I had the answer all ready for Doug McMaster when he said: "We're not going to eat lunch in a gas station."
"You're right, Doug, we're going to eat lunch in an old Arby's," I replied.
It was a beautiful August summer day and we needed to pick up an old friend and colleague who lives in the Metrotown area before going off to lunch.
We all love White Spot burgers, but lunch is a notoriously busy time and it's tough to get in and out in the 30 minutes we have for lunch. There is a full-serve White Spot on Kingsway, but to solve our "problem", we went a couple blocks east.
Triple O's is the fastgrowing wing of White Spot that serves the delectable burgers we love without the frustrating waits that we love a whole lot less. Many of the Triple O's are partnered with a Chevron gas station, but that's not the case in Burnaby.
Burnaby's Triple O's location at 6038 Kingsway opened several years ago after a deft remodelling of an old Arby's restaurant. The restaurant has the classic feel of a 1950s diner, with comfy booths and good food served fast. In fact, we were quite amazed at how efficient and thorough everything was.
There are less than 20 items on the entire menu - and that's including the four breakfast sandwich selections - and that makes it easy for the cook staff to get orders out quickly.
Along for the meal were Doug, our crack summer production manager, photographer Larry Wright and our guest, receptionist Fran Vouriot, who just returned to the job after a medical leave.
Fran has perhaps the best White Spot burger story of all of us, as several years ago, Liberal politician Justin Trudeau came into our offices for an interview. He was clutching a bag with a White Spot burger and after Fran found out he was famished and wanted to eat the burger before conducting an interview, she bought him enough time to get that burger eaten and added her own brand of conversation that had Trudeau laughing.
Yes, it is the burgers that keep us coming back and that meant I had to go with the double double combo for $9.99. Two patties, two pickles, double the Triple O sauce. Could there be anything better?
Well, I pulled out my $2 off coupon - printed in the July 22 Burnaby NOW - and suddenly my meal was even cheaper. (The coupon's good until Sept. 5 so go back and find the coupon).
Larry and Doug both went with similarly priced combos - Larry with the $9.29 chicken supreme combo, which looked pretty darn tasty and Doug with the $9.29 cheddar bacon combo, which would've been even better if it were a double - while Fran went with the original combo ($8.39).
Fran's serving was so large that she had enough for a late snack/early dinner. As we sat in the spacious dining room, we had a chance to reminisce and talk about old times. It seemed particularly fitting because Fran was just returning to work and Larry was just about to go on vacation.
As I got back to the office to put my story together, I received a press release from Triple O's telling me that the chain is expanding even further, with the country's first mobile food truck by a quick service restaurant chain.
"Triple O's On The Go is much more than just a mobile food truck to serve our famous burgers, shakes and fries - it's a complete (research and development) facility on wheels," president of White Spot Limited and Triple O's, Warren Erhart said in the press release. "The mobile restaurant enables us to test out potential new locations and menu items - two of the greatest 'X-factors' of any restaurant organization-before putting a stake in the ground. For a prospective franchisee, having this type of firsthand experiential market research is invaluable."
That means if you keep your eyes open in Burnaby, you might see the 30-foot restaurant on wheels. The truck was custom-built in California.
"We are always looking for ways to think outside the box - or in this case, the restaurant - when it comes to creating an exceptional food experience for guests," said Erhart. "Our founder Nat Bailey started the business out of his 1918 Model T Ford truck more than 83 years ago, so in some ways Triple O's has come full circle while at the same time continuing to build on the legacy of restaurant innovation."
White Spot Limited, Triple O's parent company, has opened 10 Triple O's quick-service locations since 2009.
