Can Canadian firms like Boston Pizza, New York Fries survive tariff fallout?

Despite branding themselves with nods to the U.S., Boston Pizza, New York Fries, Montana's, California Sandwiches and The Great American Backrub are all Canadian.

Canada’s tariff war with the U.S. has many homegrown companies hoping customers remember there’s more to them than their names.

Despite branding themselves with nods to the U.S., Boston Pizza, New York Fries, Montana’s, California Sandwiches and The Great American Backrub are all Canadian and have been working to ensure the public doesn’t forget.

“Not going to lie, we’ve had to do a little bit of pivoting,” said Alyssa Berenstein, senior director of marketing at Vaughan, Ont.-headquartered New York Fries.

“We’ve had to do a little bit of answering questions to consumers who may or may not understand the fact that we are wholeheartedly a Canadian brand owned by a Canadian company.”

That work is being taken on across a slew of Canadian companies with U.S. names, who have found the tariff war U.S. President Donald Trump is waging is putting consumer knowledge of their brands’ ownership and heritage to the test.

While they insist their monikers aren’t in need of changing because they’ve been able to cut through any confusion and aren’t seeing their sales slump, they’re relishing any opportunity they get to share where their allegiances lie.

At The Great American Backrub’s two Toronto locations, patriotism comes in the form of signs advertising that the business is Canadian.

“I thought about … putting a big red ribbon across American, but I didn’t think the landlords would like that too much,” owner Nazir Lalani said.