Pickering’s beach is one of the main attractions of the city. In the summer, countless people can be found in the area, some walking the trails and others relaxing near the sand.
But on the way to the shoreline, there’s an attraction older than the city itself. On Liverpool Road, a giant sign showcases the entrance of one of the city’s oldest and most beloved businesses, The Big M Drive In.
In 1965, Ted Papatheodorou and Angelo Argiro, two Macedonian immigrants, went fishing in the area now called Frenchman’s Bay when they saw a building for lease. They saw an opportunity and opened The Big M as a drive-in burger joint, one of the first in the area.
When the restaurant opened, Pickering was not established as a city. The area was called Bay Ridges and there was no quick way to get there from far out, but according to the current owner Tony Gugliemi, it didn’t stop people from making the commute.
“Back then when they opened up, people would line up, they’d come from everywhere, they’d come from Toronto, East York, everywhere just to get some Big M’s,” said Gugliemi. “It’s funny because back then, there was no highway, so it was really a mission to get out here.”
While the restaurant secured business from commuters, a big part of their business comes from the local community. The Big M has been around for Pickering’s entire history and the city developed around the restaurant.
Families who have been eating at the Big M when they opened have descendants eating at the burger joint today.
“We have people coming here saying their great-grandmothers used to come here,” said Gugliemi.
The restaurant became affiliated with the lakefront area for many and became more than just a place to eat.
“In the summertime, people go down to the lake so it’s like a tradition for them, grab your Big M’s and go to the lake,” said Gugliemi. “If they can’t come down to the lake and get Big M’s, their whole day is off.”
The drive-in became affiliated with the community with hundreds of repeat customers and regulars. But the brand loyalty for Big M’s is not only shown in their consumers, it’s apparent in the workers, as well.
“They live and breathe this,” Gugliemi said. “We have people here that have been here for 20-plus years, they devoted their life to being here and doing a good job.”
Big M’s impact also reaches beyond the store; the company collaborated with other small businesses in competing with larger corporations. Smaller restaurants didn’t have the same buying power as franchised companies, so produce and materials were sold to them at a higher price.
To combat this, the Big M’s owners established the Canadian Macedonian Cooperative (CMC) to increase the purchasing power of independently owned restaurants in the area. At its peak, the CMC represented over 220 restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area.
Where does The Big M stand today?
Throughout its tenure, The Big M has stayed in the same area, only moving across the street from the original building and stands on the traditional land of the Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat and Mississauga. It started as a drive-in and grew into a dine-in restaurant, but it’s since returned to its roots of fast-food takeout.
Most of the original menu items have remained unchanged. Items like Ted’s Famous Steak on a Kaiser, The Big M Onion Rings and the Original Big M Burger stick to the original recipe.
It’s now in the third generation of ownership and while mass expansion isn’t the main plan for the future, maintaining tradition is.
“Everything’s still done the original way, we’re holding onto that original way of doing things, we make everything freshly prepared in house and we’re not trying to get on that whole new thing,” Gugliemi said. “We think if it’s old and not broken, we don’t really need to fix it.”