White Spot president Warren Erhart spent lunchtime sampling beef dips at the company’s test kitchen in Burnaby. Which bun is best? Which dip? What will White Spot’s 17 million annual customers appreciate, in their old-school padded booths and “West Coast style” stone-fireplace lounges? Is the beef dip up to par with the Spot’s new feature menus, which offer dishes ranging from Thai to Tuscan?

That was Erhart’s day on April 29. The next morning, he jetted off to Seoul, South Korea, to meet with investors interested in bringing the B.C. brand there. If things work out, the Triple O’s White Spot fast-food restaurant will be Asia’s seventh, joining five in Hong Kong and one in Bangkok.

In other words, both Erhart and the 80-year-old restaurant chain are all over the place. He readily admits that White Spot has no target market. The business model shouldn’t work. But it does, as British Columbians will have the opportunity to witness on Mother’s Day, the busiest restaurant day of the year, when the lineups of toddlers in strollers and octogenarians will inevitably stream out of the Spot’s doors.

“There was probably a time at White Spot that we weren’t innovative. We probably lagged a bit, back 15 years ago or so,” Erhart told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview before beef-dipping. “We might have had a service arrogance that people would always come to our restaurants, but competition got better and people’s demands got higher, and we had to raise our own game as well. We’re not trying to out-Earls Earls, or out-Keg the Keg. We’re respectful of our competition, but today we try to offer more of a food and social experience.”

To this end, the company is making some changes: new menus, a new look, new sports-bar areas, expansion, TV ads featuring celebrity chefs such as John Bishop and Umberto Menghi. (Erhart says that Bishop and his family dine at White Spot.) All this is combined with the same booths, the same soft music, Pirate Paks, seniors’ specials, and Legendary Burgers.

White Spot has nailed B.C.’s restaurant reality, that about 80 percent of the province’s food customers are looking for familiarity, according to Ian Tostenson, president of the British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association. In a phone interview, he told the Straight that Erhart’s formula echoes that of another successful B.C. brand, Calona Wines, which he ran for 20 years. Both have a base in affordable, well-branded, familiar consumables, he said. That’s the secret to local success: don’t scare your customers.

“He’s [Erhart is] introducing a friendly sophistication,” Tostenson said. “I think he’s having some fun with it. The Rob Feenie and John Bishop approach is almost tongue-in-cheek.”

That said, Tostenson recognizes that even conservative diners are looking for healthier choices, and more locally sourced foods—things White Spot excels at, he noted. So isn’t the new Taste of Tuscany approach a risk?

“I think if they take the Triple O off the menu, that would be a big risk,” he said. “They have to make sure they always have familiar and traditional foods. I and everyone else would be aghast if they abandoned that part of their menu, especially for new users who didn’t grow up with White Spot.”¦and there’s a certain expectation from a price point of view.”

Indeed, after some prodding, Erhart admitted that the Spot’s “bread and butter” is still served with coleslaw.

“No matter what we do to our menu, we still sell a majority of burgers.”¦No matter how much we don’t advertise them on television, as much as we put on things like Thai features or Taste of Tuscany, burgers still account for a big part of our menu.”

Asked what percentage of orders burgers represent, Erhart would only say, “You’re drilling down too deep.”

But when the Straight threatened to go to a White Spot and count patties, Erhart fessed up. “Okay. About a third of our guests order burgers. But we’ve added so many great menu items, like risotto and butter chicken, and all kinds of different things, but I’ll tell you, there’s a whole lot of people who don’t even open the menu. They just say ”˜Give me a Legendary Burger,’ or ”˜a Grill and Greens’.”

On Mother’s Day, Erhart will be at White Spot, of course. As for Tostenson, the man who represents the province’s food-service industry? Milestones—another booth-filled comfort zone.