TV Restaurants

What Happened to Hoito Restaurant After You Gotta Eat Here!?

You Gotta Eat Here!, Season 1 Thunder Bay, Ontario

Current status

Closed

As of October 2026, Hoito Restaurant has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, April 17, 2025.

What the source shows: Northern Ontario Travel (page modified 2025-04-17) said the Hoito's iconic original location was closed due to fire and listed only a pancake stand at the Thunder Bay Country Market, and a second Northern Ontario Travel page (modified 2025-01-30) referred to the restaurant's closure at the start of the pandemic and a fire that destroyed the Finnish Labour Temple. How we decide a status →

What happened after You Gotta Eat Here!?

The Hoito in Thunder Bay, Ontario, was the third stop in the third episode of You Gotta Eat Here!, which aired on Flavour Network on 2012-08-25. According to TheTVDB's episode entry, host John Catucci ate thin Finnish-style pancakes there. The restaurant occupied the ground floor of the Finnish Labour Temple at 314 Bay Street, and Wikipedia's article on The Hoito says it was founded in 1918. Wikipedia also says the restaurant was closed from March 2020 because of the pandemic and that a fire damaged the building on 2021-12-22 during renovations.

Northern Ontario Travel reported on 2025-04-17 that the original location was closed because of the fire and that Hoito pancakes were being sold at the Thunder Bay Country Market, 435 Northern Avenue. A Google Maps listing checked on 2026-10-19 lists a Hoito restaurant at 251 Red River Road as operational; none of the pages read describes a reopened dining room.

Northern Ontario Travel's Hoito page, last modified 2025-04-17, said the iconic original location was closed due to fire and listed the pancakes at the Thunder Bay Country Market, 435 Northern Avenue, on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. A Northern Ontario Travel roundup modified 2025-01-30 referred to the restaurant's closure at the beginning of the pandemic and a later fire that destroyed the Finnish Labour Temple. An undated TBnewswatch article, written nearly a year after the 2021-12-22 fire, reported that the Finlandia Co-operative planned to lease space in a new building at Bay and Algoma streets to reopen the Hoito.

The episode You Gotta Eat Here!, Season 1

Episode 3
Aired
Title: Salvatore's Pizzaiolo Trattoria, The Harbour Diner, Hoito Restaurant · What was featured: Thin Finnish-style pancakes served in the Finnish Labour Temple

Synopsis (tvmaze.com) : Stops include Salvatore's Pizzaiolo Trattoria in Halifax, N.S.; the Harbour Diner in Hamilton, Ont.; and the Hoito Restaurant in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Also in Season 1 You Gotta Eat Here!

Season 1: 37 of 78 still open · 6 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 26 Season 1 episodes →

Nearest open restaurants By distance from 314 Bay St

All 296 TV restaurants in Ontario →

Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources we checked 5 references

  1. northernontario.travel https://northernontario.travel/thunder-bay/finn-pancakes-thunder-bay?s=1864
  2. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hoito
  3. TheTVDB https://www.thetvdb.com/series/you-gotta-eat-here/allseasons/official
  4. Google https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=Hoito+restaurant+251+Red+River+Rd+Thunder+Bay+ON+P7B+1A7
  5. northernontario.travel https://northernontario.travel/thunder-bay/discover-what-s-new-in-thunder-bay
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Record ygeh-009 · checked by Cal Marchetti.