Between two trends: John Lettieri on coffee and burgers in Toronto
John Lettieri is in an interesting position these days. As president and founder of both Hero Certified Burgers and Lettieri Espresso Bar and Café, he straddles two of Toronto’s biggest food trends: gourmet burgers and coffee. Recently we noticed that his company decided to transform two Lettieris—one at Bloor and Bathurst and another at Church and Wellesley—into Hero Burgers. Is one hot trend overtaking another, or is the indie café explosion creeping up on the chain? We caught up with Lettieri and got his take on Toronto’s coffee and burger scenes, the future of his chain and a new concept he’s launching soon.
Two locations of Lettieri have switched to Hero Burger. Why the transition?
The lease came up, and we felt that with all the cafés in the area, we would be able to do a bit more business with burgers.
Could you see the reverse happening: Hero Burger to Lettieri?
We don’t see that happening in the future, but it definitely could be.
Both burgers and coffee have strong indie competitors. Do you think that element poses a threat to chains?
Everybody wants to get on the wagon. Competition will always be there—we invite good competition. As the categories get stronger, we’re going to see more people coming into the game.
Did the influx of indie coffee shops have anything to do with Lettieri being replaced with Hero Burger?
I don’t know if it’s because of that. We just felt that the Hero brand would be able to produce some good business there, and that there’s a need for this product in the area.
Do you think that coffee and burger markets are getting over-saturated in Toronto?
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. There are definitely a number of people getting into the game. There might be casualties.
What do you see as the future of Lettieri in Toronto?
We’re definitely looking to grow the brand. We’re going to be adding some new food elements, which we won’t disclose right now, to the Lettieri cafés and seeing how that goes.
How about Hero?
Well, we’re doing eight to 10 stores this year, and we’ll see what happens after that. We’re introducing a turkey burger and a gluten-free bun, so we’ll have a completely gluten-free burger. We’re also coming up with a new concept in March or April—a whole new concept altogether, which we’ll disclose later.
Hero Burger serves pre-made patties. They are closer to a Harvey’s than any of the quality burger joints in Toronto serving fresh and homemade burgers.
they got the formula right with Hero burger, where they actually use quality products.
Too bad Lettieri coffee sucks, its somewhere between Timothy’s and second cup.
I dont understand how an espresso bar can have bad espresso.
Between Second Cup, Timothy’s, The Great Canadian Bagel, Tim Hortons, and Lettieri, Toronto has some of the worst coffee on the continent. The indie coffeeshop trend is a reaction to that. It’s like when kids who grow up on Kraft dinner become passionate foodies. Let’s hope the same thing happens with pizza.
With places like BQM Burger and coffee shops like Darkhorse I don’t think Hero or Lettieri have much future. At Queen and Spadina both are there and are way better place to go to for ambience and better product quality.
Lettieri has always had mediocre coffee, and the food? Amateur.
Hero is a touch better but the toppings are average, the shakes too sweet.
Article is pretty lame… why is coffee a “trend”? Good food should be the norm as it is in Italy.
Too bad all the HERO burgers and service are not consistent. The best is the one on Queen West – the one @ Church & Wellesley is awful service & burger, yonge & st clair could use some improvement on the burger. Is the patty really pre-made frozen ? I dont think so.
Lettieri @ Spadina/queen is really the worse place in the city occupying prime intersection. Awful coffee, service,bad food and terrible attitude by the man behind the counter. YUK!
they are are becoming fast foodish, long live GEORGE’S BURGER at bathurt and bloor.
Hero burgers? Sorry, the words ‘cardboard’ and ‘sawdust’ should appear in the name. Hero burgers are terrible.
I agree with Trinidad – just awful! The sirloin burger at A & W tastes far superior to a Hero burger.
Marche’s organic coffee beats Lettieri at any given time.
Hero offers frozen beef patties and I can’t see the preparation of my burger or sense the smell of food!
I wonder if we not missing something where other fast food places offer?
Recently two lattes(small)with a shot of vanilla and two tiny bite size biscotti cost me $16.63 .When I complained Mozafa told me that he was out of small cups so he gave me large cups instead(without telling me)I was not satisfied so he told me that he wanted me to be happy and offered me a cookie!!I’m 70 not 7and refused his generous offer.The lattes were very watery . No repeat business here
Had takeout from the new Queen/Spadina location last night. The service was slow and to make it worse, the burger was terrible and fries were soggy. In comparison to South Street Burger, SSB burgers felt like you were eating Bymark’s signature burger as opposed to Hero’s burgers. Seriously, you are better going across the street to McDonald’s.