The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams. It is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world.
Subway IP LLC, doing business as Subway, is an American multinational fast food restaurant franchise that specializes in submarine sandwiches (subs), wraps, salads, and drinks. Subway was founded by Fred DeLuca and financed by Peter Buck in 1965 as Pete's Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After several name changes in the beginning years, it was finally renamed Subway in 1972, and a franchise operation began in 1974 with a second restaurant in Wallingford, Connecticut. Since then it has expanded to become a global franchise.
Tim Hortons Inc., commonly nicknamed Tim's or Timmie's, is a multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain based in Canada with headquarters in Toronto; it serves coffee, donuts, sandwiches, and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service restaurant chain, with 5,701 restaurants in 13 countries, as of September 2023.
Quiz Holdings, LLC, doing business as Quiznos, is an American franchised fast-food restaurant based in Denver that specializes in offering toasted submarine sandwiches. It was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lambatos and sold to Rick and Richard Schaden ten years later. It then grew to nearly 5,000 restaurants; by 2013, Quiznos was the second-largest submarine sandwich shop chain in North America, behind Subway. It filed for bankruptcy in 2014; by 2016, it had dropped to ninth place, and the number of Quiznos locations in the United States fell from a 2007 high of 4,700 to just 400 a decade later.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company has 14,302 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Japan, China, and Indonesia. The company operates its corporate stores mainly under the Couche-Tard, Circle K, and On the Run brands but also under the affiliated brands Mac's Convenience Stores, go!, 7-jours, Dairy/Daisy Mart, Becker's and Winks.
International Dairy Queen, Inc. (DQ) is an American multinational fast food chain founded in 1940. It is currently headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota. The first Dairy Queen was owned and operated by Sherb Noble and first opened on June 22, 1940, in Joliet, Illinois. It serves a variety of hot and fried food, as well as original frozen dairy products that vary from location to location.
IGA, Inc., is an Australian/American voluntary chain of grocery stores that operates in more than 41 countries. Unlike the chain store business model, IGA operates as a franchise through stores that are owned separately from the brand. Many of these stores operate in small-town markets and belong to families that manage them. It was founded in the United States as the Independent Grocers Alliance in 1926. The headquarters is in Chicago, Illinois.
Pita Pit is a Canadian quick-service restaurant franchise serving pita sandwiches with fresh vegetables, grilled meat and sauces. Its Canadian and global headquarters are in Kingston, Ontario. Its United States headquarters are in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. As of September 2021, it is owned by Foodtastic.
Potbelly Corporation, more commonly known as Potbelly Sandwich Shop or Potbelly Sandwich Works, is a publicly traded American fast-casual restaurant chain that focuses on submarine sandwiches and milkshakes. Potbelly was founded in 1977 in Chicago, and its name refers to the potbelly stove. Potbelly's menu features a variety of sandwiches that are all served hot, and the menu includes soup, shakes, smoothies, potato chips and cookies. Some locations formerly presented live music from local musicians during the lunch hours.
Orange Julius is an American chain of beverage stores, known for a frothy fruit drink also called an Orange Julius. The chain has been in business since the late 1920s. The signature beverage is a mixture of ice, orange juice, sweetener, milk, powdered egg whites and vanilla flavoring. Most stores are located inside shopping malls.
The Katz Group of Companies is a Canadian privately-owned enterprise, with operations in sports and entertainment and real estate development. Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), a subsidiary of the Katz Group, owns the National Hockey League five-time Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers, as well as professional hockey franchises in the American Hockey League, Western Hockey League, and ECHL, and Aquila Productions, an entertainment and event company. OEG operates Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton. Katz Group is also involved in land assembly, site, and building development in Canada and the United States, including the design and development of Ice District, an area encompasses more than 25 acres anchored by Rogers Place. Katz Group is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Its founder and chairman is Daryl Katz.
McDonald's Restaurants of Canada, Limited is the Canadian master franchise of the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's, owned by the American parent McDonald's Corporation. One of Canada's largest fast-food restaurant chains, the franchise sells food items – including hamburgers, chicken, French fries and soft drinks – all across the country. McDonald's is known for its high fat and calorie foods, but it also has alternatives such as salads, juice and milk. McDonald's was Canada's largest food-service operator before being overtaken by Tim Hortons in 2005.
BurgerFuel is a New Zealand burger restaurant and franchise with 72 locations in three countries, including 60 locations in New Zealand.
Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada traditionally include four leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Other prominent leagues include Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Yogen Früz is a Canadian chain of frozen yogurt and smoothie stores that also serves healthy alternative food products. The chain is run through company-owned, franchised, and non-traditional partnerships. The chain operates worldwide and has been rated one of the top 500 franchises for over 20 years. The global headquarters is in Markham, Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada.
Cold Stone Creamery, Inc. is an American international ice cream parlor chain. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company is owned and operated by Kahala Brands. The company's main product is premium ice cream made with approximately 12–14% butterfat, made on location and customized for patrons at time of order. Cold Stone has also expanded its menu with other ice cream-related products, including: ice cream cakes, pies, cookie sandwiches, smoothies, shakes, and iced or blended coffee drinks.
Sport in Ottawa, Canada's capital, has a history dating back to the 19th century. Ottawa is home to seven professional sports teams: the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League; the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League; the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League; the Ottawa Blackjacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League; Atlético Ottawa of the Canadian Premier League; PWHL Ottawa of the Professional Women's Hockey League; and the Ottawa Black Bears of the National Lacrosse League. Several non-professional teams also play in Ottawa, including the Ottawa 67's junior hockey team and other semi-professional and collegiate teams in various sports.
Winmark Corporation is an American franchisor of five retail businesses that specialize in buying and selling used goods. The company is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Winmark was founded in 1988 as Play It Again Sports Franchise Corporation by Ron Olson and Jeffrey Dahlberg after they purchased the Play It Again Sports franchise rights from Martha Morris. They renamed the company to Grow Biz International Inc. in June 1993. Grow Biz went public in August 1993. In 2000, John Morgan replaced Dahlberg as CEO and renamed the company to Winmark in 2001. Morgan rescued Winmark from the verge of bankruptcy by selling financially failing franchise concepts and stores and replacing the management team. The company's strategy was to move from owning stores itself to having franchisees own all the stores.
