Boston Pizza, New York Fries: Tariff war tests Canadian companies with U.S. names [Video]

Canada’s tariff war with the U.S. has many homegrown companies hoping customers remember there’s more to them than their names.

Despite branding themselves with nods to the U.S., Boston Pizza, New York Fries, Montana’s, California Sandwiches and The Great American Backrub are all Canadian and have been working to ensure the public doesn’t forget.

“Not going to lie, we’ve had to do a little bit of pivoting,” said Alyssa Berenstein, senior director of marketing at Vaughan, Ont.-headquartered New York Fries.

“We’ve had to do a little bit of answering questions to consumers who may or may not understand the fact that we are wholeheartedly a Canadian brand owned by a Canadian company.”

That work is being taken on across a slew of Canadian companies with U.S. names, who have found the tariff war U.S. President Donald Trump is waging is putting consumer knowledge of their brands’ ownership and heritage to …