Firehouse Subs Brings the Heat with Second Location in Oakville, Ontario, Debuting its New Community Design

By: Firehouse Subs | 0 Shares 1,498 Reads

June 10, 2021 // Franchising.com // OAKVILLE, Ontario - Firehouse Subs announces the grand opening of its second location in Oakville, Ontario at 2501 Hyde Park Gate on June 10, 2020, under the ownership of Franchisees Nick Lebastchi and Adam Arefian. Firehouse Subs serves premium meats and cheeses steamed and piled high on a toasted sub roll, served “Fully Involved®” with fresh produce and condiments.

This is the 43rd Canadian location for the award-winning fast casual restaurant chain, which opened its first Ontario location in 2015. The second Oakville Firehouse Subs is owned and operated by Lebastchi and stepfather Arefian, who opened his first restaurant in the U.S. in 2004. Lebastchi, a Toronto native, also got his start at the U.S. restaurant, starting out as a team member and working his way up to management before helping to open more locations and eventually the first Oakville Firehouse Subs.

The Oakville Firehouse Subs restaurant will feature the brand’s Community Design, which features enhancements made to provide a better Firehouse Subs experience for guests, in addition to a new back-of-the-house layout with a more efficient flow for Firehouse Subs crew members. The updated design of this new location has a repositioned ordering area, in addition to demonstrating the brand’s commitment to community, first responders, heartfelt service and quality food that satisfies.

“As we open up our fifth location in Canada, we’re energized to provide a new experience to our guests with the Community Design,” said Lebastchi. “It’s incredibly important to us that we provide the heartfelt service and hot and hearty food we’re known for to all of our guests, so it’s exciting to take that to the next level with our newest Firehouse Subs.

The opening marks the sixth location to feature the new Community Design, and the first location in Canada. The prototype first debuted in July 2019 in the brand’s hometown market of Jacksonville, Florida, with the second and third company-owned location opening in Palatka and Yulee, Florida. The first franchise-owned location opened in Richland, Washington in November 2020, followed by Warrensburg, Missouri in February 2021.

The new Firehouse Subs restaurant is open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Guests can order takeout service at the counter inside, over the phone or online, as well as through third-party delivery apps.

Lebastchi is dedicated to continuing Firehouse Subs’ commitment to helping public safety organizations through Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation of Canada®, which has granted more than $1.5 million to hometown heroes throughout Ontario.

Founded by former firefighting brothers, the new restaurant décor reflects the founding family’s decades of fire and police service through photos and equipment donated by local fire departments. It boasts a custom, hand-painted mural by Chief Mural Artist Joe Puskas that features the local automotive plant, including a truck that’s designed to look like a fire engine. Since the opening of the first Firehouse Subs in 1994, Puskas and his team have painted more than 1,200 murals from his studio at Firehouse Subs Headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina’s wrath inspired Firehouse Subs founders, Chris and Robin Sorensen, to establish the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation in the U.S. Ten years later, with the opening of the first Canadian restaurant in 2015, Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation of Canada was born with the mission of providing funding, lifesaving equipment and education opportunities to first responders and public safety organizations. The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation of Canada has granted more than $1.5 million to hometown heroes in Ontario, along with more than $57 million in 49 of the United States and Puerto Rico through Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. Each restaurant recycles its pickle buckets, available to guests for a $3 donation to the Foundation. Donation canisters on register counters explain the nonprofit’s mission and collect spare change, while the Round Up Program allows guests to “round up” their bill to the nearest dollar. All funds raised benefit the Foundation.

SOURCE Firehouse Subs

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