Toronto burger joint abruptly closes and people are confused with what’s replaced it

Despite its recent and abrupt closure, a Toronto burger joint in The Annex has already been replaced by another burger restaurant, which has confused some locals with its branding, logo, and menu prices. 

California-based burger chain, Fatburger, has attempted to create a brand presence in the Toronto area over the past decade, with the opening of a since-shuttered Richmond Hill location in 2015, and its most recent addition to its portfolio at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor.

However, its Annex location, formerly located at 565 Bloor St. W., has now permanently closed and been replaced by another burger joint called The Fancy Induced Burger. 

“I wouldn’t normally give two figs about a burger place but it’s astounding how fast it tanked and how weird the replacement branding is,” a Reddit thread discussing the new burger joint reads. 

Fatburger tanks, replaced with WTF?

byu/Pastel_Goth_Wastrel intoronto

Local residents quickly drew attention to the restaurant’s logo, which features a syringe filled with a mysterious yellow liquid. Confusion also surrounded the restaurant’s use of the word “induced” in its name, with many speculating about what the owners meant to say instead.

“I’m 99 per cent sure they meant ‘infused’ and made a mistake. Also their website is super amateurish and some things don’t make sense. For instance — the cheeseburger is $15 while the double cheeseburger is $10. The gourmet burger is also considerably cheaper than the cheeseburger and the ‘Kobe beef burger’ says ‘Veggie burger’ under it,” one person wrote. 

“I saw it walking down Bathurst I’m sure not more than a week or two ago. Then tonight it was totally a double take. Though every time I went past Fatburger seems emptier. It’s not like there’s a shortage of burgers in town. I feel like that corner is cursed,” the thread’s original poster said. 

“Fat Burger also took forever to open and spent a mint in renovating, so they had to be in a financial hole from the get-go. And they were not successful from the start (which seemed predictable given the pricing and locale),” another person chimed in. 

“I feel like this has been going on for a while now. So many restaurants that died in my neighbourhood during the pandemic have been replaced by restaurants with branding straight out of Grand Theft Auto. They all have mediocre food and 5 stars on Google. I’m convinced they’re all owned by Google or Amazon,” one comment reads. 

Others highlighted the high turnover rate of restaurants in The Annex, with one person noting that there have been about “four different burger spots” across the street in the last couple of years. 

In a statement to blogTO, the new restaurant described itself as a “Canadian halal brand which features burgers that are induced [sic] with cheese using a syringe shot.” 

Staff added that they were celebrating their first anniversary after completing a testing and tasting process which took over a year for its burgers. 

Despite this, not too many locals seem to be thrilled with the latest addition to the neighbourhood. 

“This looks like a staged restaurant for a TV show or film,” one person wrote. “And by that I mean, I hope it is.”