A luxury White Spot concept

I have been thinking about this for years: White Spot, but luxury. The same cozy, wood-panelled, family-restaurant warmth that every person in BC recognizes on sight, elevated to the standard of a Michelin-starred dining room.

Introducing, Bailey’s by White Spot. Ideal launch date: In 2028, on White Spot’s 100-year anniversary.

Arriving at Bailey’s.

This is what you walk into. A host stand in dark marble with a brass lamp. Reeded glass and walnut, with the logo set into the glass. Oxblood booths, green velvet chairs, linen on the tables, a fire in a stone wall. And then the far wall, which is not a wall at all: glass from floor to ceiling, and below it the whole city, the harbour, the bridges, the mountains behind, snow on the cedars if you time it right.

Concept art of the Bailey’s dining room at dusk: a dark marble host stand with a brass lamp, reeded-glass and walnut partitions with a White Spot chicken set into the glass, oxblood leather booths and green velvet chairs, a fireplace in a stone wall, and floor-to-ceiling windows looking down over the Vancouver skyline, harbour and mountains with snow on the cedars — Entering the dining room.

Keep scrolling for some conceptual art showcasing the food, service, and atmosphere at Bailey’s. (Don’t leave before you see the Pirate Pak…)

Why White Spot

If you’re not from here, some context. In 1928 a man named Nat Bailey opened a roadside stand at Granville and 67th in Vancouver and started serving food to people in their cars. It is widely credited as Canada’s first drive-in. Car-hops ran trays out to your window. Burgers came with a secret sauce that, legend has it, got its name from the order slips: an O meant extra, and Triple O meant plenty of everything.

Black and white photograph of a White Spot car-hop in a peaked cap and uniform passing a tray of food through the window of a convertible, where a family of four sits with Pirate Pak boxes open on the seats, in a parking lot lined with painted murals — The original car-hop service.

Nearly a century later, White Spot is still here. Dozens of restaurants across BC and Alberta. The Legendary Burger. Zoo Sticks. The Pirate Pak, a cardboard pirate ship full of a kid’s dinner, which has been shipping since the 1960s and still comes with a chocolate gold coin.

Black and white photograph of the original White Spot on Granville Street: a long white clapboard building with a steep shingled roof and dormer windows, a Granville House sign, striped awnings, and a row of 1970s cars parked out front — The original White Spot location on Granville Street.

I have been going to White Spot my whole life. Birthdays as a kid. A group meal after kickboxing. The first place I think of when someone visiting asks what Vancouver actually tastes like. My wife Olivia and I go all the time now; for both of us it feels like home in a way no other restaurant does.

So this is not just a brand exercise; it’s a love letter.

Bailey’s — the concept

Think of it as a single flagship. Not a new chain, not a rebrand of the existing restaurants. One room, somewhere in the city, that treats White Spot the way a great chef treats a childhood dish: with total respect for what it is, and total ambition for what it could be.

I have been calling it Bailey’s — Bailey’s by White Spot, if you read the whole sign. Nat Bailey started all of this from the back of a Model T, and the name does two jobs at once: it tells you whose house you are in, and it sounds like somewhere you reserve a table in advance.

Concept art of the booths at Bailey’s: walnut booths upholstered in oxblood leather, reeded-glass and brass partitions with a gilded White Spot chicken, terrazzo floors, white linen, milk-glass pendant lamps and a painting of the BC coast on a stone wall above a fireplace — Booths like the ones you made childhood memories in.

The details are where this lives or dies, so here they are in a series of conceptual images.

Mise-en-place

When you sit at the table and order your drinks, you know you’re at a White Spot establishment. Everything from the iconic green, to the traditional throwback logo, to the oxblood leather booths spark nostalgia. But everything feels a few notches above… the small touches, the linen napkin, the branded dusting on your cocktail, flowers on each table, beautiful mood lighting. This ain’t your grandma’s White Spot.

Concept art of the Bailey’s table setting: a cream plate with a green rim line and the White Spot chicken at the top, walnut-handled cutlery with the chicken inlaid in the ends laid on a linen napkin embroidered Bailey’s by White Spot, a pink coupe cocktail with the chicken stencilled on the foam, a glass of red wine, a cut-crystal tumbler, a pint of lager with the chicken etched on the glass, and a brass table lamp, on a dark wood table in front of oxblood leather booths — The table.

Fish & Chips, reimagined.

At Bailey’s the halibut arrives wrapped in a lace of batter so thin you can see the fish through it, sitting in a pool of beurre blanc that gets poured at the table from a silver boat. The chips are not chips. They are crisp golden spheres in a tiny fryer basket. There is a quenelle of tartare with a spoon of caviar on top, a confit lemon, trout roe, dill, a few drops of parsley oil.

Concept art of the Bailey’s fish and chips: a fillet of halibut in a lace-thin batter on a white plate with the White Spot chicken on the rim, beurre blanc being poured from a silver sauce boat, golden potato spheres in a miniature fryer basket, tartare topped with caviar, confit lemon, trout roe and dill — Fish & chips.

The Legendary Wagyu Burger.

The bun is brioche, glazed to a shine, with a ribbon of pickle folded on top and held with a brass pin - rather than laid atop the bun. Under it, dry-aged Canadian wagyu, torch-melted cheese, shaved black truffle, and Triple-O sauce made fresh to order. The fries are thick-cut and crisp, with fresh shaved parmesan.

Concept art of the elevated Legendary Burger at Bailey’s: a glazed brioche bun topped with a ribbon of pickle on a brass pin, dry-aged beef, melted cheese, shaved black truffle and Triple O sauce, beside thick-cut fries being showered with parmesan from a grater, on a white plate with the White Spot chicken on the rim — The Legendary Burger.

Tableside Triple-O

A cart. A silver sauce boat. A cut-crystal bowl on a velvet coaster, and a server in the green apron who mixes and pours the fresh Triple-O sauce before your eyes, slowly, from a height, so you can watch it ribbon. Then it sits beside your burger and your fries and you do with it what you have always done. The sauce hasn’t changed, the ceremony has.

Wild BC Salmon, elevated

Wild BC salmon, wrapped in a scale of crisp potato so it looks like it still has its skin, rolled around a filling of crab and herbs, and sliced so you can see it in all it’s glory. A shard of salmon skin stands up out of the top like a sail. Around it, a beurre blanc, blistered cherry tomatoes, ribbons of cucumber, salmon roe, dill, a few drops of green oil. It is the most Vancouver plate on the menu, and it’s the one the kitchen will be judged on.

Concept art of the BC salmon at Bailey’s: a roll of wild salmon wrapped in overlapping crisp potato scales and filled with crab, sliced to show the pink salmon and white filling, a shard of crisp salmon skin standing upright, ribbons of cucumber, blistered cherry tomatoes, salmon roe, dill and drops of green oil in a pool of beurre blanc, on a white plate with the White Spot chicken on the rim — Legendary status isn't just for burgers anymore...

Zoo Sticks & Onion Rings

If you’ve eaten at White Spot, you know the significance of Zuccini Sticks and Onion Rings. The Classic Basket & Western Basket have always been iconic add-ons to your burger. At Bailey’s, Zoo Sticks arrive in a small cast-iron pan on a brass stand, blistering, under a snowfall of parmesan. Onion rings in a wicker basket with a brass handle, on a linen, each one crisp enough to hear across the room. A swoosh of house-made ranch dressing on the plate brings the whole dish together.

Concept art of elevated Zoo Sticks and onion rings at Bailey’s: a wicker basket with a brass handle lined with linen and filled with crisp onion rings, and a small cast-iron pan on a brass stand piled with breaded zucchini sticks under grated parmesan, each on a white plate with a green rim line, the White Spot chicken and a swoosh of ranch, with a brass lamp and a dark green napkin on a wood table in front of oxblood booths — Zoo Sticks & Onion Rings

The Adult Milkshake

You don’t need the metal tin to go along with your Milkshake anymore. The new Crystalware is big enough to hold your entire milkshake. Pictured here is a crème brûlée flavour. It arrives on a brass tray, and then someone takes a torch to the top of it in front of you until the sugar cracks. Beside it, a small glass of the house espresso liqueur, for pouring in or for drinking straight, your call.

Concept art of the crème brûlée milkshake at Bailey’s: a tall cut-crystal glass with the White Spot chicken frosted on it, filled with a thick vanilla milkshake ribboned with caramel, its top torched to a brûlée crust by a brass blowtorch, a gold straw, a small stemmed glass of espresso liqueur beside it and a bottle labelled Espresso Liqueur with the chicken on the label, all on a brass tray with the chicken engraved on the rim — The Milkshake, no parental permission required.

The bar

White Spot was never really known for it’s bar. Bailey’s is.

Oxblood leather stools on brass legs. Terrazzo underfoot. Milk-glass pendants hanging low over a long dark marble counter, and behind it a living wall with water running down it and the Bailey’s logo lit up in the middle.

Concept art of the bar at Bailey’s: guests on oxblood leather stools at a long marble counter under milk-glass pendant lamps, a bartender in a green Bailey’s apron shaking a cocktail, a living green wall with a waterfall and a gilded White Spot chicken behind the bar, and two beer taps labelled Bailey’s Pale Ale and Bailey’s Lager — The Bailey's Bar

Just swing by for a drink. First come first serve. No reservation required to sit at the bar.

The private room

Birthdays, celebrations, and corporate events at Bailey’s take on a whole new vibe.

A single live-edge table. Incredible views of the whole city laid out below, the harbour, the mountains, snow on the cedars (if you time it right). A fire in a stone wall. Ribbed glass lamps low over the table. It is for the 40th, the engagement, the deal that closed, the team that shipped the thing. The menu is whatever you want it to be, and yes, that includes Pirate Paks for a table of adults who have earned them.

Concept art of the private dining room at Bailey’s: a live-edge walnut table set for ten in oxblood leather chairs, floor-to-ceiling glass looking down over the Vancouver skyline, harbour and mountains at night with snow on the cedars, a fireplace in a stone wall, ribbed glass pendants over the table and a walnut door with the White Spot chicken set into it — The private room.

The drive-in

The original White Spot was a drive-in before it was anything else, and Bailey’s won’t skip it.

Picture it: you pull up under the lights, and a car-hop in a tailored green coat and leather gloves brings a tray to your window. The tray is walnut and brass, and it clips to the door the way the old ones did. A crystal glass, a linen napkin, real cutlery… Valet optional. Your own car, your own music, the best burger of your life.

Concept art of the elevated car-hop service at Bailey’s: a car-hop in a tailored dark green coat with cream lapels and black leather gloves fixing a walnut and brass tray to the window of a black car, the tray holding the Legendary Burger and parmesan fries on a White Spot plate with crystal glasses and a linen napkin, a second car-hop carrying a tray behind, and the lit Bailey’s by White Spot sign on the building — Pull up in a Bentley

And of course, the Pirate Pak

Every great restaurant has a signature. You grew up on the Pirate Pak, but White Spot won’t serve them to you anymore since you’re an adult.

We’re flipping that logic and making the Pirate Pak a family-style appetizer platter for the whole family.

The Bailey’s Pirate Pak is still a ship, but it is made of something you keep. Wood and brass, a mermaid on the bow, branded linen sails. It arrives floating in its own little harbour. Up in the crow’s nests, the fries. On deck, the same promise as always: burgers, something from the sea, something sweet, a coin of chocolate. Just the finest version of each.

The Bailey’s Pirate Pak is a work of art, and since it’s a take-home item, the cost is high.

Concept art of the luxury Pirate Pak: a wooden galleon with brass fittings and a gilded mermaid figurehead, floating in a shallow marble tray of water, its decks loaded with sliders, prawns, oysters and fries, a soft-serve cone at the stern and a chocolate coin on the flag — The Bailey's Pirate Pak - $200

Why this is a good idea

I think about brands for a living, so let me take off the nostalgia hat for a moment.

Vancouver is ready for it. The Michelin Guide arrived here in 2022. The city has a dining scene that can support ambition, and it has a hunger for things that feel like ours.

The brand has the equity. Very few restaurants on earth can claim a hundred years and a whole province’s childhood. Luxury is built on heritage, and White Spot has more of it than brands that charge ten times as much.

Nostalgia + craft is a proven formula. The best restaurants in the world are, at heart, cooks elevating the food they grew up on. This is that, with a logo everyone already loves. As a Millenial, I can guarantee that my generation would swoon over the Bailey’s concept.

It protects the original. A flagship like this does not compete with the family restaurants. It makes them more special. Every visit to a regular White Spot becomes a little reminder that this brand you love is also capable of so much.

It would be a story. The press writes itself. The lineup around the block, the bookings months in advance, the locally sourced ingredients… not to mention The Pirate Pak videos on TikTok…

White Spot’s 100th Anniversary. White Spot was founded in 1928. 2028 will mark White Spot’s 100th birthday. The timing couldn’t be better to introduce a new flagship brand and location to the city where White Spot was founded.

What I am building

The concept artwork on this page is the first pass at making this real enough to be discussed by leaders at White Spot headquarters. The exterior, the room, the bar, the private room, the car-hops, the plates, the ship. There’s already so much here, but also so much missing. I see this concept as ‘living’, and will keep adding to it over time.

A note to my friends at White Spot

White Spot, if you’re reading this: I am not asking for anything. I just think this should exist, and I would very much like a reservation.

Thank you Nat Bailey, and the White Spot team for delivering me so many consistently wonderful meals and experiences over the years. I have been a loyal patron for 38 years, with no end in sight. My wife and I turn to White Spot whenever we’re looking for a cozy meal, which is multiple times a month.

Note: These are independent design concepts, not affiliated with the White Spot brand in any way. The imagery is AI-generated.