Ashton buys La Banquise | The Press

The destinies of two poutine institutions are now united. The owners of the 23 Ashton restaurants are extending their control over the favorite dish of night owls more than 250 kilometers to the west by purchasing the famous Banquise, a place popular with partygoers as well as tourists who come to devour fries topped with brown sauce and cheese curds.

Émily Adam and Jean-Christophe Lirette, co-owners of the 23 Ashton branches since 2022, were still struggling to believe that they had just taken the reins of the Rachel Street institution, when they gave an interview to The Press by videoconference, Monday afternoon. To use the words of M^me Adam, it was La Banquise who “chose” them, so that the place could continue to satisfy the stomachs of poutine lovers while the restaurant was the object of desire for many potential buyers.

At the head of the family restaurant which has existed for 55 years, Annie Barsalou and Marc Latendresse, eager to undertake new projects, approached the 34-year-old entrepreneur couple in May, who could be described as experts in poutine from the greater Quebec region.

The duo admits to having always been on the lookout for what was happening around La Banquise. “La Banquise is a Montreal institution, it’s a flagship. »

At the time of the acquisition of Ashton, whose restaurants are mainly located in the greater Quebec region, the two owners had not closed the door to the idea of ​​establishing themselves in the Montreal market. The purchase of the famous restaurant located on the Plateau Mont-Royal seems to be the vehicle they chose to make their way to the metropolis.

The Banquise will not become an Ashton

Notice to the institution’s loyal customers: the taste of your poutine will remain the same. La Banquise will not change its identity to transform into Ashton, the new owners promise. Fans of La Royale, La Taquise or even La Couvre-Feu will be able to continue to order them.

“They have the winning recipe,” says Mr. Lirette. We arrive, we observe. We ensure that La Banquise will remain La Banquise with the same management team. »

While he describes the poutine served in the Montreal restaurant as “decadent,” the one prepared at Ashton is described as more classic. “Ashton, when we bought, we were told not to touch the good old classics. Whereas La Banquise, we have more the impression of being in innovation. »

“Each of the institutions really has its own trademark, managed in a different way,” adds Émily Adam. The hundred or so employees of La Banquise learned the news late Monday. Everyone will keep their jobs.

“We recognized ourselves in Émily and Jean-Christophe, young dynamic and passionate entrepreneurs like us in our beginnings when we took over the restaurant founded by my father,” declared the former co-owner of La Banquise, Annie Barsalou, in a press release published this Tuesday.

For the moment, the couple from Saint-Raymond, some 50 kilometers from Quebec, do not plan to open a second branch of La Banquise in the national capital. And there are no plans for the arrival of Ashton, his Galvaude and his roast beef sandwich in the metropolis. In the 1980s, the former owner, Ashton Leblond, tried to break into the Montreal market with the opening of a restaurant on Avenue du Mont-Royal and another in Laval. However, the experience was not conclusive.

One thing is certain, when it comes to fries, the couple is far from being new. In addition to Ashton, Émily Adam and Jean-Christophe Lirette are co-owners of Ti-Oui, a popular snack bar located in Saint-Raymond.

“We’re starting to know a little about poutine,” says Émily Adam with a laugh, adding that she and her partner eat it every week. “We are real fans. We do a lot of culinary tests… we also practice! »