St-Hubert
Encyclopedia
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
. St-Hubert once had a presence throughout eastern Canada, but it now has few locations outside its home province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, where it remains a dominant chain. Other locations are found in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Cornwall
Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada and the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario. Cornwall is Ontario's easternmost city, located on the St...
, and Moncton. St-Hubert is the 16th largest restaurant chain operating in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
History
The first restaurant opened in 1951 on Saint-Hubert street in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, just south of Beaubien street. This branch doesn't still operates today but there is a St-Hubert location on the same street in the form of a St-Hubert Express take-out
Take-out
Take-out or takeout , carry-out , take-away , parcel , or tapau , is food purchased at a...
restaurant. The company website claims its free home delivery was a first in Canada.
By the 1970s, St-Hubert had become the major restaurant chain it is today.
The original St-Hubert Chicken mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
was created and designed by Disney animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
Jack Dunham
Jack Dunham
Jack Dunham was an American animator and television producer who worked for Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walter Lantz Productions during his career. Dunham was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, on September 19, 1910....
. Dunham also produced St-Hubert's first television commercials. However the current St-Hubert mascot, which has been in use since the second half of the 1970s, was not created by Dunham.
St. Hubert also opened a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
in the 70s with the fleeting generation of Canadians who spent their vacations in Southern Florida. The restaurant was also known for being able to serve its customers in French, as most of the clients were French and motivated the employers to seek French-speaking employees. The location closed down sometime in the 1990s.
A longtime purveyor in Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
products, St-Hubert switched to Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
products in the early 2000s.
As of May 2, 2005, the company voluntarily adopted a smoke-free policy at all their locations.
Operations
Mutually exclusive
In layman's terms, two events are mutually exclusive if they cannot occur at the same time. An example is tossing a coin once, which can result in either heads or tails, but not both....
with the similar Swiss Chalet
Swiss Chalet
Swiss Chalet is a Canadian chain of casual dining restaurants founded in 1954 in Toronto. As of 2008, there are over 200 Swiss Chalet restaurants in Canada and the United States. Swiss Chalet is among the holdings of Cara Operations, which also owns the fast food chain Harvey's. Swiss Chalet and...
chain, which exited the Quebec market in the early 2000s, although there is no formal agreement between the two. Following the closure or rebranding (as independent restaurants) of the chain's remaining Toronto area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
locations over the past few years, the chains now only overlap in the Ottawa area, and in Moncton, New Brunswick. A location in St. John's, Newfoundland also existed, but was closed around the late 1980s-early 1990s. However, in a 2007 interview with La Presse
La Presse
La Presse can refer to*La Presse *La Presse *La Presse...
, St-Hubert CEO Jean-Pierre Léger suggested that the company was considering re-entering other eastern Canadian markets. In January 2011, St-Hubert announced that their expansion plans included the opening of three Toronto area locations of their St-Hubert Express concept. They are also considering entering markets outside Canada.
St-Hubert currently operates 80 full-service restaurants, as well as 17 St-Hubert Express locations, which are closer in style to fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
restaurants. The bright yellow cars delivering food carry the slogan: "Putt-Putt Ding-Ding".
Pierre Bouvier, frontman of Simple Plan, also worked at St-Hubert as a cook for a period of time.
St-Hubert also markets their own brand of gravy
Gravy
Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
which is available in supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s in Quebec, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
in canned or powder form.