Boycotting American. What's involved in a Toronto pizzeria owner's personal crusade?
The owner of a popular Toronto pizzeria, Gram Palmateer, decided to wage his own boycott when Donald Trump threatened to slap a 25% tariff on Canadian goods. Not to mention his threat to annex the whole country.
That was the end of the line for American ingredients at Gram's Pizza.
With the tariffs now a reality, Gram Palmateer's boycott is not only baked in, it's in full delivery mode.
'I wouldn't say my boycott has become more determined,' says Palmateer. 'It is already permanent.'
A recent Angus Reid poll found that four in five Canadians are intent on buying Canadian — substituting American products.
We asked Gram how he began his boycott. Here's what he told us.
What's involved in substituting American ingredients?
Finding Canadian ingredients to substitute for American items can be easier said than done, as Palmateer found at first.
The transition underwent some initial speedbumps. For example, he had trouble sourcing Canadian diet soft drinks.
Items such as local mushrooms are more expensive. He had to look beyond Canada for some items, such as switching from California-grown Stanislaus tomatoes to a comparable brand from Italy.
However, that hasn't been much of an impediment. In general, he uses local produce that is in season.
He had more success with other products, such as replacing Ohio-based Ezzo pepperoni with pepperoni from Salamina, a Quebec-based company. His flour is made with Ontario grain.
Finding Canadian cheese? Well that was an easy one.
What about American soft drinks?
American soft drinks such as Coca-Cola have been replaced with beverages from Canadian makers such as Pop Shoppe and Sap Sucker.
Toronto's mayor, Olivia Chow, has jumped on Gram's boycott bandwagon. She promoted it in an Instagram post.
'When Trump threatened tariffs, Gram's Pizza, near Dupont and Dundas, decided to buy local. They switched to Canadian pop, Canadian flour, and Canadian pepperoni — they already used Canadian cheese,' she wrote.
Did he need to change the distribution of his pizzas?
It hasn't just been about ingredients and pop. Palmateer stopped using Costco as a distributor and switched to A1 Cash & Carry for supplies.
At the end of the day, his operating costs have only increased slightly. That's good news for his customers who haven't faced price jumps.
How have Gram's customers reacted?
Palmateer said his customer base seems happy with his boycott initiative. Regular customers have shown their support for the initiative. Even better, new customers have come calling to due to his patriotic efforts.
'My customers have been overwhelmingly supportive, and business is up considerably. We've also received many calls from apologetic Americans. The negative comments I received are all online from cowardly Americans and, bizarrely, pro-Trump Canadians,' says Palmateer.
'Those folks are a special kind of stupid,' he adds.
He plans to continue sourcing non-American ingredients as part of a broader effort to encourage customers to think about these issues.
And he continues to search for Canadian-owned and locally produced kitchen supplies, which he says have been surprisingly difficult to find.
What will Gram do down the road?
Even if the Trump administration backs off on tariffs, Palmateer plans to continue down his new road. A few other downtown food and drink establishments have followed his lead. The Madison Avenue Pub and Paupers Pub have begun removing U.S.-sourced products and ingredients from their menus.
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