Wahlburgers, a burger chain co-owned by celebrity brothers Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, along with their chef sibling Paul, has opened the first restaurant outside the U.S. in Toronto, Canada.
Located inside the luxury SoHo Metropolitan Hotel, Wahlburgers Toronto features a quick-serve counter with seating for 40 people as well as a full service dine-in restaurant and sports bar with a seating for 80 people.
After a soft launch earlier this month, the restaurant will open officially with a ‘green carpet’ event (green is the brand’s signature color) and appearances by all three Wahlberg brothers on Saturday.
The Canadian opening is part of major expansion plans for the celebrity burger chain that include more openings across Canada including Toronto Pearson International Airport, Waterloo and Ottawa.
Why Toronto?
Actor brother Mark Wahlberg told Toronto Life Magazine: "It’s a great place to test the waters. If a film does well at TIFF, it stands a great chance of being successful around the world. I think the same is true of restaurants. It’s a cutting-edge city with a lot of cool people. If you can make it in Toronto, you can make it anywhere."
In the US, plans are also afoot to open more locations in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Boston.
Over the next 10 years, the company expects to open about 300 more restaurants across the US.
The making of the chain, which opened in 2011, and its daily goings-on are also filmed in an A&E reality show, “Wahlburgers."
