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A Harvey's closed at lakeshore and Cawthra in Mississausage a couple of months ago. And then there was the high-concept Harvey's Original Grill beside the Swiss Chalet on Bloor West in the Kingsway, that never did well over its couple of years, and now it's gone too.

As far as I'm concerned the writing was on the wall when they dumped their Salmonburger.

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And the one on Jane Street at Falstaff, one of the first locations and a hang-out for 1960s youth (who would use it as a base for racing up the 400) closed this year as well.

What's going on?
 
Ed: I assume you're talking about me. I have my name on several walls around town, and none of them are at the opera house.

I haven't been to Harvey's in ... eight? ...ten years? Now my mouth is watering ... and I can think of nothing else!
 
I've also noticed a lot of Second Cup closures as of late. Dundas E & Victoria and Dundas W & University are two quick examples. Perhaps Cara Foods is in trouble?
 
Is Cara becoming the Dylex of food?

Funny thing is, Harveys could do well by exploiting some "Canuckistani Carl's Jr." cachet. Perhaps the common factor re any "jumping the shark" moment for Harveys and Second Cup is the "logo change" matter.

OTOH, I'm mesmerized by the Sapphic quality to those Second Cup "Sit. Chat. Chill." signboards...
 
Cara just recently sold off their airline food service division. Wonder what's happening?

The Harvey's at College and Lansdowne was still open last I checked.
 
And Cara has spun off Second Cup.

Someone I know worked for Cara in their retail planning division, but moved on after a short stint there. Hmmm.
 
Several Swiss Chalet locations were also shut down, but new Kelsey's have opened up.
 
And now that we have all those alarm bells ringing, it should be noted that Cara has built a lot in the recent past too - several new or remodeled Swiss Chalets, some ganged up with Harvery's locations that I can think of in the west end, plus Milestones and Montana's have been popping up especially at suburban big box centres that have megaplexes (to feed those hungry movie goers).

I'm not saying there's no trouble for them right now, but they may just be responding to changes in people's eating habits in a way that looks more dire than it actually may be...

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From what I heard, Cara's going to dump Harvey's, like it already dumped Second Cup. Apparently all the Cara brands are doing poorly, with the exception of Swiss Chalet.

I don't quite understand why Harvey's is doing poorly, but I understand Second Cup's poor performance - their stores (are sometimes dumps) and marketing aren't up to Starbucks' standards. I think the logo change was part of an attempt to "renew" the brand as it was being spun off.
 
There are so many combined Harvey's/Swiss Chalets, that dumping Harvey's will not be merely a simple sale: those restaurants are far more integrated than the Wendy's/Tim Horton's co-locations are. I'll be surprised if they spin Harvey's off.

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As far as Harvey's goes, my late father probably would have put the start of any decline on changing their fries around 1990 :p . He was not a happy camper when they switch to more generic frozen fries. A later change to "seasoned" fries turned off my sister, while one too many greasier-than-usual burgers in university caused me to resist.

It's probably coincidence I stopped eating at Harvey's around the same time they changed their logo...
 
I agree, I hate the whole trend towards coated, crispy or seasoned fries. Can't seem to get a good old fashioned fried spud anywhere these days.
 
I've noticed the last few times that the hamburger buns seemed smaller.
 
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