Restaurants are a great source of free artefacts. Napkins, condiments, and other accoutrements from a restaurant visit can serve as souvenirs of a good meal or enjoyable vacation experience. Below are several such souvenirs.
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| Assorted Mexican condiments: a packet of salsa ketchup; individually-wrapped chamomile tea bags; and two packets of granulated sugar. |
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| A cardboard coaster from Red Lobster, circa 2004. |
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| A serviette from Dixie Lee, a chain of over 70 restaurants serving fried chicken and fish and chips, and founded in Belleville, Ontario in 1964. Dixie Lee has franchises in Ontario, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, Ogdensburg, New York, and one outlet in Dubai, UAE. This napkin came from the Meaford, Ontario restaurant. |
A serviette from JJ's Boulangerie, a French-themed bakery located in the Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Freshly made sandwiches, soups and salads are served alongside an array of straight-from-the-oven pastries and baked goods. This bakery also bakes all the bread used in the other restaurants contained in the hotel.
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A serviette from "360", the rotating restaurant in the Canadian National (CN) Tower in Toronto. This serviette was acquired in 1998 during a birthday dinner.
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| Two sugar packets from "360", the CN's Tower's rotating restaurant, 1998. |
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| A serviette from Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, USA. This item was acquired during a vacation there in the late-1990s, and was obtained specifically at EPCOT after purchasing a hamburger. |
A serviette from Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida, USA. This item was acquired during a family vacation in the late-1990s.
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| A rare item in the collection: a serviette from the officers' mess at the Royal Military College of Canada located in Kingston, Ontario. This item was obtained at a luncheon hosted by RMC for attendees of a security and defence conference held there in 2005. The spread included a delicious seafood chowder. |
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| A serviette from the Rosedale Golf Club in Toronto. One of Toronto's premier private clubs, the Rosedale Golf Club was originally founded in 1893 in the city's tony Rosedale neighbourhood. In 1909, the club moved north to its present location nestled between the upscale neighbourhoods of Teddington Park/Lawrence Park to the south and west, respectively, the Bridle Path to the east, and Hogg's Hollow to the north. The serviette depicted below was obtained during a memorial reception for a deceased community dentist and club member held in December 2010. The reception featured a variety of catered foods, including finger sandwiches, fresh fruit, vegetables and dip, nanaimo bars and other desserts, and coffee and tea. |
Below: Several panels from a large, fold-out brochure for the popular chain of Southern-themed Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurants. Founded in 1969 in Lebanon, Tennessee, Cracker Barrel combines a retail store and a restaurant and, as of September 2009, consisted of 594 locations in 41 US states, many conveniently located along interstate highways. The restaurants serve a variety of traditional Southern comfort foods, including grits, dumplings, stewed cinnamon apples, meatloaf, and roast turkey. Cracker Barrel restaurants share a common design and decor style and include a number of unique features: covered front porches with rows of rocking chairs for guests to enjoy; large country-style fireplaces and checkers tables within the dining areas; and interior walls decorated with a variety of antiques, photographs, advertisements, and household items. The retail store component of each restaurant primarily sells nostalgic merchandise, collectibles, old time toys, classic candies, scented candles, holiday-themed items, and ingredients used in making Cracker Barrel entrees. The brochures available free of charge at any Cracker Barrel location are a handy reference and depict a map of the United States with every Cracker Barrel location identified.
Below: A brochure from MCL Cafeterias (now known as MCL Restaurant & Bakery), a chain of American cafeteria-style restaurants founded in 1950 in Indianapolis, Indiana. MCL currently has restaurants in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. They are known for their made-from-scratch foods, featuring fresh, local produce when available.
Below: A brochure for Morrison's Cafeterias, a now-defunct chain of cafeteria-style restaurants centred in the Southeastern United States, especially Georgia and Florida. Particularly popular with retirees, at its peak the company operated 151 restaurants under the Morrison's name in 13 states. Founded in 1920 in Mobile, Alabama, by the mid-1990s Morrison's was suffering from the general loss of popularity of cafeterias and the company, now known as Morrison's Fresh Cooking, was sold to Piccadilly Cafeterias. Many of the former Morrison's locations outside of Florida and Georgia were subsequently closed by Piccadilly. Note: While the front and back covers have been reproduced for each brochure below, only a few representative samples of the state-by-state cafeteria location listing pages have been provided.
Below: Another Morrison's brochure.
Below: Another example of the Morrison's map-style location listing brochures.
Below: A final example of the Morrison's Cafeterias brochures listing locations.
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| A business card from the Bulldog Pub, a British-themed pub located on the second floor of a busy shopping centre in the central Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan, near Tokyo Station. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| The reverse side of the business card for the Bulldog Pub, Tokyo. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
Below: A copy of the Autumn 2014 St. Albans Real Ale and Cider Pub Guide, published by the South Hertfordshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). The guide provides an exhaustive listing of local pubs serving real ale and cider, as well as information on the various types of beer and cider and the CAMRA organisation. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC)
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| Napkin from Irving Shipbuilding, Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 2018. |
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| A serviette from the Clubhouse at the Centurion Club, a golf club located west of St Albans and north of Watford in rural Hertfordshire, UK. The Centurion Club opened on 1 July 2013, with the Clubhouse overlooking the 18th green. The serviette dates from March 2018. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| The front side of a postcard from the German Gymnasium, an all-day Grand Café and bar located at 1 Kings Boulevard in King's Cross, London, UK. Built in 1864-65 for the Germany Gymnastics Society, the building was Grade II-listed by English Heritage in January 1976. Today, the German Gymnasium serves Mittel-European inspired dishes in its vast, two-storey interior space and on its heated terraces. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| The reverse side of the postcard from the German Gymnasium café and bar, London. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| A handbill from the Three Horseshoes pub on Baldock Lane in Willian, near Letchworth, Hertfordshire, UK. Serving lunch and dinner, the Three Horseshoes features a selection of over 12 draught beers and ciders, as well as live music. |
Below: The front and rear covers and a sampling of pages from the February/March edition of Pints of View, a free bi-monthly mini-magazine for 'every discerning drinker' published by the Hertfordshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
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| The front and reverse sides of a sugar packet obtained from the Ottawa, Canada franchise of Perkins Restaurant and Bakery. The restaurant chain was originally established as Perkins Pancake House in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1958 and, after a series of ownership changes, was renamed Perkins Family Restaurants in 1987, with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, the chain has 364 locations in the United States and 17 in Canada. Perkins is noted for its large, all-day breakfast menu, seniors menu (smaller portions at lesser price), and baked-in-store pies and pastries. The sugar in this packet is manufactured by Lantic Inc of Montreal, Canada. Lantic, originally named Atlantic Sugar, was founded in 1912 following the merger of three Canadian sugar refineries, and became Lantic Inc following the company's merger with Western Canada-based Rogers Sugar in 2008. |
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| A yellow cocktail napkin from a reception hosted aboard the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Calgary in Da Nang, Vietnam, 28 September 2018. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| A blue version of the cocktail napkin from a reception hosted aboard the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Calgary in Da Nang, Vietnam, 28 September 2018. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| An Asiana Airlines cocktail napkin from the Star Alliance lounge at Incheon International Airport, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2 October 2018. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| An official United States Government cocktail napkin obtained on 12 October 2018 from Joint Base Andrews, Prince George's County, Maryland, near Washington, DC. Joint Base Andrews falls under the jurisdiction of the US Air Force 11th Wing, Air Force District of Washington, and is best known as the home of the 89th Airlift Wing of Air Mobility Command, operators of two VC-25 aircraft, militarised versions of the Boeing 747 airliner, which fly under the call sign Air Force One when carrying the President of the United States. (Courtesy of MoMI donor PC) |
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| A beverage napkin from The Cheesecake Factory at Yorkdale Mall, Toronto, Canada, 1 September 2018. The Yorkdale location was the first Cheesecake Factory opened in Canada. |
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| Cuban sandwich and fries, Cheesecake Factory, Yorkdale Mall, Toronto, Canada, 1 September 2018. |
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| Takeaway slice of Cheesecake Factory lemon raspberry cream cheesecake, comprising raspberry-vanilla cake, creamy lemon cheesecake, raspberry lady fingers and lemon mousse, 1 September 2018. |
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Takeaway slice of Cheesecake Factory Godiva chocolate cheesecake, comprising layers of flourless Godiva chocolate cake, Godiva chocolate cheesecake and chocolate mousse.
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| A napkin from Nando's at the Ocean Terminal shopping centre in Edinburgh, Scotland, April 2019. Nando's napkins sport a number of clever, rotating phrases. |
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| A napkin from a visit to the Swiss Chalet restaurant at 3140 Dufferin Street, Toronto in early July 2019. |
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| A takeaway dinner from Nando's on King Street in Hammersmith, London, UK, 4 May 2022: a half chicken (lemon herb seasoning), served with coleslaw and peri-peri chips. A J2O orange-passion fruit drink rounds out a really good meal. |
