Author: Frank Matys
Date: Mar 20, 2008

Juri Daniel is bound to face a polite grilling from at least some of his faithful customers.

One year after purchasing Webers Downtowner restaurants in Orillia and Barrie, Daniel has ended his affiliation with the roadside eatery famous for its charcoal-broiled burgers.

Both of the in-town locations are now known simply as Downtowner Bar and Grill restaurants.

“At the end of the day, the Webers name is a great name, but it is also very tightly tied to the highway and the hamburger,” Daniel told Orillia Today.

Unlike the Highway 11 originator, that has been attracting cottage-bound motorists since 1963, the downtown locations also offer a range of menu items “in a more upscale setting,” he said.

“Both the Barrie restaurant and the Orillia restaurant offer a lot more than just the burger,” he added.

The name change coincides with a subtle redesign of the restaurants’ interiors and an updated menu.

Staff and management will not change.

“My gut told me as I was talking to customers that the association with Webers was a bit of a hindrance in terms of the perception of what our restaurants are all about,” Daniel said. “It was limiting our ability to grow the business relative to the rest of the things that we were offering.”

The highway location “is a very unique place, and ultimately we are not going to replicate that in the restaurant,” he added.

But will the name change cut the mustard with diehard regulars?

Daniel is confident it will.

Customers canvassed at the Barrie branch greeted the news positively, citing the quality of food in general and attentive staff as the main draws, Daniel said.

“Only a handful said they came because of the burger,” he added

Though he has switched beef suppliers, Daniel vows that the flavour of the grilled treat remains unchanged.

“If you came in and had the burger that is on the menu, you wouldn’t notice any difference,” he added.

The original Paul Weber Drive-In Restaurant, named for its founder and later owned by his son of the same name, was in recent years sold to businessman Tom Rennie.

Daniel purchased the Barrie and Orillia Downtowner locations in March 2007.