History will record that today, March 30, 2016, was the day the Great Canadian Chicken War ended. The owner of Swiss Chalet announced it is is paying $537 million to acquire Quebec's St-Hubert. The rotisserie rivals will now be one.
Almost immediately, things got political.
In Quebec, even chicken is political: CAQ leader @francoislegault is already lamenting St-Hubert deal on Twitter
Yep:
Le déclin tranquille de l'économie québécoise. De plus en plus, une économie de succursales!
Ninety-two percent of St-Hubert restaurants are in Quebec and it is headquartered in Laval. Cara, the owner of Swiss Chalet, is based in Ontario.
This person couldn't wait for the leader of the sovereigntist Parti Québécois to pour hot gravy all over this outrage.
Looking forward to PKP take on the gobbling up of St-Hubert by Ontario's CARRA GROUP. Will he address the media or is he "TOO CHICKEN"..lol
There were understandable concerns about the monopolization of chicken in this country.
can't the government do something about the swiss chalet/st hubert deal? no one company should monopolize the rotisserie chicken market
One can only hope the Competition Bureau will protect the diversity of sauces.
Maybe Trudeau needs to step in.
We need to nationalize chicken immediately. https://t.co/kVVOIDx5bC
And there were puns. Cluck yeah there were puns.
Swiss Chalet buying St-Hubert. Twas a game of chicken.
The Chicken Wars have reached the final (ahem) cluck: Swiss Chalet has purchased St-Hubert BBQ. https://t.co/7kKjR0Yt6g
This was inevitable.
Why did the chicken cross the road? So Swiss Chalet could gobble up St-Hubert for $537-million.
...As were the tweets asking St-Hubert if the acquisition could put sauce integrity in jeopardy.
.@sthubert people are scared - is the Cara purchase the end of our favourite chicken and sauce? Will St Hubert's live on??
For the most part, people used the news as an opportunity to rep their favourite bird house.
Saint Hubert chicken is WAY BETTER than Swiss Chalet
Heard #SwissChalet owners are buying #StHubert... Glad my favourite, Swiss Chalet, is winning the rotisserie-chicken war!
St- Hubert chicken is dry ... Same thing about their fries. I never liked their chicken. It was never a symbol of Québec. 😓😓😓
My humble opinion on the Cara acquisition: Nando's > Swiss Chalet > St. Hubert. I'm practically a chicken connoisseur
Practically!
I LOVE St Hubert's. Best chicken and gravy. And coleslaw. ❤️🐓
The Montreal Gazette's food critic weighed in to say that each chain has its strengths, but St-Hubert is the chicken and sauce brune winner.
@DanDelmar @liseravary The ribs @ Swiss Chalet are better than St-Hubert, but St-Hubert has the better chicken + sauce.
This woman likes St-Hubert more than Swiss Chalet, but thinks Costco is better than both ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@ItzYaBoyStretch but better than Swiss Chalet even at mediocre. I'll stick to Costco chicken lol
I'm crying fowl on this one.
While some were upset about the news, this guy's dream of mixing one chain's chicken with the other's sauce just became a little more likely.
The dream. Swiss Chalet chicken with Saint-Hubert sauce.
Dream big, Canada. It's a whole new chicken world out there.