The publicity-hungry restaurateur attracted customers and media attention with his stunt and created a tradition in the province
John Dys, seen here, was a B.C. restaurateur who became famous for inventing the 'hamburger poll' in the 1960s.In 1963, John Dys added four temporary items to his restaurant menu – identical 49-cent hamburgers named after politicians.
Mr. Dys, who has died at 85, created a uniquely British Columbia tradition, an oddity to join the likes of a salmon derby or a bathtub race. In one election, partisans who found the preliminary results unpalatable tried to cook the poll by sending an operative to purchase enough burgers to satisfy Wimpy. The proprietor was happy to take their money.
John Dys, right, at his hamburger stand at the PNE in the summer of 1969, showing the burger totals for that year’s election.On the German invasion of Poland in 1939, his father purchased a large stock of tobacco from a wholesaler, which was secreted in the ceiling between the lower and upper floors of the house. A pear, plum and apple orchard sustained the family through the deprivations of the German occupation.
During the 1969 provincial election, which pitted incumbent Social Credit premier W.A.C. Bennett against NDP leader Thomas Berger, the hamburger poll got nearly daily coverage, as readers ate up accounts of sales of Bergerburgers, a mouthful whatever your preference.
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