The DRUXY'S Story

DRUXY'S opened its first restaurant in the fall of 1976 in the head office of the Royal Bank of Canada at the food court in the Royal Bank Plaza, situated in the heart of Toronto's financial district.  Two additional locations opened soon after in the Toronto Eaton Centre and the Sheppard Centre. 

Steady growth of outlets and menu development continued through the balance of the 70's and 80's.  Forays into alternate food and beverage formats (Coffee Grinder and Burger Express) were later abandoned and sold to concentrate efforts on the strength of the DRUXY'S concept - our “Famous Deli Sandwiches”.  Our experience with different food offerings enlightened us to the growing interest in healthy eating and the strength of the fresh food segment.  By 1987, DRUXY’S had grown across Metro Toronto and into Ottawa, Peterborough, Hamilton and London.

In the late 80’s the economy in Toronto, our base of operations, changed dramatically, resulting in serious office tower vacancies in the Toronto area and an increase in fast food/sandwich competition.  We saw the recession as an opportunity to diversify by opening locations in Hospitals, Museums, Airports and Suburban Industrial Complexes.  We established a franchising program to put owner/operators into each restaurant.  Promotional activities, marketing strategies, menu design and pricing were all strengthened to enhance our traditional strength of quality.  This focus on the mainstay of our business resulted in increased sales, more satisfied customers and expansion of the chain.

As we evolved and took on different opportunities, we found that our focus on fresh, health food was critical to our success.  Our involvement in hospitals has proven to be particularly rewarding.  Not just from a customer appreciation and business standpoint but from our work with hospital dieticians to develop our menu and better understand what real healthy eating requires.  This has lead to our involvement with the Heart and Stroke Foundation's Health Check Program with 6 sandwiches and 5 soups certified under the program.  Additionally we are expanding our offering of gluten free bread, lactose free milk and cheese, egg whites and soya creamer and beverages to all of our restaurants.

In response to the recent economic challenges DRUXY'S has once again reevaluated our position and has begun the roll-out of a major new initiave.  This new initiative includes the following changes:

  1. We have totally redesigned the look of our restaurants to make them more customer friendly and focus on our fresh, healthy food. 
  2. We have redesigned our service delivery system io focus on the construction of our sandwiches rather than predesigned sandwiches.  Customers are encouraged to design their own sandwiches and salads choosing from over 50 ingredients.
  3. We have begun a new marketing effort that focuses on our food and the Design Your Own program.  Our selling line encourages customers to join the "fresh deli revolution" as DRUXY'S has revolutionized the deli industry.
  4. We have updated our logo to reflect our new look, new systems and fresh, healthy food.
  5. Most importantly we have retained our deli tradition of slicing our deli meats from hot briskets for each customer while ensuring that our ingredients are the highest qulaity available.

Over our 33 years DRUXY’S has experienced much. We have grown, encountered difficulties, franchised and evolved.  But most importantly we have learned what is required to survive and succeed in the restaurant business.  Commitment to quality, to healthy food and to our stakeholders, customers, staff and franchisees … this is what is required to succeed and we have the experience to deliver this.

DRUXY'S comprises 48 restaurants, 38 franchisees and is expand from this base in Toronto, Ontario and the rest of Canada.  If you want to learn more about franchising opportunities with DRUXY'S, read through the other sections.