 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1921 |
| Founders | Harry and Jenny Shopsowitz |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Sam and Izzy Shopsowitz |
| Products | Assorted Deli Meats |
| Website | https://shopsys.ca/ |
Shopsy's is a Jewish delicatessen restaurant chain [1] in the Greater Toronto Area and a brand name owned by Maple Leaf Foods for a line of meat products.
In 1921, the husband-and-wife team of Harry and Jenny Shopsowitz opened an 18-seat ice cream parlour at 295 Spadina Avenue at Dundas Street West in Toronto. [2] It became Shopsowitz Delicatessen and by the mid-1940s was selling products under the Shopsy's brand name. [3]
Harry died in October 1945 and the business was passed along to his sons, Sam and Izzy Shopsowitz. [4] They led its growth into a Toronto institution, renaming the business Shopsy's. Future Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard is said to have been the person who encouraged Sam to open a meat-processing plant. [5] By 1947, Sam was being billed as "the corned beef king" in advertisements.
Izzy sold his share of the business to Sam in 1969. Then, Lever Brothers (part of Unilever) bought the company in 1971 and Sam remained president of the company until 1977. [6] [7] Sam suffered a stroke while visiting New York City in 1982 that he never really recovered from. [6] He died in Toronto on September 13, 1984 at age 65. [6] Izzy had rejoined the business after the sale to Unilever. He died on April 22, 1994 at age 71 after having a heart attack while greeting customers in the Shopsy's restaurant on Yonge Street. [8]
After 62 years on Spadina, the restaurant moved to Yonge Street at Front Street in late March 1983. [5] The Front Street location has been described as a "landmark for more than 25 years." [9] In 2008, the lease at Yonge and Front was not renewed by the landlord and Shopsy's closed. [9] It moved to the Sheraton Centre on Queen Street West, where it is located to this day. Previous locations also include Markham, Ontario, [5] Toronto Island, and a Shopsy's Express Kiosk at the Rogers Centre.
In 1992, Unilever sold the manufacturing division to Maple Leaf Foods. The restaurant business—Shopsy's Hospitality Incorporated—was managed by A&W for a period in the 1990s, [7] and then bought in 1996 by a group headed by Lewis Allen. He was CEO until leaving in 2003. In 2004, Shopsy's Hospitality was owned by Dynamic Funds. [3]
In 2006, Irish Embassy Hospitality Group bought Shopsy's restaurant. [3] Shopsy's Deli corporate offices are located at 51 Yonge Street (and Wellington Street East), just north of Irish Embassy Pub & Grill.
Previous locations:
Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th century. European immigrants to the United States, especially Ashkenazi Jews, popularized the delicatessen in U.S. culture beginning in the late 19th century. Today, many large retail stores like supermarkets have deli sections.
Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Toronto waterfront, Harbourfront extends from Bathurst Street in the west, along Queens Quay, with its ill-defined eastern boundary being either Yonge Street or York Street. Its northern boundary is the Gardiner Expressway. Much of the district was former water lots filled in during the early 1900s to create a larger harbour district. After shipping patterns changed and the use of the Toronto harbour declined, the area was converted from industrial uses to a mixed-use district that is mostly residential and leisure.
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods.
Katz's Delicatessen, also known as Katz's of New York City, is a kosher-style delicatessen at 205 East Houston Street, on the southwest corner of Houston and Ludlow Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City.
William R. Allen Road, also known as Allen Road, the Allen Expressway and colloquially as the Allen, is a short expressway and arterial road in Toronto. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue West, heading north to just south of Transit Road, then continues as an arterial road north to Kennard Avenue, where it continues as Dufferin Street. Allen Road is named after Metro Toronto chairman William R. Allen and is maintained by the City of Toronto. Landmarks along the road include the Lawrence Heights housing project, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Downsview Park, and Downsview Airport. A section of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway is located within the median of the expressway from Eglinton Avenue to north of Wilson Avenue.
Schwartz's, also known as the Schwartz's Deli and the Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen, is a Jewish delicatessen restaurant and take-out, located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was established in 1928, by Reuben Schwartz, a Jewish immigrant from Romania. Its long popularity and reputation has led to it being considered a cultural institution and landmark in Montreal.
The Carnegie Deli is a small Jewish delicatessen, formerly a chain, based in New York City. Its main branch, opened in 1937 near Carnegie Hall, was located at 854 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It closed on December 31, 2016. There is one branch still in operation at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, and the deli still operates a wholesale distribution service.
Kosher style refers to foods commonly associated with Jewish cuisine but which may or may not actually be kosher. It is a stylistic designation rather than one based on the laws of kashrut. In some U.S. states, the use of this term in advertising is illegal as a misleading term under consumer protection laws.
Dunn's Famous Deli and Steakhouse is a chain of Jewish delis serving Montreal-style smoked meat, pastrami and cheesecake founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by Myer Dunn. The chain currently has locations in Montreal, and one in Ottawa.
Milton Parker was a co-owner of the Carnegie Deli, located at 55th Street and Seventh Avenue next to Carnegie Hall in the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the behind-the-scenes preparer of towering pastrami sandwiches while his partner Leo Steiner was the tummler who entertained celebrities, locals and tourists.
The roast beef sandwich is a sandwich that is made out of sliced roast beef or sometimes beef loaf. It is sold at many diners in the United States, as well as fast food chains, such as Arby's, Rax Roast Beef, and Roy Rogers Restaurants. This style of sandwich often comes on a hamburger bun and may be topped with barbecue sauce and/or melted American cheese. The roast beef sandwich also commonly comprises bread, cold roast beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and mustard, although it would not be uncommon to find cheese, horseradish, fresh/powdered chili pepper and even in some cases red onion. Roast beef sandwiches may be served hot or cold, and are sometimes served open faced.
Montreal-style smoked meat, Montreal smoked meat or simply smoked meat in Quebec is a type of kosher-style deli meat product made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices. The brisket is allowed to absorb the flavours over a week. It is then hot smoked to cook through, and finally is steamed to completion. This is a variation on corned beef and is similar to pastrami.
Susan Niczowski is a Canadian entrepreneur of Macedonian descent as well as founder and president of the company "The Summer Fresh Salads Inc." at Woodbridge, Ontario.
Caplansky's Delicatessen is a delicatessen in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It originated in 2007 in a room in the Monarch Tavern on Clinton Street which Zane Caplansky rented as a venue to make and sell house-cured hand-cut smoked meat sandwiches and knishes. The venture was successful and in 2009, Caplansky opened his eponymous full service delicatessen located at 356 College Street near Kensington Market. Caplansky's opened a food truck, named "Thunderin' Thelma", in 2011, which travelled to various events and locations in the city to sell food on the street.
Brent's Delicatessen & Restaurant is a Jewish deli and restaurant located in Northridge, California. The restaurant was opened in 1967 and purchased by Ron Peskin in 1969 for $1700. The deli has expanded to a second location in Westlake Village, California.
Pastrami on rye is a sandwich comprising sliced pastrami on rye bread, often served with mustard and Kosher dill pickles. It was popularized in the Jewish delicatessens of New York City and has been described as New York's "signature sandwich". It was created in 1888 by the Lithuanian immigrant Sussman Volk, who served it at his deli on Delancey Street in Manhattan.
Harry & Ida's Meat and Supply Co. was a smokehouse and delicatessen located in Alphabet City, Manhattan, New York City that operated from 2015 to 2019.
A Jewish deli, also known as a Jewish delicatessen, is a delicatessen establishment that serves various traditional dishes in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. They are typically known for their sandwiches such as pastrami on rye, as well as their soups such as matzo ball soup, among other dishes. Most of these establishments are traditionally considered Ashkenazi. Like much of the Jewish cuisine stemming from the period of the Jewish diaspora, the emergence of the Jewish deli developed in accordance with local culture. These days, Jewish delicatessens serve a variety of Jewish dishes. While some delis have full kosher-certification, others operate in a kosher-style, refraining from mixing meat and dairy in the same dish, despite potentially using non-certified ingredients. There are also delis that serve food without adhering to any traditional Jewish dietary restrictions, offering non-Kosher dishes such as the Reuben sandwich.
