Dan Ritchie's Catering Ventures
Industrial Catering
Industrial Catering commenced operation for the Transcontinental Airline in Malton, Ontario circa 1954. In June 1957 Dan's brother, Lorne, became ill and at the request of his mother, Dan moved back to Winnipeg to help out. Dan decided to re-vamp his catering business to do a more comprehensive program and to go into vending machines. He had other ideas and decided to branch out into other types of catering. In 1957 Pepsi Cola became the first in-plant feeding for companies and the Post Office Cafeteria followed shortly after. (Information supplied by Dan's brother Al Ritchie.)
Motor Club Drive-Inn
Dan Ritchie loved to collect art but also loved antiques. Dan collected many items over the years including antique cars and trucks, farm equipment and anything nautical, as was evident from his office. He would bring his cars and people would stop him to look at them. He decided he would find a building to house his cars. He found the perfect one at 680 St James Street at Ness in Winnipeg. He moved his cars, trucks and wagons to that location and discovered people would spend hours looking at his antiques. He decided that he would sell coffee and donuts to encourage people to spend more time looking. On February 15, 1961, Motor Club Drive-Inn opened its doors.
Motor Club Drive-Inn building (exact date unknown).
Millionaire Drive-Inn
While Dan was busy with his Industrial Catering business, he decided he wanted to branch out into something other than cafeterias. He toured the Untied States and decided to use the drive-in under the canopy approach. He always had dreams of himself as a millionaire but could not decide on a logo. Since he had drive-inn's to build, the man in his tuxedo carrying a root beer mug in one hand and a hamburger in the other was born. Three drive-inn's were opened in Hamilton, Ontario area - one on Upper James at Mohawk, one at 9 Caledon Avenue and the third at 15 Caledon Avenue. When his mother asked Dan to move back to Winnipeg, Dan opened another drive-inn in Winnipeg, on the corner of McPhillips Street and Inkster Boulevard, in 1959 with his head office located at 312 Nairn Avenue, Winnipeg. When his lease expired, he sold the property to McDonalds, which is still operating in that location as of 2015.
Top: Millionaire Drive-Inn logo
Bottom: Millionaire Drive-Inn sign (exact date unknown).
Bottom: Millionaire Drive-Inn sign (exact date unknown).