Blair Bitove’s salad chain, Forest Hill Farmhouse, has been taking Toronto by storm, but she says starting it was “scary.”
Though the inaugural Forest Hill Farmhouse location only opened its doors three years ago, the chain, which specializes in robust, flavourful salads and bowls, has already exploded across the Toronto food scene.
By that, we mean that the chain has expanded from its original Midtown location (2 Lola Rd.) to five locations across the city since 2022, with no end in sight.
The force behind it all? Blair Bitove, the daughter of businessman and Toronto Raptors founder John Bitove.
It goes without saying that an entrepreneurial spirit runs in the family; however, Blair told Dished Toronto the jump to start her own venture was a breathtaking one, nonetheless.
Blair was born and raised in Toronto, but attended USC for university. It was her time in California, she told Dished Toronto, that ultimately informed the chain’s branding and concept. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Forest Hill Farmhouse’s Liberty Village location.
Blair has always had a passion for cooking, she tells Dished Toronto, and she’s frequently felt, when eating out, that she prefers the things she makes in her own kitchen.
“My family has been in the restaurant industry, but we weren’t really in it at the time anymore,” Blair told Dished. Her father was in charge of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell’s Canadian branches, while her uncle, Tom Bitove, was a partner in Wayne Gretzky’s Restaurant.
“They all told me not to get into the restaurant industry,” she laughs, but she saw the need for a restaurant that falls somewhere between quick-service and full-service and serves salads that don’t feel like a chore to eat.
“There’s a lot of, like, bowls in Toronto. I found they’re really grain-heavy, and it’s like, I can’t just find, like, a Caesar salad, so I ended up ordering it from like a fancy restaurant or something,” she explains. “That’s not the goal here.”
So she got to work, doing a fair share of the recipe development from the comfort of her own kitchen and later working with a consulting firm to figure out how to scale the recipes she created — with ample inspiration from Pinterest and her own favourite restaurants — into a full-blown business.
The first restaurant opened for business in December 2022. Having sunk little time (or money, for that matter) into marketing, things were slow to start up.
“I wouldn’t say that’s the best time to open a salad restaurant,” Blair said. “But it really did pick up in January.”
Her takeaway? “Don’t fret in the beginning, because, like, those first two weeks weren’t necessarily the best two weeks, but it also helped us learn.”
Since then, thanks in part to evangelical fans of the chain singing its praises across social media platforms, Forest Hill Farmhouse has gone certifiably gangbusters.
That the chain has been able to expand so far in such a short time, Blair says, is “surreal,” but, at the same time, it’s a testament to the fact that the city had been just as hungry as she was for salads that are, let’s face it, actually good.
Blair Bitove (Fareen Karim/blogTO)
“It’s really rewarding. I know restaurants are tough, so being able to grow at this pace has been incredibly rewarding, but I think it’s just a testament to show that what I felt was lacking in the city, other people felt.”
Having recently opened locations in Leslieville and Liberty Village, Blair can confidently say that Forest Hill Farmhouse is far from done expanding.
“We’re targeting a couple more neighbourhoods for next year,” Blair confirms, but “nothing’s locked down yet.”
Beyond Toronto, the sky’s the limit. Blair told Dished Toronto that the GTA and surrounding areas, including Oakville, Vaughan, and Aurora, are also on her radar. Even international expansion isn’t off the table at this point.
“I mean, I would love to get back to California, but it is like California has so much there. So, I do like the other markets, like going to New York, Florida, Chicago, because I think that California does have a lot of things like this, and all these other cities are similar to Toronto.”
She’s even had friends in London (England, not Ontario) reaching out to ask when she’s opening there. It’ll just be a matter of setting up the appropriate supply chain and local partnerships that can uphold the quality she’s established with her vendors here in Toronto.
For Blair’s part, whatever the future of Forest Hill Farmhouse holds, she’s game.
Forest Hill Farmhouse currently has Toronto locations in Midtown, Liberty Village, Leslieville, the PATH, and Parkdale.
Still hungry? Discover Dished Toronto on TikTok