In the 1960s, the decade of youth, the Triple-O burger was as popular as the Beatles with British Columbia teenagers.

A White Spot drive-in was the “in” place to congregate: kids crammed into their parents’ cars for an evening cruise and topped it off at White Spot. The White Spot family, now comprised of 10 locations, embraced the new decade with confidence and enthusiasm.

In 1960, Nat Bailey’s five associate partners were sold on the merits of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and encouraged White Spot to buy KFC franchise rights for British Columbia.

Within a year, Nat agreed that Kentucky Fried Chicken was a unique product with exciting sales potential. He agreed to let his partners create a separate company, Ernie’s Fine Foods, to take on the KFC franchise. With Colonel Sanders in attendance, the first three KFC stores opened in the Lower Mainland in 1961. By 1993, when KFC was sold to Pepsico to allow White Spot Limited to focus on its restaurant division, the franchise was so popular it had grown to 67 locations in B.C.

The White Spot at Lougheed Hwy. and Gilmore Ave. opened in 1961, destined to become one of the company’s most popular drive-ins. Several months after that location was launched, the first “overseas” White Spot opened at the Victoria Town and Country Shopping Centre.

In April of 1967, White Spot’s two company groups—one owned by Nat, the other by his five partners, with Nat as president of both—were merged, leaving Nat holding more than 50 percent of the shares. Then, in a surprise move after many years of refusing to consider outside offers of purchase, Nat suddenly announced that he had sold White Spot Limited. On April 1, 1968, Nat completed the sale of his 40-year-old company to General Foods Limited for $6.5 million. Nat continued going to the office everyday in his new combined roles as president of the White Spot group and a vice-president of General Foods.

One of the top eight food purveyors in North America, General Foods accelerated White Spot’s growth and modernization.

White Spot would also have a modern new look. Gone was the original green and red cockerel on White Spot’s logo, replaced by an updated design of a chicken head.

The B.C. operations were profitable, with combined sales of about $100 million in 1981—but General Foods was not as lucky with its U.S. restaurant ventures, which were losing money. As a result of its weakened position, it decided to sell its restaurant divisions in both the U.S. and Canada, including its White Spot holdings. At this crucial time in White Spot’s history, Peter C. Toigo began to seriously consider the possibility of buying White Spot.