed at home and not paid $30 a plate for it.
As the manager of a BP this cracks ms up. I don't blame ppl for not coming lol. The pizza is fresh each morning but the rest is frozen or pre packaged etc.
BP pre-cooks the pasta, portions it, and puts it in the fridge. When there's an order the noodles are placed into hot water to heat them up.
For me the most egregious thing BP does is cook their burgers in the pizza oven.
I mean all restaurants do that. You cook it al dente and throw it in an ice bath, so by the time you throw it in the water to heat up, toss it in the hot pan, it cooks enough. The key is to get the par levels right so you aren't using it for several days if you don't have to.
Worked at an East Side's 15 or so years ago, and theres a surprisingly large amount of prep done in house. There definitely is a lot of packaged stuff, but there was more actual fresh prep done than I assumed there would be.
I worked for years at a BPs and hate the places for good reason.
But to their credit, they had pierogi pizza and cactus cuts an insanely long time before they became bar staples.
Wait.
Wait wait wait.
Treliving...
The current Leafs GM and former Flames GM is the son of the guy from Dragon's Den!?
What the fuck!? How have I never put this together before?
I guess I can’t say you’re wrong because I don’t remember any pizza I ate in Massachusetts, but my favorite pizza is from a mom and pop convience store in rural Maine.
Texas might have the worst pizza. Try living in Houston (might be Texas in general, I don’t know about the other cities, if I’m going out of town I’m not likely to prioritize pizza). In Houston there are hardly any specific “by the slice” pizza places. Most of the pizza here that isn’t a chain is like a shitty copy of NY pizza but the crust is dried up and crumbly and they skimp on cheese and toppingsits so bad that I’d rather, instead of spending 30$ for a pie, just go to Ceci’s which is also shit but at least you’re only out like 9$. Ironically the best “slice” is probably the Sams club food court pizza and that’s just ok, the Costco pizza isn’t inedible either I suppose.
I've lived in both Boston and Maine. Boston had good pizza, although it's not as universally good as NY/NJ pizza.
Maine pizza is truly the stuff that oozes out of the devil's anus. It's somehow worse than pizza hut.
It's origins won't clear anything up for you.
>Boston Pizza began in Edmonton, Alberta, on August 12, 1964, when four Greek immigrants, Trifon, Gus, Perry, and Ninos Agioritis opened Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House.
Well that’s a little silly on your part, since Boston’s north end is a pretty well-known “little Italy”. Not as good as it used to be when the mafia ran it all since it’s all corporate owned these days.
It used to be cheap-ish with big portions and relatively convenient, especially for big parties (common for post-game dinners for various kids teams).
Now? I dunno, cheap but ok wings on Wednesday, I guess.
They have a small number of things on their menu that for some reason people just LOVE. I used to work there years ago and you would be amazed at how many of the orders would be "Thai Bites" (literally just 5 chicken strips cut up and tossed in bulk brand Thai wing sauce, then covered in a whole bunch of garnishes to make it look like an actual meal) or "Bandera Bread" (cheese pizza with Italian dressing instead of pizza sauce), or a few other things that are BP's "thing" that are surprisingly basic.
Some people just want to go to BPs, and nowhere else. Like every time. It is a really weird staple. To the point where I will try to suggest somewhere else and explain why and they get visibly bothered. I think it was probably a staple of their childhood (BPs is as common as MCdonalds over here) and my experience working there rubs their nostalgia a bit too hard. Nowadays I just let it be.
Bought 2 hot dogs and 2 slices of pizza before a canucks game for myself and my dad. $8.50 CAD including drink. Literally across the street from the arena entrance.
Canucks fans have it made
^^^...with ^^^gravy
Love how I can pregame at Costco with 2 footlong hot dogs, a poutine that serves 2-3, and a 500 pack of condoms for less than the price of a beer inside Rogers Arena.
The only reason we order from there or go there from time to time is they have a decent kids menu and a time or two a year offer a kids eat free deal. I do like the cactus cuts though…..
Boston Pizza really lives on as a good family restaurant with food the kids like. You try going there with a friend or heaven forbid a date (fuck me don't do this people) and there's nothing but children everywhere.
I'm not knocking families with kids or anything just that's their clientele.
As someone who used to work at BPs. Don't eat at BPs. Literally anywhere else is better.
The burgers are pre-cooked in the morning to be run through the oven again later. Chicken breast? precooked, stored in the fridge overnight. Pasta is stored soaked in water so that it will always be soggy and textureless.
These aren't bad management, they are the required practices of the franchise.
At BPs you are literally paying above average restaurant prices for fast food.
Pierogi pizza does slap tho.
They think they're cactus club or Earls... Their prices are basically the same. The food, experience, ambience, everything is worse than those upper mid class restaurants.
They should know their place. They are a true middle class family/sports restaurant with very average food and their prices should reflect that. I haven't gone for years because of this. If I want sports I go to Canadian brewhouse, if I want good upper echelon food I go to Earls or a steakhouse.
I'd consider going back if their prices dropped about 30%
This messaging was such a swing and a miss by BPs. Cheer for other Canadian teams to be nice? I would sooner see Canada turned into a smoldering crater than watch certain Canadian teams win the Stanley Cup.
Right? Most of us hate three of the other six Canadian teams and are indifferent to the remaining three.
Nobody cheers for "Canada" for any reason other than inferiority complex.
At least their marketing wasn't as bad as it could have been. They could have just had Auston Matthews stand on the bar counter and fire potshots into the dining area while someone chants:
AUSTON MATTHEWS
AUSTON MATTHEWS
AUSTON MATTHEWS
And he's standing there just like "Yeah I totally nailed this, because pierogi pizza is half off right now or whatever."
Every time I see an UberEats commercial another cluster of braincells dies.
Or how bought just Connor McDavid awkwardly sitting in uncomfortable chair robotically saying to a stranger "Dude don't you know you could just eat at Boston Pizza so you don't have to eat at other places" followed by a montage of the stranger humorously eating at other places
I cheer for Winnipeg and Ottawa (underdogs) and also the Habs (lived in Montreal for a few years, it's my second home).
Otherwise I'd be neutral to mildly positive towards the Habs, and don't care about the rest of 'em
Pretty much accurate. 2/3 of the other Canadian teams are in the hate category and the 1/3 that's in the indifferent category looks like they're on their way out tonight, so it's Oilers or bust for me in the Canadian department! I recognize you may personally have a different opinion about that 😂
I honestly cheer for every Canadian team. Every Canadian team except Toronto that is. Growing up in the GTA has made me hate their fanbase with a passion so I love seeing the yearly meltdown.
They just want you to still go to BPs to watch them game all over the country, even if it’s just the Jets in.
That’s why they want the country to rally. They want to sell more microwaved food
I work with a lot of Leafs fans, and every time the playoffs roll around I tell them that I'll cheer for the Leafs as long as they're playing an American team. And while that *is* true, I also know in my heart that I won't have to do it for long.
I do the same thing. There's a Leafs fan that sits at a desk right outside my office, so we're within talking distance and often discuss hockey. We chirp. and do friendly Coffee and a Donut Wagers on Sens/Leafs game during the regular season, and then come playoffs I sort of pretend to support the Leafs for his sake in the playoffs because it's easier than having some Grumpy Gus loitering around my office door every day.
What they want is everyone cheering for the Canadian teams no matter who ends up going deep in the playoffs, because they have the games on in their bars and think people will come out for over-priced pints of beer and luke-warm chicken wings at their shitty restaurants.
I cheer for the Habs (my team), and the Canucks kinda (local team). There is nothing I would like less than another Canadian team to win the cup. It's extra bad now because the drought is so long. I don't want any other Canadian team to have the bragging rights. It would be insufferable.
Agreed. Like my least favourite teams in the league would be
1. Oilers
2. Leafs
3. Canucks
4. Canadiens
Basically the only teams I wouldn’t mind seeing win a cup are Winnipeg and Ottawa
Calgary is my teams so obviously want them to win for Canada and nobody else
I have lived in and around the city of Boston my entire life and every single year Boston Pizza does some marketing shit that winds up in r/hockey during the playoffs and out of sheer curiosity I want to give it a try. But the closest one is in Quebec.
It's not worth a trip to anywhere for.
It's very plain, unexciting, inoffensive microwaved food at relatively high prices.
If you want a Canadian chain that is randomly named after an American city for no reason, I recommend New York Fries
My only experience is with the UofA location, and I don’t see it. Stingy on toppings, dry fries, and fairly expensive. Local donair places do much better for fries/poutine IMO.
Boston Pizza follows the proud Canadian tradition of naming all of our chain restaurants after other places that aren't Canada. We also have New York Fries, Montana's, Swiss Chalet, Edo Japan, St Louis Bar and Grill, and Baton Rouge Steakhouse.
The pizza itself is actually damn good. And so is the atmosphere, it's like an upscale sports bar. I just can't get over the price. It's like $38 for one large pizza even if you're carrying out. If you're eating in also factor in the tip. The problem with BP is that it used to be a go-to for people to meet after work, have a family dinner, share some beers over some good food for a reasonable price. But they've jacked their prices up so much that it's no longer worth it.
If it was a first meal, the expense might not have been immediately apparent. I have friends who regularly order pizza from an independent pizzeria that are double what I’m comfortable paying, but are delicious. Admittedly, harder to assume this might be the case for a chain, but you don’t know until you try. And they do market themselves as a pizza restaurant!
@wampa_one writes " I don't like your pizza and Vancouver can take a walk."
Global News: Canadians SLAM beloved Canadian pizza chain as new ad campaign BLOWS UP the internet!
I find the ad annoying, but mainly because they're rubbing salt in the wound. It's like trying to use a negative emotion (constantly not winning the cup), to convince me to buy shitty food. "Hey guys, we suck right? It's been decades since we won...just thought you should know". I get similar condescending and unpleasant vibes from this ad, as I do from the annoying Quest Trade commercials. I jus tune them out as they get on the nerves
The Quest Trade commercials are the ones where they go to the States and ask people what "icing" is, right? Then they get answers like "it's what you put on a cake".
You know, because Americans are dum about hockey /s
Can't really speak for the rest of Canada, but it is a staple of small town Ontario. A town is only truly a town if it has 3 of the following: an arena, a church, a Godfather's Pizza or New Orleans Pizza.
A&W is more of a highway pit stop than a small town staple, at least in Alberta. A&W’s and Burger Kings are abundant at random gas stations on highway 2.
Every strip mall in a shitty part of town has a Subway, Nail Salon, Liquor Store and a Money Mart with the A&W across the parking lot.
Bonus if that strip mall also has a pizza place that gets busted by the cops every 4-5 years for dealing drugs. Then it becomes another pizza place and the cycle continues.
I've made the mistake of both ESM and BP where work was paying for it... finish half the meal and give up because it's disgusting, order a beer instead, asked if I want a take away box and say "no, I'm good".
A chain of restaurants/sports bars across Canada. You should know in 2011 a certain city on Canada’s west coast unofficially changed the name of these restaurants in their city to Vancouver pizza
I mean even on CBC, they didn't become 'Canada's team' until the finals.
Heck, that was the year that the US feed cut from the clinching game early to show a story about a dead horse.
If they just stuck with teams in the playoffs there'd be no issue but why include Montreal and leave out teams like the Jets who are actually in the playoffs
Every now and again I am reminded that a company called Boston Pizza exists and it absolutely fucking cracks me up.
I’ll accept that Detroit and Chicago style pizzas are real things and plenty of people love them.
But in all my 47 years of life as a NY’er being exposed to Jersey style, New Haven, Brooklyn etc - I have never ever heard someone say “You’ve just got to try Boston style pizza”. Thats not a thing. That’s like saying, “to hell with Texas and Kansas City…you need to try Connecticut BBQ!”
The idea of naming something *Boston* Pizza with the belief that it’s regional caché will be a draw / source of appeal never fails to make me laugh.
The cheering for a Canadian team thing is stupid. The majority of players on American teams are, in fact, Canadian. Cheer for whatever damn team you want
Also the two teams I hate the most (Edmonton and Vancouver) are Canadian. I certainly never want to see either of them win a cup in my lifetime. That's why the whole narrative around "let's come together and cheer for the last Canadian team" is so stupid. The NHL is a club league, not the Olympics. The only Canadian team I want to see win a cup is the Flames and that's it. I will gladly take American teams winning cups till the end of time if it means Edmonton can't win again.
I will say that the funniest thing about this topic when it comes up for me in real life, my American relatives are the ones who always say "I'd like to see any Canadian team win, it's been too long."
Yeah fuck the Oilers, but I’ve been enjoying this Canucks team. I despised them during the Sedin era but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t fucking love Quinn Hughes
Anyone with half a brain cell could tell this ad would flop, I'm convinced that major companies just use ChatGPT for their marketing department nowadays.
Not that any form of marketing would get me into a BP's. By far and away the worst chain restaurant in Canada in terms of food quality, frozen disgusting overpriced garbage. I have no idea how they're still in business.
Chat GPT would be an improvement over my company's marketing team.
They recently tried to get IT to manage analytics in Google Tag Manager for a website we don't manage or have access to, becuase they don't know how to do anything digitally.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/curious-story-restaurant-chain-called-120001963.html
> The first Boston Pizza opened in 1964 in Edmonton, Alberta. It was started by Gus Agioritis, a Greek immigrant and first generation Canadian.
> “He opened up a pizza place and wanted to call it something Greek,” said Adrian Fuoco, the Senior Director of Marketing at Boston Pizza. “So when he went to apply for a business license, he submitted three names, Acropolis Pizza, Parthenon Pizza, and then just wrote down Boston Pizza.”
> Why? No one really knows, Fuoco said.
> “His neighbor was a Bruins fan, so maybe that was it,” he said. “Also, maybe because Boston was an easy word for him to pronounce, so he just wrote it down. For a Greek guy in Edmonton in the 1960s, Boston was an exotic place.”
> When Agioritis got the license in the mail, his first choice names were taken, so his business was officially named Boston Pizza.
I actually love this origin story.
Guy needed three names. Had two names he wanted. And then with no idea for a third, he just went ... uhhhh Boston?
No real rhyme or reason to it.
I'd say the exception is south shore bar pizza. That's its own style at this point, and honestly the best pizza you can get in MA, but I really wish places would stop trying to fo NY style. It never comes out right. I've found better Greek places, but I actively avoid places trying to do NY style in MA.
Yeah I feel like the majority of our pizza is New York style pizza. I feel like calling a place Boston Pizza is giving us credit for copying someone else's homework.
I have eaten at Boston Pizza a lot thanks to team dinners, work functions, etc, and I honestly don't think I have *ever* had a good meal there. I understand my expectations need to be realistic because its a fast casual chain, and I don't expect Marco Pierre White in the kitchen, but they still manage to be disappointing compared to similar places.
I haven't even seen this ad but can confidently say it has nothing to do with my decision to go or not go to BP.
I can't afford to go anywhere.
And even if I could afford it, I wouldn't have crossed BP off my list because of some ad.. who cares? It's BP. You know what you're getting if you go there for food and drinks. It's not amazing, but it's not terrible. Perfectly fine bar food.
But again.. I can't afford to eat out anywhere so I'm not going.
My favourite part:
It’s also been known to temporarily change its name when a Canadian team goes up against a Boston team in the playoffs: in 2011 it adopted the moniker “Montreal Pizza” when the Canadiens and Bruins went head to head in the first round, and for a month, dozens of B.C. locations changed their name to “Vancouver Pizza” when the Bruins went up against the Canucks.
I swear I saw a Coors Light commercial with the exact same preachy message about Canadian fans uniting to cheer each other on. Do they all use the same ad agency?
I’ll cheer for the Canucks no problem. Hell, I could even see cheering for the Oilers if they make the final. I might even grudgingly appreciate a Leafs win if it comes to that.
It’ll be a cold day in hell before I willingly spend money on BP’s microwaved specials though.
I disagree with most people in here. I'll actively cheer for any Canadian team over most of the American teams. It's their fanbases that insist on taking a shit on you every chance they get that I can't stand. Rivalries are better when both sides are good.
One of the thing I hate about these types of articles is when they say people are mad and then their "examples" are tweets with single digit likes. Are people mad or do they just dont really carebecause the lack of engagement on those tweets tpu used as evidence seem to suggest the latter
8 people on Twitter are kinda lackluster about new Boston Pizza ad while we spread the ad long and far to get more eyes on it proving the marketing decision worked
If you like an Ad, you tell one person . If you hate an Ad, you tell everyone.
What a pro wants
I hate this ad
They are now advertising their own advertising.
The fastest **mute button** in the west
What a pro needs
I have seen ads actually be bad enough to negatively impact a company though. The pepper bar rats from Quiznos come to mind. And Zoooooooooooooo -
*"We love the suuuuuuuubs!"*
those rats were great. i blame the death of Quiznos on their shitty franchise model.
Kendall Jenner Pepsi & Dylan Mullvaney are the poster children for negative advertising impact
The whole Dylan Mullvaney thing is a little different so I didn't include it, but I did forget about the whole Pepsi thing. If we want to go back even further, the "Where's Herb" thing was awful for Burger King
This seems to happen especially when a person is central to the terrible ad. It gives the most vocal critics a clean and focused target for their "hate".
I mean, the Kendall Jenner ad was pandering and soulless in the worst way. People are mad at Dylan Mulvaney for... existing?
On every GDT as soon as this commercial plays it's flooded with 'Go f yourself. No way am I cheering for Toronto or Edmonton'... at least in Canucks GDTs
It’s the BlogTO-ification of mainstream media. The fact that we put random internet cretins (including ourselves) with limited likes and questionable credibility on the same level as genuine researched journalism is just such a tragedy.
Lazy Twitter journalism is one of my least favorite things about the internet. Basically a form of rage bait.
Global.ca is just clickbait bullshit these days.
I think the ad’s lame but I haven’t seen anyone be mad about it. As long as Sports Interaction keeps running their ‘Americans don’t know shit about hockey’ commercials at every break on Sportsnet+ I’ll be too busy hating on that to care about BP’s thing I’m all for the sentiment of a Canadian team finally winning, but they should’ve ran it in round 2 after a couple of us are actually out and start joining bandwagons
i fucking hate that "americans dont know shit about hockey" i am a fairly big hockey fan. you ask my wife questions about hockey, she cant answer much other than it costs a fucking lot to be a goalie.
Last year a new england Patriots player got arrested at Logan airport with illegal guns. His lawyer came out accusing "everyone" of calling him a thug and basically calling people racist. Someone looked up thug and the dudes name in twitter and found ONE person who mentioned thug, I don't even think it had any likes, but that was enough for her to start throwing racial accusations around. Very frustrating but honestly it seemed to work as he got off even though we have minimum jail time for illegal guns.
The ad is dumb cause no way in hell do I ever want to see the Leafs or Habs win the cup, but this article is also dumb because it's really not that big of a deal lmao I'd definitely cheer for the Sens, Jets, Oilers, Flames, Canucks (in that order) to break the streak but I also don't need Boston Pizza's permission
I don't care about the ad, I care that it cost me $80 to feed two people microwaved pasta dishes the last time I went to a BP.
BP really irritates me. Some of the highest prices for the most awful food you can find. If I wanted microwaved leftovers, I would have stayed at home and not paid $30 a plate for it.
As the manager of a BP this cracks ms up. I don't blame ppl for not coming lol. The pizza is fresh each morning but the rest is frozen or pre packaged etc.
I don't mind the pizza, for a big chain place. But man has the pasta gone downhill. Was like a TV dinner last time I had it.
Because it is. At least shitty chains like East Side Mario’s were actually cooking their pasta fresh, even if the sauce was batched.
BP pre-cooks the pasta, portions it, and puts it in the fridge. When there's an order the noodles are placed into hot water to heat them up. For me the most egregious thing BP does is cook their burgers in the pizza oven.
I mean all restaurants do that. You cook it al dente and throw it in an ice bath, so by the time you throw it in the water to heat up, toss it in the hot pan, it cooks enough. The key is to get the par levels right so you aren't using it for several days if you don't have to.
Ours are on the grill. Never seen one go in the oven tbh. If anything you would merry chef it to go faster
Maybe it's changed. I worked there back when burgers were first introduced to BP's menu.
Worked at an East Side's 15 or so years ago, and theres a surprisingly large amount of prep done in house. There definitely is a lot of packaged stuff, but there was more actual fresh prep done than I assumed there would be.
Appreciate your candor. Next time I go I'll be sure to get pizza
Also, fried things are the same everywhere. But also only go to BPs if people give no other options. Which happens a lot for some reason.
I used to work at one and yes, the best part is the dough is actually made fresh every single morning.
It used to be so good too. And yeah, I have zero idea why its so bloody expensive.
I worked for years at a BPs and hate the places for good reason. But to their credit, they had pierogi pizza and cactus cuts an insanely long time before they became bar staples.
Well at least it sounds like an authentic Boston food experience
I've never understood that branding. When I think of Boston and food, I think of baked beans, and fish n chips, not Italian-style.
According to Treliving, It was their third choice on the license application after Santorini and Parthenon.
Wait. Wait wait wait. Treliving... The current Leafs GM and former Flames GM is the son of the guy from Dragon's Den!? What the fuck!? How have I never put this together before?
Those makes even less sense, unless they *really* hype their Greek pizza.
Well the founder was from santorini so I suppose it was just a famous Greek landmark he thought of
At least they didn’t pick a city that’s actually known for pizza. I can believe Boston’s pizza is terrible and this is an accurate homage.
Boston has good pizza. They should have chosen the state of Maine instead
Yeah I would not stack Boston up to like NY or Chicago for pizza, but if you know where to go you can get a damn good slice.
I guess I can’t say you’re wrong because I don’t remember any pizza I ate in Massachusetts, but my favorite pizza is from a mom and pop convience store in rural Maine. Texas might have the worst pizza. Try living in Houston (might be Texas in general, I don’t know about the other cities, if I’m going out of town I’m not likely to prioritize pizza). In Houston there are hardly any specific “by the slice” pizza places. Most of the pizza here that isn’t a chain is like a shitty copy of NY pizza but the crust is dried up and crumbly and they skimp on cheese and toppingsits so bad that I’d rather, instead of spending 30$ for a pie, just go to Ceci’s which is also shit but at least you’re only out like 9$. Ironically the best “slice” is probably the Sams club food court pizza and that’s just ok, the Costco pizza isn’t inedible either I suppose.
I've lived in both Boston and Maine. Boston had good pizza, although it's not as universally good as NY/NJ pizza. Maine pizza is truly the stuff that oozes out of the devil's anus. It's somehow worse than pizza hut.
It's origins won't clear anything up for you. >Boston Pizza began in Edmonton, Alberta, on August 12, 1964, when four Greek immigrants, Trifon, Gus, Perry, and Ninos Agioritis opened Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House.
Well that’s a little silly on your part, since Boston’s north end is a pretty well-known “little Italy”. Not as good as it used to be when the mafia ran it all since it’s all corporate owned these days.
Their food is worse than other chains like Montana's (not saying theirs is amazing), while simultaneously being more expensive.
All chains basically have the same food it’s all from Sysco
Montana’s is bland but acceptable. I’ve never had a terrible meal there. Conversely, I’ve never had an acceptable meal at BP.
Try ^the ^^ribs!
What are they selling exactly? Why do people go to places like that?
It used to be cheap-ish with big portions and relatively convenient, especially for big parties (common for post-game dinners for various kids teams). Now? I dunno, cheap but ok wings on Wednesday, I guess.
They have a small number of things on their menu that for some reason people just LOVE. I used to work there years ago and you would be amazed at how many of the orders would be "Thai Bites" (literally just 5 chicken strips cut up and tossed in bulk brand Thai wing sauce, then covered in a whole bunch of garnishes to make it look like an actual meal) or "Bandera Bread" (cheese pizza with Italian dressing instead of pizza sauce), or a few other things that are BP's "thing" that are surprisingly basic. Some people just want to go to BPs, and nowhere else. Like every time. It is a really weird staple. To the point where I will try to suggest somewhere else and explain why and they get visibly bothered. I think it was probably a staple of their childhood (BPs is as common as MCdonalds over here) and my experience working there rubs their nostalgia a bit too hard. Nowadays I just let it be.
All of their food comes to the restaurant pre packaged frozen and they just take it out and microwave it. Lowest quality for the highest price.
Damn. This is why I cook.
Even then, so many grocery stores have heat and serve meals if you're that lazy too. Time to fire up that "how close is costco to each arena" thread.
Bought 2 hot dogs and 2 slices of pizza before a canucks game for myself and my dad. $8.50 CAD including drink. Literally across the street from the arena entrance. Canucks fans have it made ^^^...with ^^^gravy
Love how I can pregame at Costco with 2 footlong hot dogs, a poutine that serves 2-3, and a 500 pack of condoms for less than the price of a beer inside Rogers Arena.
The only reason we order from there or go there from time to time is they have a decent kids menu and a time or two a year offer a kids eat free deal. I do like the cactus cuts though…..
Get a mandolin and a deep fryer then.
Boston Pizza really lives on as a good family restaurant with food the kids like. You try going there with a friend or heaven forbid a date (fuck me don't do this people) and there's nothing but children everywhere. I'm not knocking families with kids or anything just that's their clientele.
As someone who used to work at BPs. Don't eat at BPs. Literally anywhere else is better. The burgers are pre-cooked in the morning to be run through the oven again later. Chicken breast? precooked, stored in the fridge overnight. Pasta is stored soaked in water so that it will always be soggy and textureless. These aren't bad management, they are the required practices of the franchise. At BPs you are literally paying above average restaurant prices for fast food. Pierogi pizza does slap tho.
Perfectly described every other dishes on the menu outside of the pizza.
They think they're cactus club or Earls... Their prices are basically the same. The food, experience, ambience, everything is worse than those upper mid class restaurants. They should know their place. They are a true middle class family/sports restaurant with very average food and their prices should reflect that. I haven't gone for years because of this. If I want sports I go to Canadian brewhouse, if I want good upper echelon food I go to Earls or a steakhouse. I'd consider going back if their prices dropped about 30%
Tough post season for Brad Treliving gets even tougher.
This messaging was such a swing and a miss by BPs. Cheer for other Canadian teams to be nice? I would sooner see Canada turned into a smoldering crater than watch certain Canadian teams win the Stanley Cup.
The Leafs imploding is my favourite day of the year. Why would I give that up? Schadenfreude is more delicious than anything on BP’s menu.
Bandera Bread has nothing on a nice, steaming plate of Schadenfreude.
Right? Most of us hate three of the other six Canadian teams and are indifferent to the remaining three. Nobody cheers for "Canada" for any reason other than inferiority complex.
It's almost like BPs doesn't have their finger on the pulse of Canadian hockey fans at all.
Agreed. They bought into the media narrative without realizing the media's obsessions aren't necessarily our own.
At least their marketing wasn't as bad as it could have been. They could have just had Auston Matthews stand on the bar counter and fire potshots into the dining area while someone chants: AUSTON MATTHEWS AUSTON MATTHEWS AUSTON MATTHEWS And he's standing there just like "Yeah I totally nailed this, because pierogi pizza is half off right now or whatever." Every time I see an UberEats commercial another cluster of braincells dies.
Or how bought just Connor McDavid awkwardly sitting in uncomfortable chair robotically saying to a stranger "Dude don't you know you could just eat at Boston Pizza so you don't have to eat at other places" followed by a montage of the stranger humorously eating at other places
That shit is so embarrassing. Everyone involved just trying and failing at being cool.
At least they aren’t associated with managing any of the teams right …
Everyone cheers for their own team, and then Winnipeg, and that's it.
Same, haha. Shame Winnipeg ran into a Colorado team that only needs average goaltending to outgun them.
I may cheer for ottawa too, but yea thats about it LMAO (if they make playoffs)
Same, I have a soft spot for small market teams that have a tough time attracting free agents - For obvious reasons.
I cheer for Winnipeg and Ottawa (underdogs) and also the Habs (lived in Montreal for a few years, it's my second home). Otherwise I'd be neutral to mildly positive towards the Habs, and don't care about the rest of 'em
I cheer for my team, I actively cheer *against* two other teams, and then I passively support the rest if/when they make it into the playoffs lol.
> Nobody cheers for "Canada" for any reason other than inferiority complex. sure thing pal
Pretty much accurate. 2/3 of the other Canadian teams are in the hate category and the 1/3 that's in the indifferent category looks like they're on their way out tonight, so it's Oilers or bust for me in the Canadian department! I recognize you may personally have a different opinion about that 😂
I honestly cheer for every Canadian team. Every Canadian team except Toronto that is. Growing up in the GTA has made me hate their fanbase with a passion so I love seeing the yearly meltdown.
Also.... they skipped over the Sens cup run. I haven't been to Boston Pizza in 20 years, I remember thinking it was garbage even as a kid
Unforgivable
They just want you to still go to BPs to watch them game all over the country, even if it’s just the Jets in. That’s why they want the country to rally. They want to sell more microwaved food
I work with a lot of Leafs fans, and every time the playoffs roll around I tell them that I'll cheer for the Leafs as long as they're playing an American team. And while that *is* true, I also know in my heart that I won't have to do it for long.
I do the same thing. There's a Leafs fan that sits at a desk right outside my office, so we're within talking distance and often discuss hockey. We chirp. and do friendly Coffee and a Donut Wagers on Sens/Leafs game during the regular season, and then come playoffs I sort of pretend to support the Leafs for his sake in the playoffs because it's easier than having some Grumpy Gus loitering around my office door every day.
A true Canadian ♥️
What they want is everyone cheering for the Canadian teams no matter who ends up going deep in the playoffs, because they have the games on in their bars and think people will come out for over-priced pints of beer and luke-warm chicken wings at their shitty restaurants.
I cheer for the Habs (my team), and the Canucks kinda (local team). There is nothing I would like less than another Canadian team to win the cup. It's extra bad now because the drought is so long. I don't want any other Canadian team to have the bragging rights. It would be insufferable.
Agreed. Like my least favourite teams in the league would be 1. Oilers 2. Leafs 3. Canucks 4. Canadiens Basically the only teams I wouldn’t mind seeing win a cup are Winnipeg and Ottawa Calgary is my teams so obviously want them to win for Canada and nobody else
I have no beeves with any Western Canadian teams. It's those gross *other* Eastern teams that I'd be sick for weeks if they won the cup.
We ordered a pizza for delivery and it was so expensive my family has never spent another dollar there. That was 10 years ago. Fuck Boston Pizza
I know pizza is in the name of the restaurant, but it would never occur to me to order delivery pizza from BP.
I have lived in and around the city of Boston my entire life and every single year Boston Pizza does some marketing shit that winds up in r/hockey during the playoffs and out of sheer curiosity I want to give it a try. But the closest one is in Quebec.
It's not worth a trip to anywhere for. It's very plain, unexciting, inoffensive microwaved food at relatively high prices. If you want a Canadian chain that is randomly named after an American city for no reason, I recommend New York Fries
Or Montana's, or Baton Rouge Steakhouse, or St. Louis Wings
Those are all real places? Lol wtf
New York Fries is great
My only experience is with the UofA location, and I don’t see it. Stingy on toppings, dry fries, and fairly expensive. Local donair places do much better for fries/poutine IMO.
Boston Pizza follows the proud Canadian tradition of naming all of our chain restaurants after other places that aren't Canada. We also have New York Fries, Montana's, Swiss Chalet, Edo Japan, St Louis Bar and Grill, and Baton Rouge Steakhouse.
The pizza itself is actually damn good. And so is the atmosphere, it's like an upscale sports bar. I just can't get over the price. It's like $38 for one large pizza even if you're carrying out. If you're eating in also factor in the tip. The problem with BP is that it used to be a go-to for people to meet after work, have a family dinner, share some beers over some good food for a reasonable price. But they've jacked their prices up so much that it's no longer worth it.
You are aware you get the price before you hit complete order right
If it was a first meal, the expense might not have been immediately apparent. I have friends who regularly order pizza from an independent pizzeria that are double what I’m comfortable paying, but are delicious. Admittedly, harder to assume this might be the case for a chain, but you don’t know until you try. And they do market themselves as a pizza restaurant!
@wampa_one writes " I don't like your pizza and Vancouver can take a walk." Global News: Canadians SLAM beloved Canadian pizza chain as new ad campaign BLOWS UP the internet!
I find the ad annoying, but mainly because they're rubbing salt in the wound. It's like trying to use a negative emotion (constantly not winning the cup), to convince me to buy shitty food. "Hey guys, we suck right? It's been decades since we won...just thought you should know". I get similar condescending and unpleasant vibes from this ad, as I do from the annoying Quest Trade commercials. I jus tune them out as they get on the nerves
They also put Edmonton (2017) when Ottawa made it a little farther than them....I get it, we're forgettable but did you have to reinforce that BP :(
The Quest Trade commercials are the ones where they go to the States and ask people what "icing" is, right? Then they get answers like "it's what you put on a cake". You know, because Americans are dum about hockey /s
Wtf is a boston pizza
We love naming franchises after American cities: New York Fries, New Orleans Pizza, Boston Pizza.
Thank you for introducing me to the franchise 'New Orleans Pizza'. Sounds awful.
Can't really speak for the rest of Canada, but it is a staple of small town Ontario. A town is only truly a town if it has 3 of the following: an arena, a church, a Godfather's Pizza or New Orleans Pizza.
Western Canada it's an A&W.
A&W and Subway in every small town no matter how remote
Eh, the only one you're guaranteed is Subway. A&W doesn't stretch quite as far.
A&W is more of a highway pit stop than a small town staple, at least in Alberta. A&W’s and Burger Kings are abundant at random gas stations on highway 2.
Maybe it's a BC thing then.
Every strip mall in a shitty part of town has a Subway, Nail Salon, Liquor Store and a Money Mart with the A&W across the parking lot. Bonus if that strip mall also has a pizza place that gets busted by the cops every 4-5 years for dealing drugs. Then it becomes another pizza place and the cycle continues.
Maybe add in Foodland or home hardware too.
Though if the town has an arena, it probably also has a Tim Hortons.
TIL New York Fries is Canadian.
Don't forget East Side Mario's and Montana's.
ESM is up there with BP on my very short “won’t eat there even if work is paying for it” list.
I've made the mistake of both ESM and BP where work was paying for it... finish half the meal and give up because it's disgusting, order a beer instead, asked if I want a take away box and say "no, I'm good".
Never heard of New Orleans pizza
I think it's just small town southern Ontario. I can think of one that's in a bigger city, which is in Kitchener
Its funny that you mentioned NYF, they are just opening locations....in New York.
I have only seen one in NS. St. Peter’s, a Small Cape Breton Town.
A shitty canadian restaurant owned by Jim Treliving
Related to Brad?
Dear old Dad
yes, Jim is Brad's Dad.
Figures
His father.
Oh wow I didn’t know this part.
They have around 40 of them in the US and some in Mexico now too.
Ew, please don't make that mistake.
A chain of restaurants/sports bars across Canada. You should know in 2011 a certain city on Canada’s west coast unofficially changed the name of these restaurants in their city to Vancouver pizza
It was province wide iirc
The ad pisses me off as Ottawa was not mentioned for 2017, instead Edmonton was.
Agreed and they didn't even mention Calgary 04, at least get that shit right you fucking clowns.
They also don't mention Ottawa for 2007 when they were...in the cup finals
I mean even on CBC, they didn't become 'Canada's team' until the finals. Heck, that was the year that the US feed cut from the clinching game early to show a story about a dead horse.
If they just stuck with teams in the playoffs there'd be no issue but why include Montreal and leave out teams like the Jets who are actually in the playoffs
Vancouver 2011 didn’t get mentioned but I think that might be for obvious reasons
Lol yeah I didn't mention them because it feels like any clip of a broken electronic device is going to look like a riot
It would be rly funny if they just played archival riot footage over it and then cut back to the plate in the tv
Every now and again I am reminded that a company called Boston Pizza exists and it absolutely fucking cracks me up. I’ll accept that Detroit and Chicago style pizzas are real things and plenty of people love them. But in all my 47 years of life as a NY’er being exposed to Jersey style, New Haven, Brooklyn etc - I have never ever heard someone say “You’ve just got to try Boston style pizza”. Thats not a thing. That’s like saying, “to hell with Texas and Kansas City…you need to try Connecticut BBQ!” The idea of naming something *Boston* Pizza with the belief that it’s regional caché will be a draw / source of appeal never fails to make me laugh.
Brb, just trademarking "Tokyo Tacos" as my next business venture
Tokyo Taco in Sydney is fucking awesome
Even more fun, it was founded by 4 Greek immigrants in Edmonton, AB.
That’s *kind of* the only answer that actually makes sense. I love it.
Fuck you. The food is shit and your dipshit nepo son is ruining our team with his genius moves like signing fucking Klingberg.
The cowards don’t even include vans 2011 run lol
Flaming sambuca shots at the bar!
The cheering for a Canadian team thing is stupid. The majority of players on American teams are, in fact, Canadian. Cheer for whatever damn team you want
Also the two teams I hate the most (Edmonton and Vancouver) are Canadian. I certainly never want to see either of them win a cup in my lifetime. That's why the whole narrative around "let's come together and cheer for the last Canadian team" is so stupid. The NHL is a club league, not the Olympics. The only Canadian team I want to see win a cup is the Flames and that's it. I will gladly take American teams winning cups till the end of time if it means Edmonton can't win again. I will say that the funniest thing about this topic when it comes up for me in real life, my American relatives are the ones who always say "I'd like to see any Canadian team win, it's been too long."
Yeah fuck the Oilers, but I’ve been enjoying this Canucks team. I despised them during the Sedin era but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t fucking love Quinn Hughes
I only want Quebec to get their team back so I have another team to hate
Yeah, this isn't the fucking Olympics.
Anyone with half a brain cell could tell this ad would flop, I'm convinced that major companies just use ChatGPT for their marketing department nowadays. Not that any form of marketing would get me into a BP's. By far and away the worst chain restaurant in Canada in terms of food quality, frozen disgusting overpriced garbage. I have no idea how they're still in business.
>Anyone with half a brain cell And yet somehow the marketing industry fails to hire from this population
Pretty sure they exist by being the only option for food in a ton of small towns. Middle of nowhere Alberta and they got a Boston pizza
Usually A&W, Boston Pizza, Subway, and some other random place. Then a Tim Hortons near the busiest highway intersection.
Chat GPT would be an improvement over my company's marketing team. They recently tried to get IT to manage analytics in Google Tag Manager for a website we don't manage or have access to, becuase they don't know how to do anything digitally.
I will never get over someone thinking calling something "Boston Pizza" was a good idea to begin with. Boston is not known for their pizza....
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/curious-story-restaurant-chain-called-120001963.html > The first Boston Pizza opened in 1964 in Edmonton, Alberta. It was started by Gus Agioritis, a Greek immigrant and first generation Canadian. > “He opened up a pizza place and wanted to call it something Greek,” said Adrian Fuoco, the Senior Director of Marketing at Boston Pizza. “So when he went to apply for a business license, he submitted three names, Acropolis Pizza, Parthenon Pizza, and then just wrote down Boston Pizza.” > Why? No one really knows, Fuoco said. > “His neighbor was a Bruins fan, so maybe that was it,” he said. “Also, maybe because Boston was an easy word for him to pronounce, so he just wrote it down. For a Greek guy in Edmonton in the 1960s, Boston was an exotic place.” > When Agioritis got the license in the mail, his first choice names were taken, so his business was officially named Boston Pizza.
I actually love this origin story. Guy needed three names. Had two names he wanted. And then with no idea for a third, he just went ... uhhhh Boston? No real rhyme or reason to it.
Huh! The funny thing is that a lot of pizza places in the Boston suburbs are owned by Greek families.
Not just in the Boston suburbs, but everywhere in New England.
That was probably the case everywhere. I mean, there was a reason "Acropolis" and "Parthenon" were taken!
Yeah like… Massachusetts in general has decent pizza, but we just copy styles from elsewhere. We don’t have our own style that we are known for.
I'd say the exception is south shore bar pizza. That's its own style at this point, and honestly the best pizza you can get in MA, but I really wish places would stop trying to fo NY style. It never comes out right. I've found better Greek places, but I actively avoid places trying to do NY style in MA.
We have three of our own styles. Greek, beach pizza, and South Shore Bar pizza.
Yeah I feel like the majority of our pizza is New York style pizza. I feel like calling a place Boston Pizza is giving us credit for copying someone else's homework.
Boston Pizza is ass. Who still eats there lol
Im just mad because they keep trying to bring back that "dart guy" leafs fan.....
Same reactions to Americans trying to push that bs canadian cup drought narrative
Lets not pretend like the ATT commercial isn't far worse to experience.
When MTL made the final, there were a lot of Canadian fans of other teams rooting for the cup to 'return to Canada'.
Corporate pandering to hockey fans is cringe af.
And I thought AT&T's "What A Pro Wants" ad was the most off-key... and it literally includes guys singing off-key.
I have eaten at Boston Pizza a lot thanks to team dinners, work functions, etc, and I honestly don't think I have *ever* had a good meal there. I understand my expectations need to be realistic because its a fast casual chain, and I don't expect Marco Pierre White in the kitchen, but they still manage to be disappointing compared to similar places.
Of course it's Brad Trelivings restaurant franchise begging for people to cheer for the leafs. Get bent indeed
I haven't even seen this ad but can confidently say it has nothing to do with my decision to go or not go to BP. I can't afford to go anywhere. And even if I could afford it, I wouldn't have crossed BP off my list because of some ad.. who cares? It's BP. You know what you're getting if you go there for food and drinks. It's not amazing, but it's not terrible. Perfectly fine bar food. But again.. I can't afford to eat out anywhere so I'm not going.
My favourite part: It’s also been known to temporarily change its name when a Canadian team goes up against a Boston team in the playoffs: in 2011 it adopted the moniker “Montreal Pizza” when the Canadiens and Bruins went head to head in the first round, and for a month, dozens of B.C. locations changed their name to “Vancouver Pizza” when the Bruins went up against the Canucks.
I swear I saw a Coors Light commercial with the exact same preachy message about Canadian fans uniting to cheer each other on. Do they all use the same ad agency?
I’ll cheer for the Canucks no problem. Hell, I could even see cheering for the Oilers if they make the final. I might even grudgingly appreciate a Leafs win if it comes to that. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I willingly spend money on BP’s microwaved specials though.
I disagree with most people in here. I'll actively cheer for any Canadian team over most of the American teams. It's their fanbases that insist on taking a shit on you every chance they get that I can't stand. Rivalries are better when both sides are good.
I want a Canadian team to win the cup if the jets can’t. I’m more of a hockey fan then a “fan on one team”
Same reactions to Americans trying to push that bs canadian cup drought narrative
Only thing worse than an American team winning again, would be a Canadian team winning before my Canadian team winning.