An old-school diner with a modern twist is opening in Orillia next month.
Joe Winacott, the owner of Studabakers Beachside Restaurant in downtown Orillia, is set to open Famous Archie’s in the Fittons West Plaza on Sept. 5.
“We always kind of wanted to do something in this area,” Winacott said. “Our kids go to Orillia Secondary School and Patrick Fogarty, and there are always a lot of kids travelling around here.”
Winacott, 44, says opening a burger restaurant in the West Street North area has always been on his radar.
“This location went on the market a couple of times, and we’ve been trying to get it for a while,” he said. “We kind of just got lucky where it fell into our lap.”
Winacott hopes his new business venture will provide something unique to Orillia.
“It’s going to be your original smash burger restaurant,” he explained. “There isn’t really another smash burger restaurant in town.”
A smash burger from Famous Archie’s is a certified Angus beef patty that is smashed on the grill with a special tool that makes it paper thin, giving the beef a shell coating. It is then topped with melted cream cheese.
“Smash burgers and hand-spun shakes are pretty popular right now,” he said. “Our go-to will be fresh burgers and fresh chicken sandwiches.”
Winacott says the Famous Archie’s name and branding are inspired by a family member on his dad’s side that once worked at a drive-in diner.
“He always talked about how good his burgers and shakes were,” he explained. “We’ve taken that aspect and kind of modernized it a bit to where we are now.”
Being a restaurant owner in Orillia now for over 20 years with Studabakers and Caddyshacks, Winacott says Famous Archie’s gives him the opportunity to try something different.
“It’s going to be the same quality of food in terms of freshness,” he said. “But it’s going to be more fun here where we can create things on the fly, have features of the month, different burger challenges, and things like that.”
The flavour profile of Famous Archie’s will be “totally different” from the one at Studabakers, Winacott says.
“Our milkshakes here are going to be hand-spun whereas at Studabakers we use a blender kind of style,” he explained. “We have different fries here, different seasonings, and different sauces.”
The burgers and chicken sandwiches at Famous Archie’s will be "unique," he said.
“When you go to fast food places, you aren’t getting that high quality that people want or deserve,” Winacott said. “Our burgers aren’t frozen and square, we are going to smash them from fresh certified Angus beef.”
While Winacott is unsure of how busy Famous Archie’s will be when it opens, he plans on employing four to ten people to work in his new establishment next month.
“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from people asking when we are opening,” he said. “I think this will be a good spot for us.”