Ben's Delicatessen & Restaurant

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Ben's was a landmark Jewish-style delicatessen ("deli") in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. it became famous for its smoked meat sandwiches. (The business was legally known as "Bens" due to Quebec's "French face" sign laws.)

An office tower of 28 floors is planned for the area, but Bens' owners refused to sell the deli.

The deli operated from 1908 until 2006.

Ben's was a popular eatery among famous visitors to Montreal, often leaving autographed photos to be placed on the wall of fame. After the closing its memorabilia, including autographed pictures of celebrities and 'gaudy' interior, were to be placed with a local museum.

A steady stream of celebrities frequented Bens, including former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, singer and actor Bette Midler and the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.

Longtime employee Robert Mayrand was urged to write his memoirs.

1 History
2 Labour relations
3 See also
4 Links

[edit] History

"Bens" had been located at the corner of Metcalfe and de Maisonneuve in Montreal since 1950.

Latvian immigrants Ben and Fanny Kravitz first opened a deli on "the Main", Saint Lawrence Boulevard (Boulevard Saint-Laurent as it is designated now) in 1908.

Former owner Irving Kravitz died in 1992, and since then it was operated by his wife Jean and his son Elliott.

[edit] Labour relations

In July 2006, Bens' 22 unionized workers, including waitstaff, busboys and short order cooks went on strike. They had been without a labour contract since February of that year. Workers and management met for conciliation talks with union representatives, the lawyer for the union and a conciliator present.

The owners refused to comment on the staff's allegations^{[citation needed]}. Management did claim, however, that they couldn't be profitable with unionized staff^{[citation needed]}.