Type Restaurant franchise Headquarters Canada | Industry Food service Founder Myer Dunn | |
Products Food and drink (Montreal-style smoked meat, Pastrami and Cheesecake) | ||
Dunn's Famous Deli and Steakhouse is a Montreal-style smoked meat, Pastrami and Cheesecake restaurant chain founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada by Myer Dunn.
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History
Dunn, who immigrated to Canada in 1911, opened his first restaurant in 1927 on Avenue Papineau near Avenue du Mont-Royal. In 1948 he opened his first restaurant to be called "Dunn's Famous Delicatessen" at the corner of Avenue du Parc and Avenue du Mont-Royal. In 1955 he opened his flagship restaurant at 892 Saint Catherine Street West. The storefront windows were famous for the top to bottom stacks of large jars full of hot banana peppers. The deli was open 24 hours a day, unusual for restaurant in the downtown core. Beginning in the 1970s Dunn's Famous began to focus more on Montreal-style smoked meat, eventually stopping its promotion of Pastrami. The iconic Saint Catherine Street deli closed in 1998, but a new restaurant was opened in 2000 by Dunn's grandson close to the old location, which is now a Bell Telus store. Elliot Kligman has also franchised the restaurant, now with multiple locations across Canada, and also offers Dunn's brand products to retail sellers.
Dunn's and Bill 101
In the mid 1980s, Dunn's Famous began to be targeted by Bill 101, and was in trouble for having the English word, "Smoked Meat" on the sign out front. The manager at the time stated that Gérald Godin himself ordered the sandwich by its name. They also fought a ruling to change the name of "Smoked Meat" to "Boeuf Mariné" in order to conform to Quebec Language Law. They won the ruling by appeal by proving that if they didn't advertise "Smoked Meat" they would confuse and anger customers. Due to the work of Myer Dunn, under the new ruling, enacted in 1987, Smoked meat became a word in both Official languages of Canada.
Locations
There are currently ten locations, which are: