There’s a strange new advertising trend in Vancouver recently. Top echelon celebrity restauranteurs like John Bishop and Iron Chef winner Rob Feenie, who already have to worry about over exposing themselves on television, are now are appearing in TV ads espousing the accolades of White Spot‘s burgers and fries. They’re even selling their cookbooks at White Spot locations! This just doesn’t seem to make sense. Why would gourmet chefs of that stature risk it all by endorsing the burger joint across the street? Don’t they think this is rather “off brand” and a risky move for a quick paycheck? It makes one wonder what grand strategy these gastronomic entrepreneurs are employing or if they are getting caught up in their own celebrity status? Aren’t there more important things back in their own kitchens to worry about rather than how fresh the food is at a notoriously mediocre burger joint? Mind you, White Spot’s Double Double burger with Triple “O” Sauce is really quite yummy.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the unbelievably terrible advertisements that Feenie has run for his restaurants on the back of local buses. I’ll leave that for others to rant over.
Posted by Mark Busse
Tags: Advertising, Branding, Food, Marketing
Ben Garfinkel (August 10th, 2005)
The mushroom burger is also really quite delicious!
anonymous J (November 3rd, 2005)
THANK YOU. thank you thank you thank you for posting that.
kevin Hillman (March 23rd, 2006)
Can anyone tell me what the ingrediants are for the White Spot Triple O Sauce is?
Please email me.
kevin.hillman@shaw.ca
jenkins (January 26th, 2008)
Check out http://www.hoyummy.com/2007/07/30/the-secret-recipe-to-the-white-spot-triple-o-sauce/ for a guess of what the triple O sauce is.
Wyllie (October 18th, 2008)
For over twenty years (1950′s – 70′s) you could order a White Spot Cheese Burger from any of their locations and it would always be the same. Then and until now you really can’t count on it being the same. Even at one time White Spot took their burgers off of their menus. When asked why, their response at head office was that their customers demanded a better menu choice. It didn’t take long for them to return burgers to the menus again. They upset their followers and heard about it so much White Spot tried to capitalize on the out-cry and sold small franchises everywhere. People should not be making these burger if they don’t know what it was originally like, especially the B.C. Ferries cooks. Most people are too young to know how the original burgers are made and how they are support to really taste these days. I think that the original preparation and selection of ingredients have been lost forever and that includes the original pickle, toasted bun, cheese, meat and especially the Triple ‘O’ Sauce. Long gone are the motorized bun toasters and the precision assembly lines. Now a young adult needs to look at pictures to see how the burger is support to look rather than paying attention to the taste and traditions of the original. If you are over 60 years old and grew up less than a block away from a White Spot Drive-In or Restaurant and have a different opinion I would like to hear your opinions. And if you know of a place that still serves a White Spot burger the way it was meant to be served I would like know. I just don’t like paying over and over again trying to re-live the memory of a great burger that has been lost.
Steve (December 3rd, 2009)
In the 70′s it was on 4th around kits beach but did have on on vancouver island at the original place where it all started and it tasted really good. As you say most the taste has really been lost and you just have to have the tart sogy pickel.
kelly (June 6th, 2010)
Every once in awhile I get the craving for the “old” White Spot burger, always forgetting that they are just not the same as in the old days. I guess I’m always expecting a miracle but every single time I end up disappointed. As a kid growing up in the 60′s & 70′s, I loved WS burgers so much that I found it hard to go away from BC on vacations knowing I would be so far away from WS! I can’t put my finger on exactly what is different, but they are just not the same. I just now finished an “original” cheeseburger combo & I think it will be a long time before I fall for it again. Sad really.
Pat (July 17th, 2011)
I agree with Kelly. I fondly remember the original WS hamburgers from the early 60′s on. They were so unbelievably simple and absolutely the best. I frequently pass by WS in recent years because the hamburgers are really just not anywhere close to the original. So very sad.