Lick's Homeburgers & Ice Cream is a privately owned Canadianrestaurant chain. It is known for its meatloaf-style hamburgers nicknamed "homeburgers", which were higher quality than contemporary fast food chains. Lick's restaurant employees were also known for singing ’50s pop songs while they cooked burgers and fries.
History
Denise Meehan, a native of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, grew up in a tourist resortoperated by her parents. Meehan, the president and sole shareholder, founded the chain in 1980 with a $5,000 loan. Meehan opened her first Lick's location store on Queen Street East in Toronto in 1980. The second store opened at 2383 Kingston Rd in Scarborough several years later. From 1984 through 2009, the business expanded to several cities in the province of Ontario as the Lick's name and menu became available for franchise. At its zenith, there were 30 Lick's locations throughout southern Ontario. In addition, major Ontario supermarket chains also carried frozen Lick's hamburger patties. In 2002, Meehan was named to the Sales Hall of Fame by the Canadian Professional Sales Association. Meehan has also been profiled by Hilary magazine.
Decline
Lick's began to encounter difficulty in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, partly because of the recession's effect on consumer habits shifting away from sit-down eateries to takeout. As well, the proliferation of gourmet burger chains such as Burger Priest and The Works eroded Lick's market share. In 2012, two Toronto-area Lick's franchises closed due to arrears in rent, the fourth and fifth Lick's outlet to close in a short period of time. The Barrie and Oakville Trafalgar Road locations were foreclosed by landlords in September 2013. The Guelph location was seized by its landlord on November 21, 2013. Mississauga's last location was seized by its landlord on November 27, 2013. By April 2017, the chain had two stores: Kingston Road at Morningside Crossing in Toronto, and one in Parry Sound down from 30 stores in 2012. The corporate website has not been updated and the Twitter page has not been updated since October 2013. As of May 2016, the Lick's corporate website is not accessible. As of May 2017 there are three locations; the longstanding locations at Morningside Crossing in Toronto, on Horseshoe Lake Road just south of Parry Sound, and a newer location at Eglinton and Warden in Toronto. According to an employee they are still part of a restaurant chain. In June 2019, the Morningside Crossing location closed.
