Partner Kit 2026 · Family-run since 2011 · Proudly Canadian
Own a business
that means something.
Thirteen towns across Ontario and Saskatchewan. Every store run by the family that owns it. This booklet is everything a family needs to decide whether the next one is theirs.
Real burgers. Real poutine.
Made by hand, every day.
Sam's Grill has been redefining the neighbourhood burger since 2011: made-to-order, fresh-grilled, never-frozen 100% Canadian beef, real hand-cut fries, and specialty poutines with Québec cheese curds. Not your average burger joint, and not trying to be.
Counter service · Eat in, take out, delivery and catering · 800–1,500 sq ft · Open 11 to 9
A second inning, played in Canada.
Rajni Patel came to Canada in 2006 and started over on a factory floor. In 2011 his family opened a small sandwich shop on Wellington Street in Guelph. Rather than compete with the national names on their terms, they went to Montreal with a French-Canadian friend, Louis Menard, to learn the food properly, and came home with a Canadian menu and a new name over the door.
The second Sam's Grill opened because a town asked for it. Customers from Hespeler and Cambridge kept driving to Guelph and asking when. Every store since has followed the same rule.
"We believe strongly in family, food and fun."
A focused menu people drive for.
Simple enough for a family to run. Distinctive enough that towns ask for it. Halal, vegetarian and gluten-friendly options at every store, and one vegetarian gravy across the whole menu.
Ten reasons families choose us.
Hand-pressed.
Fresh-cut. Sliced to order.
Patties pressed by hand each morning. Potatoes cut in the kitchen. Smoked meat sliced when you order it. Nothing arrives frozen in a box pretending to be homemade, and customers can tell.
What the towns already say.
Every Sam's Grill is rated on Google by the people who live beside it. These are their numbers, published as they come.
"The burgers are amazing. They're just like your own backyard burgers: homemade patties, fresh lettuce, tomatoes and onions."
Kim O. · Swift Current"This place is top tier. It tastes like Timmins poutine did 20 years ago."
S. Villeneuve · South Porcupine"Phenomenal food, incredibly friendly staff, and unbelievably good value for your dollar."
The Ra & Zia Family · BrockvilleVoted for by the public, not by us: CommunityVotes Platinum for Burgers 2021 · 2022 · 2023 · Restaurant Guru 2022, Best BBQ in Cambridge · La Poutine Week Certificate of Excellency
Homemade burgers & poutine.
Welcoming, distinct, personal. Bold and contemporary with a retro heart. Red, yellow and a hand-lettered wall that says what we believe. Every store takes its character from its town, but a Sam's Grill is unmistakable from the street.
Tastes like home. Grows like Canada.
800 to 1,500 square feet, built to run.
Counter service, an open kitchen line, seating for around two dozen, and a look that works in a plaza, a main street or a conversion. We design, engineer and build it with you.
Honest numbers,
before you sign.
Families betting their savings deserve the spreadsheet, not the sizzle. These are the figures we work from for an Ontario build; every one is set out in the disclosure document you review with your own lawyer and accountant before signing.
| Typical location size | 800 – 1,500 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Estimated development cost | $325,000 – $395,000 |
| Franchise fee | $35,000 |
| Training & project management fee | $15,000 |
| Estimated soft costs | $30,000 – $40,000 drawings, permits, legal, accounting, POS, smallwares |
| Minimum equity investment | $130,000 – $160,000 |
| Bank financing available | $210,000 – $300,000 Canada Small Business Financing Program |
| Royalty | 5% of gross weekly sales |
| Marketing fund | 2% of gross weekly sales |
| Agreement to opening | Target 180 days |
| Ontario build; costs in other provinces vary. Excludes HST. Verified in the franchise disclosure document. Full store economics shared in person. | |
We run the system. You run the welcome.
Recipes, sourcing, marketing, purchasing, training: one system, written down to the ketchup on the table. You hire from your town and stand behind your counter.
Ordering, however people prefer.
In store, by phone, online, on the app or by delivery, with the systems behind each store chosen to suit its town. Gift cards and loyalty rewards, with campaigns composed for each town rather than copied across the map.
Four ways in. One rule: your family, behind the counter.
Most partners begin with one store, and grow once it runs without us. There are no absentee investors at Sam's Grill, because the welcome cannot be delegated.
Open a new Sam's Grill in a town that needs one. The standard path, and where every partner family starts.
Already own a space or a restaurant? A cost-effective conversion with minimal downtime, on our layout and supply chain.
When an owner moves on, a running store with a trained team and a town that already knows the name.
For proven operators: a territory and a schedule of stores, with reduced per-store fees. Development-agent and regional structures are discussed in person.
A second town, a region or a province is a conversation we have once your first store is running well. Tell us your ambition in the application.
Built on Canada's
main streets.
Thirteen towns today: Guelph, Cambridge, Waterloo, Burlington, Oakville, Brockville, Port Elgin, Hearst, Cochrane, Kirkland Lake, Iroquois Falls, South Porcupine and Swift Current.
We can't promise you Canada.
We can promise a real business Canada respects.
Some of our owners make Canada home through provincial and federal entrepreneur pathways and settle in the towns they serve. Immigration decisions rest solely with Canadian authorities: you retain your own licensed immigration lawyer or RCIC, and we keep the business file and the immigration file completely separate.
Seven steps.
No surprises.
Nothing you send us commits you to anything. A conversation is enough to begin.
- 1ApplyTen minutes, below. Someone from the office calls within three business days.
- 2A 20-minute conversationYour town, your family, your timeline, and the full numbers.
- 3Franchise disclosure documentFourteen days to review with your own lawyer and accountant, as provincial law requires.
- 4Site selection togetherOur market data and your knowledge of your town.
- 5Agreement signedFinancing arranged; build begins.
- 6Sam's SchoolCambridge HQ, then your store.
- 7Doors openA community event, not a soft launch.
Start the
conversation.
The application takes about ten minutes. Nothing to sign. A copy goes to your email the moment you send it.
franchising@samsgrill.ca · +1 519 222 3146 · 55 Pinebush Rd, Cambridge, ON · "First we eat. Then we do everything else."
Thank you, . Your application is with us.
A copy is on its way to . Someone from the Sam's Grill office will read it and call you within three business days. If you'd rather not wait, book a time that suits you.