Quebec's French language office said it contacted Kernels Popcorn several times to encourage it to comply before issuing it a fine of $2,500 for having an all-English website.
The owner says he was told by an OQLF agent that new legislation coming into force in 2025 will make their current name illegal and they'll be forced to translate it to French.
An Office québecois de la langue française (OQLF) study of over 10,000 outdoor signs and notices on 2,161 businesses in Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau and Sherbrooke found that the vast majority deviated from Quebec French language standards, even if those "deviations" were minor. They included "borrowing" from languages other than French (10% of all deviations), spelling (19%) and grammar (15%) mistakes. In total, 74% of evaluated signs had some form of deviation.