THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF CANADA'S WEIRDEST FAST-FOOD FRANCHISE
Maclean's|July 2023
How a failed McDonald’s knock-off became a fast-food success for generations of Lebanese-Canadian immigrants in Alberta
Omar Mouallem
THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF CANADA'S WEIRDEST FAST-FOOD FRANCHISE

IF YOU DIDN'T GROW UP in Alberta, you've probably never heard of Burger Baron. It's a fast-food chain in only the loosest terms, with a menu that varies wildly from location to location. The branding? There is none in the traditional corporate sense, except for the words "Burger Baron" in each restaurant's name. Some franchisees have pluralized it (Burger Barons), others eponymized it (Kelly's Burger Baron) and others embellished it (Burger Baron Pizza & Steak).

There have been nearly as many logos as locations-some, but not all, are reinterpretations of the original logo, a colourful little knight with crusader crosses on his shield. The menus, meanwhile, can run practically as long as a Chinese restaurant's. Some of the Barons have actually sold Chinese food, or Greek, or Italian, or Indigenous-inspired bannock burgers. The only guarantees are two burger recipes: the flagship Baron and the mushroom burger, their presence assured thanks to their cultish popularity with Albertans. The mushroom burger-a curiously soupy sandwich that looks and tastes like Campbell's cream of mushroom-is especially beloved.

There's one other guarantee: almost every single franchisee hails from a Lebanese family like mine. I was made a baronet as an infant, when my parents, Ahmed and Tamam Mouallem, moved from Slave Lake, Alberta, to the even smaller town of High Prairie, four hours northwest of Edmonton, to open their franchise. They were shrewd Lebanese who had left their country, once the Middle East's capital of commerce, before it was destabilized by ethnic cleansing and sectarian violence. My dad's uncle, living in Slave Lake, sponsored his arrival in Canada in 1971, when Lebanon was teetering on the edge of civil war. By the time my dad returned home to find a bride in his hometown near the Syrian border, "Beirut" had already become synonymous with urban ruin.

Esta historia es de la edición July 2023 de Maclean's.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición July 2023 de Maclean's.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE MACLEAN'SVer todo
So You've Been Hacked - A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back
Maclean's

So You've Been Hacked - A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back

A new generation of ultra-sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting governments, corporations, hospitals and libraries and laying bare how ill-equipped Canada is to fight back.On a July morning in 2022, Brad Hynes, the IT manager for the town of St. Mary's in southwestern Ontario, was backing up the town's computer systems when things went haywire. File names became unintelligible strings of characters. Desktop icons went blank. File after file was impossible to open, a string of digital duds. The background wallpaper on Hynes's screen disappeared, replaced by the red-and-black logo of a Russian ransomware gang called LockBit. A line of all-caps text appeared: All your important files are stolen and encrypted!

time-read
10+ minutos  |
September 2024
Bill of Health - I spent years with excruciating hip pain, languishing in Canada's health-care queue. I finally paid for private surgery-in Lithuania.
Maclean's

Bill of Health - I spent years with excruciating hip pain, languishing in Canada's health-care queue. I finally paid for private surgery-in Lithuania.

My hip pain started around 2015, when I was in my mid-30s. It began as stiffness, then the odd pinch or tweak. I live with my wife, Barbara, and our three kids on an acreage in Sturgeon County, Alberta, where we raise a handful of cows and some chickens. Our lives are very active. I'm also a maintenance supervisor at a nearby provincial park. That's a physical job, too-overseeing buildings, outhouses and campsites. I'm not exactly used to sitting still, so when my hip started to hurt, I pushed through it. I figured it was something minor and did some extra stretches. Instead, it got worse.

time-read
7 minutos  |
September 2024
Green Scene - Montreal's Théâtre de Verdure stages plays and musical performances against a naturally beautiful backdrop
Maclean's

Green Scene - Montreal's Théâtre de Verdure stages plays and musical performances against a naturally beautiful backdrop

Théâtre de Verdure is a setting straight out of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: a thespian's paradise in the middle of a lush woodland. Since 1956, the open-air stage has occupied an island in the middle of Montreal's Parc La Fontaine, exposing park-goers to regular, accessible (read: free) and dazzling productions.

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 2024
Log Off To Find Love - Apps have gamified meeting and mating-and affected our social skills for the worse. The real future of dating is offline.
Maclean's

Log Off To Find Love - Apps have gamified meeting and mating-and affected our social skills for the worse. The real future of dating is offline.

In 2017, after being single for a few years, I wanted to get back into the dating game. I was newly sober at the time, so I wasn’t super-confident about venturing into my local bar scene in London, Ontario. Instead, I leapt into the world of digital dating via Bumble, which, back then, required women to send the first message. I thought, That’s feminist. I’m a feminist. Let’s try it! My first few months online provided me with an emotionally exhausting education.

time-read
5 minutos  |
September 2024
"I escaped Gaza and sent my family to Egypt. Now, my goal is to reunite with them in Canada."
Maclean's

"I escaped Gaza and sent my family to Egypt. Now, my goal is to reunite with them in Canada."

Bombs destroyed my neighbourhood and killed my loved ones. I hope my family and I can find refuge in Quebec.

time-read
3 minutos  |
October 2024
TIDAL WAVE
Maclean's

TIDAL WAVE

Susan Lapides chronicles her family's summers in a tiny New Brunswick fishing town

time-read
2 minutos  |
October 2024
THE NORTHERN FRONT
Maclean's

THE NORTHERN FRONT

In Ontario's hinterlands, a battle is brewing between First Nations, prospectors and the provincial government over a multi-billion-dollar motherlode of metals. Inside the fight for the Ring of Fire.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
October 2024
THE CULTURE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM
Maclean's

THE CULTURE WAR IN THE CLASSROOM

Several provincial governments now mandate parental consent for kids to change pronouns in Schools. Who gets to decide a child's gender?

time-read
10+ minutos  |
October 2024
THE JACKPOT GENERATION
Maclean's

THE JACKPOT GENERATION

Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
October 2024
My Child-Free Choice
Maclean's

My Child-Free Choice

For a long time, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to become a parent. The climate crisis clinched my decision.

time-read
5 minutos  |
October 2024