For whatever reason, I was going through my trivia box on the weekend. Okay, one of my trivia boxes. Or as other people might call it, “Why am I keeping all this worthless junk for” box. Anyway, I came upon an A&W ‘Decision Maker’ token. A&W was started in 1919 in Lodi, California by two gentlemen named Allen & Wright. The A&W Drive-Ins’ first Canadian location was in Winnipeg in 1956. Dick Bolte, an American citizen had purchased the Canadian rights and opened the first Drive-In on Portage Avenue west in the Kirkfield Park area. To many people, this was a long way out west, but for the car-loving public, this was heaven right here in Winnipeg. Many had experienced the eat in your car novelty in the USA and were ecstatic to have it close to home. Needless to say, it was an instant success and there were long line ups. I well remember Saturday nights when a group of us from United College would hop in to somebody’s dad’s car to cruise the “Dub”.

As fate would have it, one of my classmates became an executive at A&W Drive-Ins of Canada at the head office in Winnipeg. He recruited me in 1968 to become the Equipment Sales Co-ordinator for Canada. I was part of the Merchandising Department. Bolte had sold his interest to the United Fruit Company and with McDonald's set to invade Canada, A&W wanted to expand quickly. As part of our numerous duties, we were constantly researching new equipment and looking for items that could be used as give-aways. At the time, it was very popular for service stations and other companies to hand out what was called “Advertising Specialities”. They could be matches, glasses, or a thousand other items. Someone came up with the “Decision Maker” token. On one side, the token said “Do It” and on the other side “To Hell With It”.  All the drive-ins were asked to purchase these tokens to be used as give-aways. For whatever reason it did not take off. It lasted less than a year before joining other “good ideas” on the trivia trash heap. Welcome to the passing parade. For collectors of A&W memorabilia today, it is much desired.

Finding the token set up a thirst for that classic root beer that nothing else would quench, and so I took my grandkids to the new A&W Restaurant at Kirkfield Park. We enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken burgers, fries, and of course a cold mug of root beer. As we watched the friendly, efficient staff go about their business. They both echoed what thousands of other kids have said before, “Grampa, we think we would like to work here like you did and then we could have A&W every day!” And after a quick spin, the Decision Maker token completely agreed, turning up a decisive “Do It”!

 

Ken Kristjanson

February 2017