7-Eleven bringing viral Japanese-style egg salad sandwich to Canada

There’s a sandwich foodies have flown thousands of kilometres to Japan to try and have strategized how to get through customs to share with friends back home.

There’s a sandwich foodies have flown thousands of kilometres to Japan to try and have strategized how to get through customs to share with friends back home.

Though it sells for just a few bucks and comes wrapped in plastic, it even got the stamp of approval from late food journalist Anthony Bourdain who labelled it “pillows of love.”

That sandwich — a tamago sando, or Japanese-style egg salad sandwich — comes from 7-Eleven, one of the world’s biggest convenience store chains.

The treat, which nestles a generous heap of cooked eggs and Kewpie mayonnaise between fluffy pieces of crustless milk bread, is about to make its way to Canada on March 4.

But for 7-Eleven, it’s much more than a sandwich. It’s a small part of a broader, five-year push to deepen the chain’s presence in Canada and help it grow in an environment where everyone is now their competitor.

“The industry just generally has blurred,” Marc Goodman, vice-president and general manager of 7-Eleven Canada, said in an interview.

That means the convenience stores you might have popped into for a chocolate bar are now facing competition from Walmart, which has plunked itself in every city with more than 10,000 people, and other discount stores, where treats are a very low price, he said.

Also in the mix are grocery stores with expanded snack sections and more ready-to-go meals than ever, food trucks that can pop up in front of the busiest office districts and fast-food chains welcoming walk-in customers and others requesting meals through delivery apps.