For a lot of Ontario kids, the food court was the best part of the mall. You got a tray, a little independence and a whole ring of counters to choose from. Here's where some of the best-remembered food court chains came from, and which ones you can still find.
Orange Julius
The frothy orange drink is older than most malls. Julius Freed started Orange Julius in Los Angeles in 1926, and Dairy Queen bought the company in 1987. In the U.S., DQ dropped the drink from its Grill & Chill restaurants around 2019, leaving it at some Treat Center locations. In Canada, DQ's website still lists Orange Julius as one of its family brands.
Status: still around, but hard to find.
Mr. Sub
Mr. Submarine is a Toronto original. Jack Levinson, a gym teacher, and Earl Linzon, an accounting clerk, opened the first one at 130 Yorkville Ave. in 1968. According to blogTO, they started with $1,600 and a six-month lease, and they thought of it as a temporary venture. It spread across the country, and in 2011 Montreal's MTY Food Group bought the chain, which then had 338 restaurants.
Status: still here. Mr. Sub is now a division of MTY.
Manchu Wok
Manchu Wok started in Peterborough in 1980 and became a fixture of food courts across Canada. In 2014, its Hong Kong owner, Café de Coral, sold Manchu Wok and two sister brands, 133 restaurants in all, to MTY for about $7.9 million. Café de Coral said it wanted to focus on its business in Hong Kong and mainland China. By early 2024, the chain was trying something new: dine-in "Street" restaurants. One opened in Guelph, where Manchu Wok had long run a food court store, and another in Sault Ste. Marie.
Status: still here, and starting to step outside the mall.
New York Fries
Despite the name, New York Fries is Canadian. Brothers Jay and Hal Gould started it in 1984 around a simple idea: fresh-cut, skin-on fries. By 2009 it was opening its 200th franchise worldwide. Cara Operations (now Recipe Unlimited) bought the chain in 2015, when it had 124 locations in Canada and another 37 abroad.
Status: still here.
Yogen Früz
Yogen Früz is another Toronto-area success story. Brothers Michael and Aaron Serruya, aged 20 and 18, opened the first one in 1986 at the Promenade Mall north of Toronto. According to The Globe and Mail, they picked the name to sound European, like Häagen-Dazs, even though it doesn't actually mean anything. The business grew into a public company, and in 2006 MTY got the exclusive rights to franchise Yogen Früz in Canada.
Status: still here.
Arby's
If roast beef was your food court order, the map has shrunk. Arby's once had Toronto locations at the Eaton Centre and Scarborough Town Centre, among others. By March 2024, blogTO reported there were none left in Toronto, and that a group of fans calling themselves the "Arby's Army" was organizing a trip to the Oshawa location instead.
Status: no Toronto locations as of 2024.
Druxy's
Druxy's is technically a deli rather than a fast-food counter, but it belongs on this list. Brothers Bruce, Harold and Peter Druxerman opened the first one at Toronto's Royal Bank Plaza on Oct. 21, 1976. It grew into a chain of counters in office towers, hospitals and shopping centres.
Status: still here. Druxy's lists 44 restaurants and kiosks across Canada.
The food court that's left
Many of the chains are still in business. What's changed is the mall around them. For more on that, see The Ontario Malls We Grew Up In and Things Every Ontario Mall Had in the 1990s.
Details checked October 2026. Hours and seasons change — confirm with each business before you go.
