Maple Leaf Foods brightens birthday after cake goof

Ordinarily, when people think of Maple Leaf Foods, they tend to think of meat and poultry products, or possibly even plant-based protein products.

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A family in Canada wanted to get a birthday cake with a Toronto Maple Leafs logo on it for an 8-year-old boy. Instead, they got one with a Maple Leaf Foods logo. (Facebook photo by Tania Levesque)
A family in Canada wanted to get a birthday cake with a Toronto Maple Leafs logo on it for an 8-year-old boy. Instead, they got one with a Maple Leaf Foods logo. (Facebook photo by Tania Levesque)

Ordinarily, when people think of Maple Leaf Foods, they tend to think of meat and poultry products, or possibly even plant-based protein products.

They don’t normally think of birthday cakes.

But for one Canadian family, the two will forever be linked.

Jacob Bertrand is a huge fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs professional hockey team. So as part of his birthday celebration, Jacob’s father and stepmother wanted to treat him to a birthday cake that celebrated his favorite team.

When his stepmother, Tania Lévesque, contacted a bakery to create the cake, the bakery staff told her they did not have a template on hand for the hockey team’s logo. Lévesque recommended doing a Google search so they could find a Maple Leafs logo.

The result wasn’t exactly what anybody anticipated. Instead of getting a cake that had the Toronto Maple Leafs logo, Jacob got a cake that had the Maple Leaf Foods logo.

Lévesque posted a picture of the cake on Facebook, which although it looked delicious, clearly wasn’t what the boy wanted. Her message with the picture read: “So Jacob was asking for a Toronto Maple Leafs cake for his birthday. The pastry chef of course was on Google to find the logo, but didn’t write … from Toronto. So this party is sponsored by the cold meats.”

The Canadian meat and poultry company caught wind of what happened, and jumped on Twitter to make the boy’s birthday a little better.

Along with another picture of Jacob and his dad with the birthday cake showing the thumbs-down gesture, Maple Leaf Foods tweeted: “Sorry to see that Jacob was disappointed with the cake, but we’re giving him something that will turn his thumbs UP!”

And what exactly did the company mean by that? Well, Maple Leaf Foods not only promised to give Jacob tickets for he and his family to attend an upcoming Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game, but also some Maple Leaf Foods products.

The family, which lives in Quebec, will travel to Toronto for a home game, and will enjoy CA$300 worth of food from the meat and poultry company.

The gesture is certainly appreciated, Lévesque told CBC, saying “the kids love baloney from Maple Leaf,” and Jacob is “very, very happy that we’re going to Toronto.”

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