September 2019

PIZZA 

& PASTA 

REPORT 

Classic offerings 

get a makeover 

BORN AGAIN 

Il Fornello debuts its new 

take on Italian cuisine 

HOT TOPIC 

Experts weigh in 

on oven selection 

POS 

PRIMER 

Selecting the right 

POS for your operation 

BRAND POWER 

Consumer trust has propelled these brands to the top 

CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL PRODUCT SALES AGREEMENT #40063470 

PLUS 

THE 2019 

COFFEE & TEA 

REPORT 

SEPTEMBER 2019 $4.00

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VOLUME 52, NO.8 | SEPTEMBER 2019 

CONTENTS 

FEATURING : THE ANNUAL COFFEE & TEA REPORT 

IN THIS ISSUE 

29 

14 

FEATURES 

12 HOT CONCEPTS 

Tractor is filling a 

healthy fast-food gap 

14 BREAKING WITH TRADITION 

Chefs are giving pasta and pizza 

offerings a youthful makeover 

24 REBIRTH OF AN ICON 

Il Fornello is re-inventing itself with 

a new look and a plant-based menu 

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM 

24 

ON THE COVER: Sebastian Fuschini, senior 

vice-president of Franchising, Pizza Pizza Ltd. 

Photography by Daniel Alexander 

29 A MATTER OF TRUST 

Consumer trust is in the DNA 

of these top Canadian brands 

37 GREEN MEANS GO 

Central Canadian restaurants are 

banking on the region’s bounty 

41 TOP-30-UNDER-30 WINNER 

Richell Castillo, Fabbrica, Toronto 

43 HOT COMMODITIES 

Oven selection is not a 

one-size-fits-all process 

49 STRANGE BREWS 

Trends in coffee and tea consumption 

58 SHOW PREVIEW 

Products to watch at the 2019 

Coffee & Tea Show in Toronto 

59 POS PRIMER 

Tips for choosing the right 

POS for your operation 

37 

DEPARTMENTS 

2 FROM THE EDITOR 

3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

5 FYI 

11 FROM THE DESK OF 

ROBERT CARTER 

60 CHEF’S CORNER: Lanny MacLeod, 

Victor Restaurant, Toronto 

60 

SEPTEMBER 2019 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 1

FROM THE EDITOR 

SHIFTING 

REALITIES 

New data released by Restaurants Canada shows 

substantive changes are taking place in the foodservice 

landscape. 

According to the 2019 Foodservice Facts report, 

“Canadians under 40 are taking the biggest bite out 

of the country’s restaurant business, while showing an appetite 

for environmentally sustainable operations and menu options.” 

There’s been a continued shift to plant-based protein, sustainable 

seafood and locally sourced food. 

Driving many of these changes is the growing importance 

of the millennial cohort — and now Generation Z — with the 

result that foodservice sales grew by 5.1 per cent in 2018, pushing 

sales to nearly $90 billion (sales are forecast to surpass $100 

billion by 2021). This marks five-consecutive years of growth 

exceeding five per cent, making Canada’s foodservice industry 

the country’s fastest-growing sector over the past decade. 

The newly released report reveals 79 per cent of Gen-Z and 71 

per cent of millennial consumers order food or beverages from 

a restaurant at least once a week. It also shows consumers under 

30 spend 44 per cent of their food dollar on food and alcohol 

from restaurants, compared to 35 per cent for those between the 

ages of 30 and 39 and just 27 per cent for those 

65 and older. 

What do these changes mean for foodservice 

operators? Clearly, with the under-40 cohort 

driving change, operators need to focus on 

what matters most to them — environmentally 

sustainable alternatives, tech-friendly options 

and a wide range of menu offerings. 

The move to increased sustainability has 

taken hold at many of the country’s leading 

foodservice chains. Eight out of 10 foodservice 

operators across Canada now say environmental 

sustainability is important to their success 

and 72 per cent say they’ve made changes to 

their business operations to become more sustainable. 

While the trend to eliminating plastic 

straws has been the lightening rod for restaurant sustainability 

for many operators, it’s also proving to be the first of many steps 

being taken in the war against plastic. 

Interestingly, 98 per cent of operators say they recycle; 93 per 

cent use energy- or water-saving equipment; and 77 per cent 

track, compost or donate leftover food. And, with nine out of 

10 operators saying they plan to continue or improve on their 

current level of environmentally sustainable operations over the 

next three years, consumers can expect myriad other changes. 

ROSANNA CAIRA rcaira@kostuchmedia.com 

@foodservicemag 

facebook.com/foodservicehospitalitymagazine 

instagram.com/rosannacaira 

NICK WONG, LOCATION PROVIDED BY VIA CIBO 

2 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY SEPTEMBER 2019 FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

LETTERS 

Dear Editor: 

Re: Stop the Waste 

EST. 1968 | VOLUME 52, NO. 8 | SEPTEMBER 2019 

EDITOR & PUBLISHER ROSANNA CAIRA 

ART DIRECTOR MARGARET MOORE 

MANAGING EDITOR AMY BOSTOCK 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR DANIELLE SCHALK 

MULTIMEDIA MANAGER DEREK RAE 

DESIGN MANAGER COURTNEY JENKINS 

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER/EVENTS 

CO-ORDINATOR JHANELLE PORTER 

DESIGN ASSISTANT JACLYN FLOMAN 

DIRECTOR OF SALES CHERYLL SAN JUAN 

ACCOUNT MANAGER ELENA OSINA 

ACCOUNT MANAGER AMITOJ DUTT 

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS 

DEVELOPMENT, U.S.A. WENDY GILCHRIST 

CIRCULATION PUBLICATION PARTNERS 

CONTROLLER DANIELA PRICOIU 

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TAL ROZIN 

ADVISORY BOARD 

FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS LIMITED NICK PERPICK 

FHG INTERNATIONAL INC. DOUG FISHER 

JOEY RESTAURANT GROUP BRITT INNES 

MTY GROUP MARIE-LINE BEAUCHAMP 

PROFILE HOSPITALITY GROUP SCOTT BELLHOUSE 

SOTOS LLP ALLAN DICK 

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS JUDSON SIMPSON 

THE MCEWAN GROUP MARK MCEWAN 

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY 

& TOURISM MANAGEMENT BRUCE MCADAMS 

WELBILT MARY CHIAROT 

To subscribe to F&H, visit foodserviceandhospitality.com 

Published 11 times per year by Kostuch Media Ltd., 

23 Lesmill Rd., Suite 404, Toronto, Ont., M3B 3P6. Tel: (416) 447-0888, 

Fax (416) 447-5333, website: foodserviceandhospitality.com. 

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RETURN MAIL TO: Kostuch Media Ltd., 23 Lesmill Rd., Suite 404, Toronto, 

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Printed in Canada on recycled stock. 

I was sitting in my office doing 

up some paperwork when the 

mailman arrived with your 

magazine. Paperwork was put 

aside and the magazine was 

read cover to cover, back to 

front, top to bottom. Your articles 

are always interesting and 

insightful. 

In this issue, the main page 

was your page — From the 

Editor, Stop the Waste. 

Regarding equipment, I 

haven’t seen anything about ice 

machines/cubers. Unless they’ve 

changed, most floor models 

have a drain where excess water 

from production and thawing 

goes down. You would be 

surprised how much perfectly 

good water is lost. Our restaurant 

(a small family-business) 

raised our ice maker off the 

floor so water now drains into 

plastic buckets and water is 

used to wash produce, et cetera. 

Imagine how much [water] is 

wasted at full-scale institutions 

and franchised restaurants. 

I [also] believe kitchen 

exhaust hoods and fans should 

be installed with a three-speed 

fan, low speed on at all times 

during operation while other 

speeds used according to workload. 

(Similar idea to heating/ 

cooling, et cetera.) 

Next, how are hospitality 

and tourism schools addressing 

waste? I am curious about the 

number of graduates per year 

and the percentage of those 

employed in the profession. If 

there is a significant number, 

then why can’t small businesses, 

which are the backbone of the 

economy, find suitable help? 

Is it minimum wage, location? 

Also, are students in these programs 

taught anything about 

running a business — such as 

taxes, payroll, rules and regulations, 

licenses and inspectors, 

ordering supplies and inventory 

control — and not just 

a fragment of it? Maybe field 

placement should be part of the 

course (say one semester per 

each of the last two years). This 

would perhaps give [students] 

a better perspective of what is 

involved. 

When it comes to food waste, 

your editorial gives the percentage 

of where waste occurs, but 

I, as a businessman and avid 

reader, would like more detail: 

n What is meant by lost instead 

of wasted? And by 58 per 

cent of food produced? 

n What is the difference 

between food processing, 

34 per cent, and manufacturing 

at 13 per cent? 

n Production is 24 per cent 

— is this because crops 

cannot be harvested on 

time because of labour, 

or climate, or transportation 

to wholesalers? 

n Are we producing too 

much of the wrong crops or 

importing foods at a lesser 

dollar value? We have to 

pinpoint areas of concern 

within each sector of waste. 

n Also, some countries allow 

sale of products past due date 

on labels. What guidelines 

would be needed? 

I think I have given you 

enough food for thought. 

Keep up the good work! 

DONALD WHEELER, 

ARTEMIS RESTAURANT, 

FORT ERIE, ONT. 


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MONTHLY NEWS AND UPDATES FOR THE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY 

iSTOCK.COM/GOLUBOVY [SINGLE-USE PLASTICS]; NUT21NG [POLLUTED WATER] 

PLASTIC PUSH 

A proposed ban on single-use plastic 

items has companies thinking about 

the impact to their bottom lines 

BY JORDAN MAXWELL 

The federal government 

recently announced plans 

to ban single-use plastics, 

drawing mixed reactions 

from the foodservice industry. 

The ban seeks to prohibit singleuse 

plastics, such as plastic bags, 

straws, cutlery, plates and stir sticks, 

as early as 2021. 

The ban was met with applause 

from companies already committed to 

their own environmental and sustainability 

goals, but others worry about 

the impact such a ban would have on 

small businesses that don’t have inhouse 

packaging and manufacturing 

connections on a large scale. 

In response to the announcement, 

the Canadian Federation of 

Independent Business (CFIB) released 

a statement expressing its concerns. 

“Small-business owners support 

measures that seek to protect the 

environment, but they want to be 

part of the conversation,” says Dan 

Kelly, president, CFIB. “It would be 

irresponsible to put such a sweeping 

measure in place without fully studying 

the possible impacts on Canada’s 

small businesses first. There’s no reason 

why sound environmental policy 

and economic development can’t 

go hand-in-hand.” 

While the industry grapples 

with the realities — and costs — 

of plastic packaging and its sustainable 

alternatives, other mid-level 

players have been making adjustments, 

despite the cost. 

For Elio Zannoni, executive chef at 

Toronto-based Gusto 54 Restaurant 

Group, the need to protect the environment 

outweighed the inevitable 

increase in costs that came with biodegradable 

and re-useable packaging. 

“I was watching so many plastic 

takeout containers go out the door on 

a daily basis and felt it was time to do 

“ 

IT WASN’T 

NECESSARILY 

A MOVE TO 

GAIN MORE 

CUSTOMERS; IT 

WAS ACTUALLY 

TO GAIN MORE 

EMPLOYEES 

FAST 

FACTS 

IN CANADA, 

UP TO 

15-BILLION 

PLASTIC BAGS 

ARE USED 

YEARLY AND 

CLOSE TO 

57-MILLION 

STRAWS ARE 

USED DAILY 

GLOBALLY, ONE 

GARBAGE- 

TRUCKLOAD OF 

PLASTIC WASTE 

ENTERS THE 

OCEAN EVERY 

MINUTE 

SOURCE: 

GOVERNMENT 

OF CANADA 

” 

— ELIO ZANNONI, 

GUSTO 54 

RESTAURANT 

GROUP 

something,” Zannoni says. “It’s about 

30-per-cent more in cost [for our 

packaging]. At first, we took it on the 

chin because we didn’t want to gouge 

our customers, but lately, we’ve put 

a little bit more of a charge on our 

takeout items so the customers are 

basically paying for the packaging.” 

Zannoni adds prices have levelled 

off, but also highlighted another key 

area where sustainable packaging has 

helped the business — finding labour. 

“It wasn’t necessarily a move to 

gain more customers; it was actually 

to gain more employees,” says 

Zannoni. “With a younger generation 

of employees coming through, it was 

one of the first questions they were 

asking. That was an eye opener.” 

While the costs of sustainable 

packaging will undoubtedly impact 

small businesses, mid-level to large 

businesses are setting the table for 

companies to take advantage of the 

positives. Waste management and 

corporate responsibility can help 

grow the bottom line and also bolster 

the labour force with millennials 

and Gen-Zs who put weight 

into a company’s environmental 

strategy. 

“It’s part of the value equation 

for today’s world. Consumers expect 

[businesses] to be responsible and 

we know we must adapt to grow a 

follower base that sees us as acting 

appropriately,” says Bruce Fox, EVP of 

Vancouver-based Browns Restaurant 

Group. “The biggest issue for our 

franchise owners comes down to cost, 

but we recognize waste is an issue. 

So, we’re always looking for practical 

ways to be more efficient and cost 

effective, as well as do less harm.” 



TIMS MAKING MOVES 

After rolling out its Beyond Meat breakfast sandwiches earlier this year, Tim Hortons has 

added the Beyond Meat Burger to its menu — the chain’s first burger. In a continued effort 

to accommodate plant-based eating, Tim Hortons also began testing a plant-based egg patty 

in July. The egg alternative, sourced from San Francisco-based JUST Inc., is mung-bean 

based and uses turmeric and carrot for natural colour. In July, the brand also opened its first 

innovation café in 

Toronto. Located 

inside the Exchange 

Tower in the city’s 

financial district, 

the boutique café 

offers seven different 

coffee-serving methods, 

including the 

all-new Tim Hortons 

Draft Latte. Other 

offerings include 12 

new “Dream Doughnuts” and premium soups and sandwiches. The location will also act as 

a testing ground for sustainability initiatives. “This restaurant offers guests a new and innovative 

experience from the second they walk in the door,” says Alex Macedo, president, Tim 

Hortons. “From wireless charging and the flexibility to order at a kiosk or through our app to 

sustainability initiatives, this is a first-of-a-kind location.” 

COMING 

EVENTS 

SEPT. 22-23 Canadian Coffee & Tea Show, 

Toronto Congress Centre, Toronto. Email: info@ 

coffeeteashow.ca; website: coffeeteashow.ca 

NOV. 4-5 Canadian Restaurant Leadership 

Summit, Arcadian Court, Toronto. Tel: 289-998- 

0277; website: restaurantsummit.ca 

NOV. 29 31st-Annual Pinnacle Awards, Fairmont 

Royal York, Toronto. Tel: 416-447-0888, ext. 235; 

email: dpricoiu@kostuchmedia.com; website: 

kostuchmedia.com/shop 

FOR MORE EVENTS VISIT 

foodserviceandhospitalitycom/events/ 

NO MORE 

STRAWS 

NEW 

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1 AC Nielsen 52 weeks ending January 5, 2019. Based on dollar sales. 

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Beef Ribs with Cattlemen’s® St. Louis 

Original BBQ Sauce seasoned with 

NEW La Grille Fiery Habanero and 

Roasted Garlic seasoning. 

KFC Canada has announced plans to eliminate 

plastic straws and bags from all of its restaurants 

by October 2019. The initiative is intended 

to lessen the brand’s environmental impact and 

is expected to remove 50-million plastic straws 

and 10-million plastic bags from landfills and 

waterways. It also backs up the company’s ongoing 

commitment to ensure its plastic-based, 

consumer-facing packaging will be recoverable 

or reusable by 2025. “KFC Canada believes in 

feeding people, not landfills. Reducing the volume 

of single-use plastic within our restaurants 

ensures we’re continuing to lessen our environmental 

footprint,” says Nivera Wallani, president 

and GM at KFC Canada. 


RESTOBUZZ 

H4C Par Dany Bolduc 

has opened in Montreal. 

Chef-owner Dany Bolduc 

closed St-Henri staple H4C 

in April but has returned 

to open the new concept, 

which will feature two 

testing menus that include 

five-and 10-course meals. 

It also includes brunch 

service...Sash, a new 

restaurant and wine bar 

from Sash Simpson — the 

former executive chef at 

North 44 — has opened in 

Toronto, featuring North American dishes with international twists. Offerings include charcuterie, 

truffle foie gras terrine and duck rillettes served with seasonal compote, house mustard, pickles 

and olives and baguette ($33); sweet pea ravioli with beurre noisette, hazelnut, lemon zest and 

sage ($29) and Chilean sea bass with madras curry, coconut milk, okra, vegetable pakoras and 

coriander ($48)...Bar Vendetta — a casual wine-and-pasta bar — has opened its doors in Toronto, 

in the location previously occupied by the Black Hoof. For this new venture, owner Jen Agg is joined 

by her partners from Le Swan — chef James Santon, sommelier Jake Skakun and bar manager 

David Greig...The Allium, an employee-owned and operated business in Calgary, has opened its 

doors. The co-op is the brainchild of Jared Blustein and currently has 12 owners who contributed 

$5,000 each to opening the restaurant. The restaurant will feature a vegetable-forward menu... 

Roselle, a sweet shop in Toronto’s Corktown neighbourood, has opened a new location in the city’s 

west end. The new dessert bar, located on Dovercourt Road, offers a variety of pastries, cakes 

and other French-inspired baked goods, including tarts, cookies, petit fours and viennoiseries... 

Alice opened in Ottawa’s Little Italy in June. The vegetable-inspired restaurant features an everchanging 

eight-course tasting menu paired with natural wines, modern cocktails and fermented 

beverages ($95). Run by award-winning chef Briana Kim, the restaurant showcases a fermentation 

cabinet in the dining room and a greenhouse out front...Avling Kitchen & Brewery has opened its 

doors on Queen Street East in Toronto. The 5,700-sq.-ft. space houses a brewery in the basement 

and restaurant on the main floor led by head brewer, Brandon Judd and executive chef Suzanne 

Barr. It also includes a rooftop garden and boasts an in-house butcher program. 

High-speed combination ovens 

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Opening a new restaurant? LET US IN ON THE BUZZ 

Send a high-res image, menu and background information about the new 

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compact series 

light duty series 

IN MEMORIUM Prominent B.C. wine-industry 

figure, Harry McWatters passed away July 23 

at the age of 74. A dedicated champion of the 

B.C. wine industry for more than 50 years, 

McWatters was the founding chair of the B.C. 

Wine Institute, VQA Canada, the B.C. Wine 

Information Society and the B.C. Hospitality 

Foundation. Most recently, he was president 

and CEO of Encore Vineyards Ltd., which includes 

labels Time Winery, Evolve Cellars and the 


McWatters Collection. He founded B.C.’s first 

estate winery, Sumac Ridge Estate Winery, in 

1980 and went on to found See Ya Later Ranch in 

1995 before the two wineries were sold to Vincor 

Canada (now Constellation Brands) in 2000. 

He remained president of Vincor Canada until 

he “retired” in 2008. He went on to establish 

Vintage Consulting Group, launch Time Winery 

and the McWatters Collection and co-develop 

Encore Vineyards Ltd. 

medium to heavy duty series 

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DELIVERY DUO 

JAVA TO GO The 

Canadian launch of 

Starbucks Delivers 

powered by 

Uber Eats. 

Starbucks Canada has launched door-to-door delivery service in partnership with 

UberEats. The initiative — Starbucks Delivers — will be available in major cities, 

including Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. “Uber Eats is the ideal partner to help 

share the Starbucks experience wherever our customers are,” says Michael Conway, 

president of Starbucks Canada. The service will feature the majority of Starbucks’ 

core menu items and more than 170,000 beverage customizations. Starbucks currently 

offers delivery service in 12 global markets — the U.K., China, Japan, Hong 

BUNN FSandHFall 2019.pdf 1 2019-08-12 8:52 AM 

Kong, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico and Chile. 

IN BRIEF 

MTY Food Group Inc. has completed its acquisition 

of Quebec-based chains Yuzu Sushi and Allô! Mon 

Coco. The deals were originally announced in June and 

April respectively. Yuzu Sushi includes 68 restaurant 

franchises, 30 franchised express counters and 34 

complementary grocery outlets, while the Allô! Mon 

Coco network currently comprises 39 franchised 

restaurants...La Prep has introduced Beyond Meat 

Burgers at select restaurant locations in Ontario. 

The introduction of the new burger accompanied the 

announcement of a new marketing partnership with 

Humane Society International/Canada’s Forward Food 

Victor Restaurant 

program, which promotes creating a better food system 

through humane and sustainable, plant-based food 

choices...Cora Breakfast and Lunch has partnered 

with WestJet to provide onboard breakfast on morning 

flights. The in-flight dishes are inspired by classic 

Cora favourites, including smoked-turkey eggs Ben et 

Dictine, a vegetable skillet and a spinach-and agedcheddar 

omelette with turkey sausage...Gahan House 

has opened a new location in the Nova Centre 

>>> continued on page 10 

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Enjoy great tasting beef that is 

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complex in downtown Halifax. The new brewery 

features upgraded brewing equipment and 

is much larger than the brewery’s original 

Harbourfront location. The brewpub also features 

a full menu with brunch, appetizer, oyster, 

entrée and dessert options...Popeyes Louisiana 

Kitchen Inc. has announced plans to open more 

than 1,500 restaurants in China over the next 10 

years through a partnership with TFI TAB Food 

Investments. Popeyes is the latest brand under 

Restaurant Brands International (RBI) to enter 

China...The Old Spaghetti Factory has launched 

a Beyond Meat Spaghetti and Meatballs dish at 

its restaurants in Canada. The new dish includes 

gluten-free spaghetti and is served with housemade 

Italian marinara sauce. The Beyond Meat 

meatballs are hand-rolled daily...Blaze Fast- 

Fire’d Pizza has launched two new gluten-free 

pizza crusts in Canada and the U.S. The new 

crusts include the Keto Crust, which contains 

just six grams of net carbs, and the Cauliflower 

Crust. The brand is also introducing a new line of 

“Life Mode Pizzas,” available exclusively through 

Blaze Pizza’s mobile app and online. 

PEOPLE 

Jim Norberg has 

been appointed 

as the new 

Chief Restaurant 

Operations 

Officer at Papa 

John’s. Effective 

immediately, 

Jim Norberg 

Norberg will 

oversee the operations 

of Papa John’s corporate and franchise 

restaurants in North America. Norberg previously 

spent more than 30 years as the executive vicepresident 

and COO at McDonald’s U.S.A., where 

he managed 14,000 restaurants in the U.S... 

Daniel Haroun is Freshii’s new Chief Financial 

Officer. In his new role, Haroun will be responsible 

for leading financial operations across the 

company, as well as providing overall strategic 

direction. Haroun boasts more than a decade of 

senior-management experience with Restaurant 

Brands International (RBI) and, most recently, 

Walmart Canada. 

SUPPLY SIDE 

Glance Technologies Inc. has entered into 

a mutual-referral agreement with Squirrel 

Systems, a point-of-sale provider to the North- 

American restaurant and hospitality industry. 

Glance Technologies provides a mobile-payment 

solution called Glance Pay, which allows its 

restaurant partners to utilize its ‘Real-Time Bill’ 

— a feature that gives guests access to their 

bill on their phones so they can pay at their 

convenience...Nestlé Canada has launched a 

new food program with Foods Banks Canada — 

Nestlé for Healthier Kids — that will financially 

support its After-the- Bell Program and expand 

the Food Explorers Cooking Club. The initiative 

aims to help 50-million children lead healthier 

lives by 2030 as Nestlé strives to improve its 

food-and-beverage portfolio. 

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FROM THE DESK OF ROBERT CARTER 

FOOD FOR 

THOUGHT 

E-Commerce is changing the face of the foodservice industry 

iSTOCK.COM/GRAPESTOCK [FOOD DELIVERY] 

According to a recent survey by 

The NPD Group, 82 per cent of 

Canadians have made an online 

purchase in the past six months. 

While this number may seem 

surprisingly high at first glance, the reality 

is e-commerce has become part of our 

daily lives. Whether it’s the newest gadget 

from Amazon, a birthday gift from Etsy or a 

late-night dinner order through Uber Eats, 

consumers are leveraging technology like 

never before. 

When it comes to e-commerce, the food 

category is often overlooked. However, 

Canadians are ordering food online at a 

higher rate than most other online-shopping 

categories. The vast majority of food 

occasions accessed through e-commerce are 

restaurant meals for delivery, but meal kits 

and online grocery orders are also on the 

rise. And with the ongoing rise in mobileapp 

usage among Canadians, the growth 

seen in recent years is expected to accelerate. 

According to NPD research, 30 per cent of 

Canadians have made a food purchase online 

at some point over the last six months. This 

makes food the second-most-popular onlineshopping 

category based on consumer penetration 

— second only to apparel/footwear. 

The most common starting point for placing 

an online food order is the brand’s own 

website (29 per cent), followed by Google 

searches at 21 per cent. However, recommendations 

from family and friends are still 

the most important influencing factor in the 

decision-making process. Surprisingly, only 

11 per cent of respondents said social media 

was an influencing factor, which is low compared 

to shoppers in other online categories. 

When it comes to demographics, the 

18- to 34-year-old cohort is most inclined to 

order food through e-commerce. In fact, this 

demographic is responsible for 60 

per cent of online orders in the food/ 

foodservice category. 

As mobile-app growth continues, mobile 

devices are becoming more popular with 

e-commerce shoppers. Devices such as 

smartphones and tablets are used to place 

one third of all online-shopping orders 

(across all categories) and nearly 50 per cent 

of all food-specific orders. When it comes to 

e-commerce in general, one in four orders 

are made using the retailer app compared to 

43 per cent of food-specific orders. 

It’s important to consider digital delivery 

represents less than two per cent of all 

foodservice visits and three per cent of all 

foodservice dollars. But, in a flat market 

challenged to find growth, the additional 

30-million visits digital delivery brought to 

the market this past year are a bright spot for 

the industry. FH 

Robert Carter is an industry 

advisor with the NPD Group 

Inc. He can be reached at 

robert.carter@npd.com for 

questions regarding the latest 

trends and their impact on 

the foodservice business. 



HOT CONCEPTS 

TRACTOR 

The quick-serve concept is making healthy food fast and accessible 

STORY BY DANIELLE SCHALK 

As busy parents operating in Vancouver’s 

corporate world, Meghan Clarke and her 

husband/business partner Steve found it 

hard to feed their family quick healthy food. 

“Often, we would grab stuff to go or 

order out and [the options were] not super 

healthy,” she explains. The couple saw 

this as a gap in the market — one which 

would eventually become the inspiration 

behind the 2013 launch of Tractor Everyday 

Healthy Foods. 

The family-owned business is built on 

a mission of improving access to healthy 

food, with a focus on fresh, nutritious and 

high-quality offerings. 

“We left the corporate world and had 

about 14 months where we planned and got 

[the brand] off the ground,” says Clarke. 

“We’ve always been interested in food and 

health and we’d been watching the market 

for a long time…We knew veggies, lean 

meats and proteins were big categories people 

were interested in and we knew speed 

and convenience were huge, so we tried to 

lump it all together and roll something out 

that ticked a lot of those boxes.” 

Following the launch, the Tractor team 

focused on establishing a presence in 

Vancouver, moving into more businessheavy 

areas, including its second location, 

which opened in Vancouver’s financial district 

in 2015 and remains the brand’s topperforming 

restaurant. 

Locations feature a modern design 

aesthetic with open-concept kitchens 

embedded right in the main dining room, 

as well as dining spaces accented in natural 

wood and stone. Guests order at a cafeteriastyle 

counter, which showcases the brand’s 

menu offerings, including bowls, soups and 

stews, sandwiches and sides — all made 

fresh in house. Breakfast is offered at select 

locations and some also feature full espresso 

bars, which serve 49th Parallel coffee 

and espresso. 

Tractor has marked several growth milestones 

over the last year. In June 2018, the 

brand launched its first location outside of 

Vancouver in downtown Toronto. Last fall 

marked the opening of the brand’s head 

office, located just a block away from the 

original Tractor restaurant. And, in June, 

the brand launched a new pick-up-only 

concept — Tractor Digital — in Vancouver. 

“Our brand is moving more into the 

digital world. We feel like convenience and 

speed are so important to people — particularly 

in the downtown sectors of cities,” 

says Clarke. “We’ve built our own proprietary 

app that we’re using for our new 

Tractor-Digital brand. Building out [the 

tech aspect] of our business will probably 

be the way of the future.” 

Tractor Digital is an order-ahead concept 

offering the menu items Tractor has 

built its reputation on. The majority of the 

Quick Facts 

ESTABLISHED: 2013 in Vancouver’s 

Kitsilano neighbourhood 

AVERAGE SIZE: 2,000 sq. ft. 

AVERAGE CHECK: $14 

EXPANSION PLANS: The brand aims to 

expand its presence in Toronto and Vancouver, 

while looking for opportunities to enter other 

Canadian cities and expand to the U.S. 

NATURAL SETTING The Marine Building 

location is accented in natural wood 

and stone; (top) founders Steve and 

Meghan Clarke 


Menu Sampler 

The menu is built around create-your-own-bowl 

offerings that feature a base of power greens 

and/or brown rice ($10 to $14.50) or guests can 

order à la carte from the selection of soups, 

stews, salads and sandwiches. 

PROTEINS AND GRILLED ITEMS 

Guests can choose from proteins such as grilled 

albacore tuna, braised beef shortrib or chicken 

breast. Plant-based options include chili-lime 

tofu ($3.50), sweet potato falafel ($4) and the 

brand’s signature grilled avocado ($3). 

SALADS 

A rotating range of “Market Sides” are available 

on their own ($3 to $3.50) or as part of a bowl 

(most bowls include two). Options include a 

Kale + Roasted Mushrooms salad with quinoa, 

candied corn nuts, crispy shallots and blackcurrant 

vinaigrette; and Asian Noodle Salad, 

featuring snap peas, red cabbage, gluten-free 

sweet-potato noodles, red pepper, green onions, 

cilantro, mint and peanut dressing. 

SOUPS & STEWS 

Two soups and two stews are currently available, 

including butternut-squash soup ($6.50) and 

Moroccan-chicken stew ($8.50). 

SANDWICHES 

Three sandwiches are offered, including a veggie 

sandwich with roasted beets, sprouts, tomato, 

pickles, hummus, avocado and maple mustard 

($9.50 full, $5.25 half). Sandwich plates are also 

available, featuring a full or half sandwich with 

soup ($15.25 and $11.75 respectively) or a half 

sandwich with stew ($13.75). 

1,800-sq.-ft. space is dedicated to the 

kitchen, with a small self-serve pick-up 

zone for customers. 

The new concept — developed in partnership 

with Toronto-based digital-product 

studio Apply Digital — is designed to be 

a convenient catering platform allowing 

customers to easily order ahead and pick 

up individual meals or organize catering for 

groups of all sizes. 

“It’s a huge step and there isn’t any other 

concept in North America doing what we’re 

doing in terms of the format of the store,” 

adds Clarke. 

Because the format and service model 

are unconventional, the location currently 

has staff in place to help walk customers 

through the experience of using the new 

restaurant concept. 

Including the Tractor-Digital unit, the 

brand currently boasts eight locations — 

seven in Vancouver and one in Toronto. “It’s 

been interesting watching the brand evolve 

from one that had zero brand awareness 

with Vancouverites to now,” says Clarke. 

Looking ahead, the Tractor team is set 

to continue growth in Vancouver and 

Toronto, “but we’re also looking across 

Canada at different cities, as well as the 

U.S., and hope to expand south in the near 

future,” says Clarke. “We’re constantly 

looking, studying areas that fit with 

our demographic.” 

As the brand is looking to expand both 

of its concepts, its’s focusing on more residential 

neighbourhoods for the brand’s 

café concept and business-focused areas for 

Tractor Digital. FH 



FOOD FILE 

A BREAK 

FROM 

TRADITION 

Pizza and pasta offerings are getting a youthful makeover 

Story by Janine Kennedy 

Italian-inspired cuisine has been, and will continue to 

be, much loved by Canadians. But, while these foods still 

embody the principles of Italian cuisine — satisfying, fresh 

flavours with lots of soul — consumers are driving changes 

within the segment. Canadian diners are well-versed in 

food. They know the difference between sourdough and 

dry yeast and that using a certain type of flour for pizza 

dough will result in a different-textured crust. 


FRESH APPROACH 

Montreal-based 

Impasto and Gema 

restaurants focus 

on fresh, seasonal 

and local ingredients 

to create regional 

Italian dishes 

They also know the environmental impact 

of mass-produced food and look instead for 

restaurants using locally sourced ingredients. 

For example, Technomic’s most recent 

(American-based) pizza consumer report 

states 44 per cent of North-American diners 

choose operators who use high-quality, 

freshly sourced toppings. 

With the continued popularity of plantbased 

menus, pizza and pasta restaurants 

have embraced the possibilities. Virtuous 

Pie, with locations in Vancouver and 

Toronto, features artisanal nut-based cheeses 

and its Superfunghi pizza features trufflealmond 

ricotta, wild mushrooms, arugula, 

herbed potato cream and cashew mozzarella 

($14 per 10-inch pizza). 

REGIONAL FAVOURITES | 

Hyper-regional is the name of the game 

when it comes to standing out in this segment. 

For example, Descendant Pizza in 

Toronto focuses on Detroit-style pizzas 

— rectangular with a thick, crisp crust and 

dollops of sauce on top. In recent years, 

Detroit-style pizza has taken over in popu- 



FOOD FILE 

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larity from deep-dish Chicago-style or the 

more traditional Neapolitan-style pizzas. 

At Descendant, a large pepperoni pizza 

costs $29, while the more exotic Jaffna 

(featuring kothu roti, mango chutney, 

cilantro cream, green onion, Calabrian 

chili and coconut sambol) sells for $35. 

PIZZA POWER | 

According to the American-based PMQ 

Pizza Magazine’s 2019 Pizza Power Report, 

while consumers continue to love pizza for 

its taste and the ability to customize their 

orders, they want the ordering process 

to be as simple as possible. Smartphonefriendly 

ordering apps are key, but some 

Canadian operators are taking technology 

to the next level in their operations. 

At PizzaForno, which currently boasts 

12 locations in the Greater Toronto Area, 

a combination of robotic-automation 

technology and artisanal methods promises 

hot, fresh pizza in three minutes from 

the time of ordering. Featuring a digitized 

menu of six pizzas (including three vegetarian 

options), PizzaForno limits the 

amount of face-to-face communication 

with customers, acting instead as a highfunctioning 

pizza-vending machine. 

Les Tomlin, president of PFX Canada 

Inc., says an opportunity to bring 

these revolutionary Adial pizza ovens 

— high-performing electric convection 

ovens designed specifically for the 

PizzaForno machine — to Canada inspired 

PizzaForno’s beginnings. 

Upon securing the rights to Adial’s 

technology in North America (including 

Mexico), Tomlin and his partner, William 

Moyer, created the PizzaForno brand. They 

tested pizza recipes at two food festivals in 

Toronto during the summer of 2018 and 

opened their flagship location in downtown 

Toronto in December of that year. 

While many diners will wait up to 

30 minutes for a good-quality pizza, 

PizzaForno is shaking things up with the 

significant decrease in wait times. 

“This aligns with consumer demand,” 

Tomlin explains. “QSR data indicates this 

segment is growing. Pizza is a staple in the 

North American diet, with 35 per cent of 

the population eating it once a week.” 

FROM THE SUPPLY SIDE 

LloydPans offers several sizes of pans for 

Detroit-style pizza — a popular, trending 

style of pizza. Pans are metal-utensil safe, 

durable for commercial baking, need no 

seasoning, will not rust and are stick-resistant. 

Club House for Chefs’ Italian Seasoning 

delivers the earthiness of marjoram and 

thyme with a hint of basil. With its flavours 

of rosemary, savoury and sage, this blend is 

perfect sprinkled on spaghetti sauce, pizza 

or lasagne…The new InFlavor controlleddehydration 

and preparation process from 

Bonduelle uses partial vacuum-microwave 

drying (VMD) to remove the desired percentage 

of water content from vegetables, 

offering a significant strategic advantage 

in terms of long-term storage...The new 

Ash Wood Serving Peels from American 

Metalcraft feature rich patterns, earthy 

looks and unique handle designs, making 

them the perfect serving choice for pizzas. 

Using robotic technology may sound 

unromantic, but each PizzaForno pizza 

is handmade by its pizza-makers with an 

authentic Italian approach. This includes 

a Roman-style crust, fresh and locally 

sourced toppings and quality cream and 

tomato sauces. 

“The robotic technology allows us to 

deliver a fresh, never-frozen pizza in under 

three minutes,” Tomlin explains. “It also 

eliminates food waste, reduces labour costs 

and allows us to operate on a footprint of 

less than 70 sq. ft.” 

BAKING OUTSIDE THE BOX | 

Beer You Can Eat, based in Toronto, offers 

operators an inexpensive way to bring 

quality pizza options to their menus. The 

ready-to-roll pizza dough, made with quality 

ingredients, traditional techniques and 

beer, took time to perfect, according to 

owner/developer Dan O’Connor. 

“I’ve been working on this since 

November 2017, but really, I’ve been making 

this pizza dough in my own home for 

15 years,” he says. “I developed the recipe 

by incorporating French and Italian bread 

techniques into the dough itself. When I 

made it at home, I would cook it at in a 

regular oven at 425˚F and result in a res- 

FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM

FOOD FILE 

AGROPUR 

HAS ALL 

THE CHEESES 

YOU NEED 

AGROPURSOLUTIONS.CA 

taurant-quality pizza crust. I flavoured 

it with beer because it enhances the gastronomic 

experience,” 

The result, says O’Connor, is a product 

tailor-made for foodservice providers 

who are tight on space. 

“The dough doesn’t take very long 

to cook,” he explains. “In fact, you’ll 

lose essential beer flavour if it cooks too 

long. In a pizza oven, it cooks [from frozen] 

in 2.5 minutes, while in a conventional 

oven it takes a mere six to seven 

minutes. That you can make a quality 

pizza in seven minutes in a 425˚F oven 

is so important, because most restaurants 

don’t have a pizza oven. With this 

dough, you don’t need a pizza oven to 

have pizza-oven quality.” 

Beer You Can Eat uses no animal 

products, making it ideal for veganfriendly 

menus. 

“[I saw there was a] major gap in the 

foodservice market for wholesale pizza 

products,” O’Connor says. “As a dough, 

it’s very user-friendly and a time saver. 

It’s a light and tender dough, but it has 

a lot of structure — it won’t flop under 

toppings.” 

EMBRACING| 

THE PASTA-BILITIES| 

In Montreal, television chef and restaurateur 

Stefano Faita, along with his business 

partner and fellow chef Michele 

Forgione, has been running several of 

the city’s most popular Italian-style 

restaurants for more than a decade. 

Impasto focuses on fresh, seasonal and 

local ingredients for its hearty Italianinspired 

dishes. 

“When we first opened [Impasto] we 

tried to go all over the place, constantly 

changing the menu,” Faita says. “After 

>>> story continues on pg. 22 

THAT’S SO CHEESY 

The low-down on 

Canadian cheese 

Those promoting 

plant-based, Italianstyle 

menus say having 

a plant-based cheese 

replacement is key to 

replicating the comforting, 

creamy aspect of 

many pizzas and pastas. 

Many make their own 

nut- or cashew-based 

cheeses, including 

parmesan and mozzarella, 

or tofu-based 

crumbly cheeses. 

Daiya Foodservice 

offers a variety of block, 

shredded and sliced 

vegan cheeses and 

cheese products 

(including cream cheese 

and dairy-free salad 

dressings). 

For those sticking with 

omnivorous menu items, 

Saputo Canada offers 

small-cube feta, bocconcini 

pearls and sliced or 

shredded Cantonnier. 

Olivia Janse, director 

of Innovation and 

Strategic Business 

Development at Saputo 

Canada says the right 

cheese can be a highimpact 

and healthful 

addition to any recipe 

— especially vegetarian 

menu items. 

“Using cheese is a 

great way to add protein 

to any vegetarian offering, 

while allowing operators 

to explore a large range 

of flavours on pizza and 

pasta dishes.” 

Afrim Pristine of 

The Cheese Boutique in 

Toronto says farmhousestyle 

Canadian cheeses 

are hugely popular. 

“Canadian cheeses 

are on the rise in popularity 

— not just because 

they’re local, but because 

they’re really good 

cheeses. Also, Canadians 

[suppliers] are making 

really great Italian-style 

cheeses.”” 


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FOOD FILE 

COUNTLESS 

PASTABILITIES 

Impasto in Montreal 

uses seasonal 

ingredients to create 

hearty pasta dishes 

two years, we realized people were always 

coming back for certain dishes, [such as] 

Porchetta, ricotta gnocchi and homemade 

cold cuts. I’m really proud that, after all these 

years in business, we still make absolutely 

everything ourselves.” 

The ricotta gnocchi is 

served in a hearty tomato 

sauce ($19) while the 

Porchetta comes with 

seasonal, fresh vegetables 

($33). Impasto is considered 

a high-end restaurant, 

but Faita insists the heart 

of Italian cuisine is anything 

but fancy. 

“At Impasto, we always 

told ourselves we were 

an Italian restaurant 

with Quebec products,” 

he continues. “We try to 

be as local as possible, 

aside from staples such 

as Parmigiano Reggiano, 

which has to come from Italy.” 

In addition to Impasto, Faita and Forgione 

run Gema Pizzeria, Chez Tousignant and 

their newest addition, Vesta. Aside from 

Chez Tousignant, all are Italian-style eateries. 

Gema specializes in Neopolitan-style pizzas, 

while Vesta is a small, casual trattoriastyle 

space with an American-Italian 

influenced menu. 

“Gema is actually the first all-electric restaurant 

in Montreal,” Faita says. “We mimic 

a Neopolitan-style pizza in an electric deck 

oven. As a result, our dough ends up being 

a tad crispier; a little less elastic. Vesta is 

Italian-style with an American-Italian feel. 

We have Brooklyn-style pizzas, two pastas, 

classic appetizers such as Caesar salad and 

cheese sticks. It’s very family oriented.” 

In recent years, Italian-style cuisine has 

been the domain of fine-dining restaurants, 

but according to Faita that’s changing — 

especially in the Montreal market. 

“In Montreal, there’s a movement toward 

more casual eateries,” he remarks. “People 

enjoy the fact you can sit at a table, order all 

kinds of dishes and share everything.” 

In the past, those with restrictive diets 

due to lactose intolerance or celiac disease 

were unable to enjoy cheese- and carb-laden 

Italian cuisine. But now, many Canadian 

We’re Growing in 2019-2020 

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905 464 0725 | franchising@ilfornello.com 


According to data from the 

Nielsen Company, 85 per cent of 

consumers report loving or liking 

pasta and demand has been rising 

steadily in recent years. North 

America is the world’s largest 

market for pasta and consumption 

per person, second only to Italy. 

Including pasta options on menus 

is an excellent way for restaurants 

to capitalize on this affinity, 

catering to customer expectations 

and increasing profitability. 

chefs are creating delicious, hearty and satisfying 

plant-based pizzas and pastas and have 

added gluten-free options to their menus. 

Touted as the first to bring Neopolitanstyle, 

wood-fired pizza to Toronto in 1986, 

restaurant group Il Fornello is well-known 

for changing the foodservice game when it 

comes to Italian-Canadian cuisine (see 

profile on p. 24). The brand was also one 

of the first Italian-style restaurants in the 

Greater Toronto Area to offer gluten-free 

and vegan options. 

For Il Fornello’s vice-president Stacey 

Patterson, incorporating a plant-based 

menu into Il Fornello’s restaurants is all 

about being inclusive and hospitable. 

“Despite being a fixture in the Toronto 

dining scene for 35 years, we’re now being 

discovered by a whole new group of diners,” 

she laughs. “Also, many of our regular 

customers are thrilled they can bring their 

vegan children to Il Fornello knowing 

there’s something on the menu for everyone. 

As a result, our reservations for groups 

have increased dramatically.” FH 


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PROFILE 

REBRANDING 

AN ITALIAN 

GIANT 

Il Fornello gears up for an expansion 

plan that’s both niche and revolutionary 

STORY BY JENNIFER FEBBRARO 

After 32 years in business, Il Fornello’s three original partners — 

president Ian Sorbie and the two VPs of Operations, Stacey Patterson 

and Sean Fleming — have weathered the ups and downs of a gruelling 

business. Now they’re taking the Il Fornello brand into its next 

decade, with updated interiors, new franchising packages and a 

vegan menu with a goal of expanding from its current six locations 

to 16 in the next three years. 

Sorbie had already opened the Beech Tree Café on Toronto’s 

Queen Street East, but while eating at New York’s Mezzaluna pizzeria, 

he tasted Neopolitan pizza for the first time and knew he had to 

bring wood-burning pizza ovens to Toronto. 

He launched the first Il Fornello at Bloor and Bathurst streets in 

1988 and sold the Beech Tree Café. “This happened to coincide with 

the popularity of Wolfgang Puck, who was also experimenting with 

wood-burning-oven-baked pizza,” says Sorbie. “Within 12 years, we 

had 10 operations running. The mid-’90s saw franchisees coming to 

us — business was booming.” 

But by the 2000s, the restaurant industry took a turn, as did 

the demographics of some of Il Fornello’s locations. The chain’s 

regulars were aging — some, such as those at the St. Clair and Yonge 

location — were hitting their 80s. As Toronto developed, more 

restaurants opened in the southern section of Yonge and St. Clair, 

including Terroni, leading to the shuttering of a number of 

Il Fornello locations. 

By 2008, aging restaurants, changing demographics and underperforming 

profit margins, Sorbie says the Il Fornello chain was on the 

line. There were also fraught relationships with franchise owners and 

operating costs were running high. Sorbie’s strategy of “shrink first, 

then grow” led to closing under-performing restaurants, examining 

which food items had lost their appeal and adding an executive chef. 


It also focused growth in the suburbs, such as Ajax, Richmond Hill 

and Oakville, Ont. 

The brand enlisted the help of Joel Sisson, owner and founder of 

Burlington, Ont.-based restaurant and hospitality consulting firm, 

Crush Strategy Inc., to reimagine its restaurants in a modern, contemporary 

light and help problem-solve inefficiencies. “It’s a lot of 

small tweaks that add up to one huge improvement,” says Sisson. 

“For example, many processes of making Italian food are time consuming, 

so we want to streamline some of them and bring about a 

consistency in the product.” 

Sisson says profitability can also come about with new purchasing 

arrangements. “We have so many agreements with purchasers 

from across the board, we may [find] an ingredient source that’s not 

only better quality but actually more cost-effective,” he says. “When 

I think of the Il Fornello brand, it’s high-quality Italian food, [for] 

good value.” 

Sisson has also discussed redesigning the beverage menu and 

updating the cocktail menu. 

He also advises on franchising. An Il Fornello franchise costs 

approximately $400,000 to $1 million, depending on location and 

size, and includes a comprehensive package for employees, training 

programs and location scouting. 

For Sorbie, the investment in Crush Strategy Inc. has paid off. 

“We’ve had our best year at Il Fornello ever with our last fiscal year,” 

he explains. The company also reported a gross increase in sales of 

more than 10 per cent within the last year. “The number and type 

of customers has also shifted,” says Sorbie. “Now you’ll see a table of 

20-somethings. That’s a sight we’ve rarely seen at the restaurant in 

15 years.” 

This is thanks in no small part to the brand’s 

new vegan chef consultant, Margie Cook — a 

registered holistic nutritionist and a certified 

vegan-lifestyle coach and educator. 

“Stacey [Patterson], being the forwardthinking 

person she is, mentioned she wanted to 

figure out how to service plant-based and healthconscious 

customers,” says Cook. “Now we’ve 

developed an entire vegan menu together and 

even meat lovers are impressed with it. There are 

even vegan items on the kid’s menu.” 

The vegan menu had customers giving 

Patterson “high-five’s” in the dining room. “We 

couldn’t believe the positive response across all 

of our social feeds,” says Patterson. “This has 

improved our business overall because now our 

regulars — whose kids might be vegan — have 

somewhere to eat.” Patterson says they will have 

parties of 10 to 12 people that the vegan customer 

has brought in because everyone can have a 

satisfying entrée — whether they’re vegan or not. 

“Going plant-based was a no brainer,” says 

Patterson. “You simply had to listen to customer 

feedback. The number of people we had 

requesting dairy-free cheeses was instrumental 

in it.” Now the restaurant can also accommodate 

gluten-free, vegan diets. While Patterson admits 

she’s not gone fully vegan yet, she says Cook is 

responsible for pulling her in that direction. “The 

options are incredible and you don’t have to sacrifice 

the flavours you love.” 

That’s because Cook works magic in the substitutions. 

She works in her own catering kitchen 

POISED FOR GROWTH 

The Il Fornello brand 

is re-inventing both 

its menu and its 

look and focusing on 

growth in suburban 

markets in Ontario 



IN 1988, IL FORNELLO BECAME 

THE FIRST ITALIAN RESTAURANT 

IN TORONTO TO OFFER GLUTEN- 

FREE PIZZA CRUST AND PASTA. 

PIZZA FOR ALL 

Il Fornello’s glutenfree 

and vegan pizza 

offerings ensures 

it’s staying on trend 

with diner demands 

to produce regular cheese, dairy and meat substitutions and delivers 

them weekly to Il Fornello. One is a tofu-based feta made with non- 

GMO soy. “It’s briny and has lactic acid in it,” explains Cook. “So, 

you still get that hit to your brain receptors that — hey I’m eating 

feta.” Cook says tricking your brain isn’t difficult because food is all 

about memories. “Food is sort of 

like hearing a song,” she says. “Your brain will recognize it and 

be satisfied.” 

Other ingredients include a soft mozzarella (made with a cashewalmond 

base) and cheese sauce used on its white Bianca pizza topped 

with mushrooms, arugula and hint of truffle oil. Another classic 

Cook ingredient is her smoked carrots. Customers swear they taste 

and feel like smoked salmon. 

“These are labour-intensive processes that in-house chefs just 

don’t have time to do,” says Cook. “It would be like asking your chefs

PROFILE 

to smoke their own salmon instead of just purchasing it already 

smoked. So, I create a few of their special ingredients that are key to 

the execution of the menu.” Another creation Cook is responsible 

for is Il Fornello’s pesto. Since pesto traditionally relies so heavily on 

parmesan cheese, Cook works wonders with pumpkin seeds, kale, 

parsley, cilantro and citrus notes to develop the same saucy richness. 

For vegan desserts, Cook uses agar — a seaweed that acts like a 

gelatin. “You can do so many creative things with agar and no one 

can tell the difference,” says Cook. “You would be surprised how few 

people actually know what gelatin is. Once they learn, they want 

to use agar.” She also creates a raw 

brownie for the chain, though many 

of the chefs like to experiment and 

vary the desserts. “There’s a fantastic 

polenta cake they make,” she says. 

In addition to its vegan menu, 

Il Fornello has partnered with the 

vegan community. Since the company 

spends approximately eight-to-10 per 

cent of its gross revenue on advertising, 

marketing and sponsorships, 

Patterson notes some of Il Fornello’s 

best investments have come in the 

form of supporting the Toronto Vegan 

Association. “We often go to events 

where we will rent a pizza oven and sell pizzas 

— but we barely break even doing that,” says 

Patterson. “It’s totally a marketing endeavor and 

you wouldn’t believe how few of the vegans have 

ever heard of us. They say ‘oh, Il Fornello…where 

is that?’” 

It’s currently squarely in the sights of highearning 

franchisors — where it’s likely to stay for 

the next 32 years. FH 

Chef Margie Cook 

has put Il Fornello on 

the vegan-cuisine 

map in Toronto 

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BARISTA SERIES OAT 

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www.pacificfoods.com/foodservice • @baristaseries

TOP BRANDS 

A MATTER OF 

CULTIVATING TRUST AMONG YOUR CLIENTELE IS 

KEY TO SUCCESS IN THE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY 

STORY BY LAURA PRATT 

Trust is important in every consumer category, especially in 

foodservice. In the short term, anything to do with food quality 

or inappropriate HR practices can damage consumer trust. 

In the longer term, enduring consumer trust comes down a 

perception of value that offers a return on an investment in an 

experience — tricky in Canada, says Geoff Wilson, principal 

at fsSTRATEGY Inc. in Toronto. “Positive brand imagery can 

carry a brand for a while,” he says, “but eventually trust is about 

the value. If consumers start to perceive value isn’t there, they’ll 

gradually fall off.” 

Larger, well-known brands have the advantage when it 

comes to consumer trust. “Most people like to go where they 

know,” says David Hopkins, president of Toronto-based The 

Fifteen Group Inc. But nobody gets a free pass — especially 

in a foodservice climate where consumer intel and increased 

demands are at an all-time high. 

Still, says Robert Carter, foodservice industry advisor for 

NPD Group, restaurants understand the importance of cultivating 

trust among their clientele and are rising to the occasion 

with unprecedented energy. “The transparency from a corporate 

standpoint is like nothing we’ve seen before.” 

The Gustavson Brand Trust Index (GBTI) records the 

results of their efforts on this front with an annual list that 

measures the level of trust Canadian consumers have in 

brands. In all, the 2019 GBTI polled 7,200-plus Canadian consumers 

about their opinions of 313 national brands across 26 

different product categories with a view to understanding what 

causes someone to recommend a product or service. In all, 18 

brands in the restaurants/takeout category were offered up 

for consideration, including Pizza Pizza, A&W, Dairy Queen, 

McDonald’s and Tim Hortons. Nespresso is one of 12 coffee/ 

tea brands in the collection. 

“It’s a real honour to be on this list,” says Wilson. “Consumers 

today can turn on a dime when they have a bad experience and 

then tell a million other people about it. These companies 

need to have done some incredible things in terms of positive 

brand imagery supported by their history, their quality and the 

day-to-day delivery of good value. That requires an incredible 

amount of work that can go south very fast. So, hats off to the 

people who have earned Canadians’ trust.” 



Ask Robert Carter about A&W and his 

energy fizzes like a root beer. “It’s one of my 

favourite brands and I can talk about them 

all day,” he says. That’s because, he raves, this 

long-standing burger joint has connected 

with Canadians through its transparent 

model and ongoing dialogue. 

A&W first made the tuba-jingle-accompanied 

trip to Canada in 1956, 38 years 

after Mr. Allen and Mr. Wright started selling 

root beer from a stand in California. 

This Winnipeg trailblazer — Canada’s first 

hamburger quick-service restaurant — has 

almost 1,000 units today and the chain 

has effectively doubled its growth since 

2013/2014, mostly in Ontario and Quebec. 

Tom Newitt, a senior Marketing director 

for A&W Canada, chalks the growth up to 

the company’s focus on natural, cleaner food 

ingredients — an initiative that first attracted 

consumer attention in 2013 with announcements 

about beef raised without the use of 

artificial hormones and steroids. Next, the 

company crowed about chickens raised without 

the use of antibiotics — and attracted it 

again. By the time it began talking about the 

real cane sugar at the root of its signature 

root beer, Canadians were hooked. 

“If people feel an organization is looking 

out for their best interests,” says Carter, “they 

trust them.” 

With this trust as a foundation, A&W 

felt empowered to explore more innovation 

and ventured into exchanging plastic straws 

for the compostable version and launching 

the next-generation plant-protein Beyond 

Meat burger last summer. There’s some risk 

involved with such endeavours, Newitt con- 

30 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY SEPTEMBER 2019 


TOP BRANDS 

media engenders trust. If you regularly see 

advertising for something, whether it’s conscious 

or not, you grow a belief that it’s a 

good, stable, successful brand that will deliver 

on its value proposition.” 

cedes, but if you’re transparent and deliver on 

what you say you will, you won’t mess with 

the loyalty you’ve established. 

A little transcendence doesn’t hurt, either. 

“Most people are skeptical, but when they try 

Beyond Meat, they have a wow reaction. That 

can be very powerful in building trust.” 

Critical to success on this front is not 

focusing on the business case to the detriment 

of what matters. A&W’s positive 

company culture, which extends across the 

franchise network, emphasizes good behaviour, 

accountability and always doing the right 

thing. This high internal-trust relationship, 

says Newitt, offers “a good platform for building 

the same with consumers.” 

Finally, an in-restaurant experience with 

such unique features as glass mugs and mini 

metal fry baskets up the ante and an aggressive 

media campaign keeps the conversation 

going. “Every time I turn around there’s an 

A&W ad on,” says Hopkins. “Visibility in 

Pizza Pizza, says Hopkins, is a consistent 

brand — “among the most important things 

for a restaurant.” He calls this enduring 

Canadian company a consistent standout 

across the guest experience: service, product, 

atmosphere. “That’s how restaurants succeed. 

As soon as I have a couple of experiences that 

don’t meet that standard, they lose me.” 

You bet, says Sebastian Fuschini, Pizza 

Pizza’s senior vice-president of Franchising. 

“There are no surprises with us. You can buy 

a pizza in New Westminster or in Halifax or 

in North Bay and it’ll be the same product. 

It’s how we’ve been around for more than 

50 years.” 

Ensuring this scene means training personnel 

at store level and inviting third-party 

companies to do regular food-safety evaluations 

at the 764 stores across Canada that 

make up both company brands, Pizza Pizza 

and Pizza 73 (the latter with 106 of the total 

store count). It also means paying attention 

to things that matter for customers, such as 

charity. The company has corporate relationships 

with various charities, including the 

Children’s Miracle Network. “People feel 

we’re good corporate citizens and that’s a big 

factor for us,” says Fuschini. 

So is innovation. Pizza Pizza was the first 

to have daytime pizza ordering, a franchise 

call centre, a delivery bag, a gluten-free crust 

and trans-fat-free dough. More recently, the 

company has ventured into catering to the 

vegan set, with ingredient launches such as 

plant-based pepperoni, dairy-free cheese and 

cauliflower crusts. This kind of attention to 

dietary needs is important to customers, says 

Fuschini, who’s in his 39th year with Pizza 

Pizza. “People call us and feel comfortable 

their beliefs will never be compromised. They 

can trust us.” 

The company’s iconic phone number is 

also part of the faith piece. “They have probably 

managed that one-number system better 

than any other pizza chain in terms of the way 



SLICE OF THE PIE Sebastian Fuschini, 

Pizza Pizza’s senior vice-president 

of Franchising 

DANIEL ALEXANDER [SEBASTIAN FUSCHINI] 


TOP BRANDS 

iSTOCK.COM/ABLOKHIN 

they market it and sustain it,” says Wilson. He 

calls Pizza Pizza’s Canada-wide distribution 

network “incredible.” 

And speaking of Canada, a marketing 

emphasis that plays up national pride is a final 

key in engendering trust with a company trying 

to sell its products to a certain population. 

Making noise about cheese that’s made with 

100-per-cent Canadian milk and dough made 

with 100-per-cent Canadian wheat and spring 

water, delivered fresh to restaurants daily, is 

inspired, says Carter. “Canadiana will always 

rise to the top in terms of what consumers 

want. It’s a very strong positioning statement. 

Canadians trust brands that are Canadian.” 

For lots of Canadians, Tim Hortons is as good 

a representative of their country as the beaver 

or the maple leaf. “We have such a big portion 

of the population that comes to us every 

single day, sometimes multiple times,” says 

COO Mike Hancock. Sustaining their trust 

is critical for this 55-year-old organization, 

and that comes down to serving high-quality, 

innovative products in a warm, welcoming 

environment and appreciating the community 

connection that sustains the whole enterprise. 

“It has the distinction of being a very 

Canadian brand, with hockey fame,” says 

Wilson. “That’s big for trust.” 

So is a network of franchise owners — 99 

per cent of its almost 4,000 Canadian restaurants 

are owned by franchisees — who often 

know their guests by name and understand 

implicitly they are the face of a corporation 

whose sales in 2018 were US$6,869 billion. 

Sharing the wealth is important to the brand 

— the Tim Hortons’ Children’s Foundation’s 

camps support between 15,000 and 20,000 

kids annually and the company has sponsored 

another 275,000 with its Timbits Minor 

Sports Program, a community-oriented 

sponsorship program that provides opportunities 

for kids to play in house leagues across 

Canada and the U.S., since its 1974 launch. 

“We’re a guest-focused company,” says 

Hancock. “And sustainability is something our 

guests are thinking about all the time. Having 

a clear vision about our impact on the environment 

is important in terms of building 

their trust.” 

The company invests in multiple campaigns 

to encourage guests to migrate from 

single-use paper cups to reusable alternatives. 

It’s transitioned its lids to be polypropylene, 

which is fully recyclable, and is testing paper 

straws and a reusable lid for cold drinks. 

“Innovation can be tricky,” Hancock concedes. 

It focuses on the continuous delivery of 

core products that guests don’t want altered 

— the company tests its coffee every year and 

is always reassured of customers’ love for its 

staple — but is responsive to opportunities 

for improvement in delivery and execution. 

That explains the retirement of the glass pots 

with the wax time stamps that have been 

around since 1964 in favour of coffee-making 

technology that ensures a consistent distribution 

of water and blend. 

Other recent testing initiatives uncovered 

consumer interest in meat alternatives, even 

among carnivores. In response, the company 

launched its Beyond-Meat breakfast platform 

at nearly 4,000 restaurants across Canada in 

June and the Beyond Meat burger shortly after. 

The brand also opened its first Innovation 

Café in July — a unique space to test new 

menu items and technology initiatives. Its 

clean design and Instagram-ready treats are 

tailored to young, urban professionals and the 

digital coffee-education screen shares the Tim 

Hortons 130 King coffee story, featuring new 

beverage innovations, brewing methods and 

seasonal single-origin coffees. 

“They’ve demonstrated they’re listening to 

consumers and are on top of trends,” 

says Carter. 

That’s a coup for a brand that went 

through a challenging period when internal 

dialogue around perceived negative business 

practices made it to the public realm. “Just as 



TOP BRANDS 

positive media exposure builds trust, negative 

media exposure can hurt,” says Hopkins. 

In 2017, Tim Hortons ranked #27 on the 

Gustavson list; In 2018, it dropped to #203 

(it’s climbed back up to #136 for 2019). 

Trust, says Miranda Steele, McDonald’s 

Canada’s Corporate Relations officer, is front 

and centre in everything they do at this 

longstanding foodservice brand, fuelled by 

an abundance of ongoing research into what 

guests want that they don’t have — and 

what’s resonating that they do. “As long as 

we stay rooted in those answers, we’ll stay a 

trusted brand.” 

Among the questions: whether customers 

want to order through their phones, 

McDonald’s mobile app or its kiosk, to have 

their food delivered or enjoy table service — 

among the company’s newer ideas — or to 

buy a meal that supports housing for families 

stricken by illness and staying at a Ronald 

McDonald House. All, says Steele, are “layers 

on that foundation of trust we have with 

Canadians. We’re keenly aware of their needs 

and are evolving our brands to meet them.” 

So they appear to be, agrees Wilson, who 

calls the 52-year-old organization “steady, reliable, 

really good at the value proposition and 

responsive to consumers.” He points to the 

company’s Our-Food-Your-Questions program, 

which serves up videos demonstrating 

McDonald’s commitment to transparency and 

authenticity, as evidence of the latter. Among 

the throw-back-the-covers revelations this 

campaign featured were the visual discrepancies 

between real-life and advertised burgers 

and what actually goes into its chicken nuggets. 

Carter believes such a bold marketing 

strategy is worth it for McDonald’s, which had 

1,472 units in Canada — more than 90-percent 

franchised — and sales of $5.3 billion at 

the end of 2018. People’s trust is more responsive 

to such things now than it was a decade 

ago, he says. Case in point are the consumer 

ratings of food quality — which have historically 

put McDonald’s in the lower QSR rungs, 

but have increased in recent years, Carter says, 

“hand in hand with trusting them more.” 

“We always found there was a McDonald’s 

guilt factor — people wouldn’t admit they 

[eat] it. But because the food quality has 

increased dramatically, they’re more 

forthright in saying McDonald’s is a place 

they visit.” 

More recently, the brand has responded 

to consumers’ interest in packaging, sustainability 

and the environment with the launch 

of two green-concept restaurants established 

to test innovative and sustainable packaging 

solutions. That the enthusiastic reception of 

this initiative has come from outside, as well 

as in, is meaningful, says Steele. “We don’t take 

it lightly that we have 100,000 employees in

our [corporate] and franchisees’ restaurants 

across the country — a huge number of 

internal stakeholders. They’re the front line 

of making things happen. Our company 

culture drives the experiences of our guests. 

That’s never been more important.” 

Whenever Peter White, executive vice-president 

for Dairy Queen Canada, chats with 

airplane seatmates about his work with DQ, 

which is going to be 80 years old next year 

(the first Dairy Queen location opened in 

Joliet, Ill. in 1940; the first location opened 

in Canada in 1953), he’s always greeted with 

a high-flying reception. “People have grown 

up with the brand and we call our consumers 

fans,” he says. “I truly believe they trust 

us because we’ve been around so long.” 

It’s an enduring relationship vigorously 

managed by Dairy Queen’s franchisees, 

a network spread across the country in 

664 units that are 100-per-cent franchisee 

owned. The company’s reputation with 

these business owners is thriving — a “true 

partnership,” White says. Dairy Queen also 

works closely with the Canadian Franchise 

Association Council and has an elected 

leadership group that engages in testing, 

solicits input and executes promotions. 

The company’s trust-inspiring legacy is 

augmented by vigorous attention to 

innovation. Dairy Queen launched its 

mobile app on April 1 and, a couple of 

months later, delivery, with SkipTheDishes. 

Up next, the organization’s converting 

stores to an electronic point-of-sale system 

that will support mobile-ordering payment 

and loyalty. 


On the food side, DQ’s Grill-and-Chill 

concept emphasizes food choices beyond 

ice cream and, says White, such expansive 

thinking will continue. The April rollout 

of a summer Blizzard menu is a seasonal 

staple, as is the fall/winter followup, 

unveiled in September. The trick to success 

here, says White, is to innovate mindfully, 

without losing your core. “For us to be the 

world’s undisputed treat leader, we have to 

maintain that trust with the consumer. That 

means taking care from a menu perspective 

with those items they’ve been brought up 

with. But they also want new and exciting 

flavours and have given us the green light 

to build on that. We appreciate the heritage 

and nostalgia of DQ, but we’ve brought it 

to the next level.” 

Next level, too, is the trust DQ’s cultivated 

with its customers through its commitment 

to philanthropy. The company 

has raised more than US$145 million for 

the Children’s Miracle Network, a North- 

American non-profit that fundraises for 

children’s hospitals, medical research and 

community awareness of children’s health 

issues. “The tie-in is families and kids and 

that relates well to our brand. Fans and 

consumers want to support companies that 

support the community.” 

The link between perceptions around 

food quality and charitable activity isn’t 

direct, says Carter, but when a large organization 

takes a position on charitable giving 

and demonstrates it’s about more than 

driving profits, it gives that brand’s image 

less of a commodity feel. “It gives a face to 

the organization that they actually care.” 

Nespresso is still considered a young coffee 

player in Canada, but this global brand — 

founded in 1986 in Switzerland and available 

in 80 countries — wasn’t an unknown 

quantity when it landed here 10 years ago. 

The company has a certain mega-movie 

star to thank for that. 

Nespresso’s clearly a premium product, 

says Geoff Wilson. “But do we think that 

because George Clooney wears a suit and 

looks fancy?” 

No one can say for sure. Still, says Jean- 

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TOP BRANDS 

MAKE IT 

THE #1 CHOICE IN 

YOUR ESTABLISHMENT 

BECAUSE IT’S 

THE #1 CHOICE IN 

THEIR HOMES 1 

Canadians reach for Frank’s RedHot® Sauce at home 

more than any other hot sauce brand. So why make 

your patrons reach for anything less on your tables? 

Visit frenchsfoodservice.ca for money-saving rebates 

and info on all tabletop sizes and flavours. 

® 

Francois Mercier, Brand PR 

manager of Nespresso Canada, 

the company’s association 

with a celebrity who serves as 

an ambassador of the brand 

“is the most valuable spokesperson 

relationship we could 

expect.” Nespresso’s ties to the 

Hollywood luminary are multilayered 

and include his insightful 

and connected contributions 

to the company’s Sustainability 

Advisory Board. 

More than the star factor, 

Nespresso works to build its 

trust with Canadians through a 

message of product excellence. 

“Canadians are more conscious 

of the food choices they make 

and are looking for quality 

products,” Mercier says. “Our 

premium and sustainable coffee 

offer fits well in this quest and 

that’s why we continue to grow 

in the Canadian market.” 

The formula is simple, 

Mercier believes. Consumers — 

whom the company intimately 

refers to as “club members” 

— trust Nespresso because the 

brand delivers on a straightforward 

promise: exceptional 

coffee at the touch of a button. 

“The key is to be able to 

maintain the brand experience 

they signed up for when they 

decided to go on a journey with 

you,” says Mercier. 

And innovation is part of 

the equation, he says — so 

long as it’s done “wisely and in 

accordance with the needs and 

demands of your consumers.” 

Nespresso’s innovations, 

whether in its boutiques, on its 

website or in its products, are 

undertaken to meet a consumer 

demand — full stop. The 2014 

introduction of the company’s 

Vertuo system is an example. 

The company developed 

this system to fit the North- 

American coffee culture, where 

espresso is less popular than 

longer cups of coffee. 

Nespresso, which is headquartered 

in Lausanne and 

operated a global retail network 

of approximately 800 boutiques 

in 2018, is a “very tight, clean, 

modern-looking product” that 

percolates with the company’s 

positioning around betterfor-you 

foods, Carter believes. 

Its marketing reveals it to be 

an innovative, stylish offering 

with bright colours and a fun 

demeanour. 

But, at the end of the day, 

he says, “we trust Nespresso 

because we trust George 

Clooney.” FH 

1 

AC Nielsen 52 weeks ending January 5, 2019. Based on dollar sales. 

®Reg. TM The French’s Food Company LLC. Used under licence. 


REGIONAL REPORT 

GREEN 

MEANS 

GO 

Veggie plates and 

sustainability are 

helping banish 

Quebec and Ontario 

restaurant blues 

EDIBLE ART The 

seared scallops at 

Le Germain Hotel 

Toronto Mercer’s 

Victor Restaurant 

STORY BY SARAH B. HOOD 




SEASONAL BOUNTY 

Spring pea salad 

(left), corn 

potage at Victor 

Restaurant in 

Toronto 

From Kenora to Kamouraska, 

diners in central Canada are 

indulging their thirst for new 

experiences by eating out 

frequently. While restaurant 

margins are thin, Statistics 

Canada confirms total foodservice 

receipts continue to rise 

in both Quebec and Ontario 

and restaurant successes 

abound in both provinces. 

“We’re almost fully booked 

to the end of October. We have 

thousands of people coming to 

Quebec and all those people want 

to eat local,” says Guy Lombard, 

general manager of the boutique 

hotel l’Auberge Saint-Antoine in 

Quebec City. 

His restaurant, Chez Muffy 

(formerly Panache), grows much 

of its own produce. The farmto-table 

menu of sustainable and 

artisanal foods appeals to the 

younger, health- and environment-conscious 

demographic. 

Chez Muffy even has a collaborative 

arrangement to forage wild 

herbs and mushrooms in Forêt 

Montmorency, a “teaching forest.” 

The simple smoked meat 

heaped on mustard-slathered rye 

is still a winner for Montreal’s 

iconic Schwartz’s Deli. “We’re 

doing fantastic. I’ve been here 

37 years and every year seems to 

be better,” says general manager 

Frank Silva. In Montreal, “you’ve 

got to stay small and cost-conscious. 

A lot of restaurants are 

realizing that and are opening 

smaller places.” 

Le Germain Hotels operates 

restaurants in Montreal, 

Toronto, Quebec City, Ottawa 

and the scenic Charlevoix region, 

among other locations; this 

year it’s launching a lounge in 

FIELD DAYS 

Saskatoon, a restaurant/coffee 

shop in St. John’s, Nfld. and a 

lobby lounge and bar in the renovated 

Le Germain Montreal. 

Because co-president 

Christiane Germain has celiac 

disease, the boutique chain had a 

head start in catering to glutenfree 

and other special diets, says 

national food-and-beverage 

director Bruno Durand, who 

emphasizes the importance of 

social awareness. “We were one of 

the first to remove plastic straws 

from our hotels and we’re trying 

to remove plastic glasses. We 

have smaller menus to respond to 

what is available in the market,” 

he says. 

Todd Morgan is Operations 

partner at the three-year-old 

Maple Leaf Tavern, a refurbished 

Not every establishment is as fortunate as Quebec City’s Chez Muffy, which grows 

its own food, but everyone can benefit from Quebec and Ontario’s farm produce. 

In southern Ontario, Cookstown Greens supplies chefs with year-round organic 

root vegetables and greenhouse-grown salad fixings, plus choice seasonal vegetables 

such as asparagus. Perth Pork Products raises specialty pigs and wild boar and 100km 

Foods Inc. co-ordinates ingredients from a range of small suppliers. 

Ontario’s VQA wines are well known, but Chez Muffy is proud to source Quebec’s 

own Vignoble de L’Orpailleur and Vignoble Ste-Pétronille. An abundance of craft 

breweries, cideries and distilleries rounds out the local-beverage selection. As O&B’s 

Andrew Oliver points out “the craft side of local is super-important, not only because 

it has a great story, but because it has a small environmental footprint.” 

The burgeoning cheese industry is another boon for restaurants. Notable Quebec 

cheesemakers include La Fromagerie du Presbytère, La Maison d’Affinage Maurice 

Dufour and La Fromagerie de l’Île-aux-Grues. Guy Lombard of Chez Muffy works with 

Les Grondines, which handles a collection of different cheeses. Ontario standouts 

include Monforte, Mountainoak and Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese. 


BUCKING THE TREND 

Common wisdom says to embrace change or die, but innovation also needs 

to make good business sense. 

Take third-party delivery services. Todd Morgan of Toronto’s Maple Leaf 

Tavern has decided not to use them. “What experience are our guests going 

to have when they’re eating our product at their kitchen table?” he says. 

“We’d rather keep our marketing internal and build out.” 

At Windsor, Ont.’s beloved Capri Pizza “we have still at least 50 per cent 

pickup,” says owner Kevin Kalaydjian. “Our winning strategy is the personal 

connection, so I’m reluctant to implement [third-party delivery], even though 

the research says that’s where we should be going.” 

No surprise that Quebec City’s upscale Chez Muffy doesn’t deliver, but they 

do operate a seasonal food truck called Panache Mobile on scenic Île d’Orléans. 

“It’s kind of deluxe fast food: burgers, lobster rolls, salad,” says general manager 

Guy Lombard. “We [serve] an average of 300 to 400 people a day.” 

Montreal institution Schwartz’s Deli turns 90 this year. With two-hour 

wait times for its legendary smoked-meat sandwiches, it recently introduced 

delivery, which is “doing phenomenal”, says general manager Frank Silva. 

vintage tavern in Toronto’s foodfocused 

Leslieville area, and the 

11-year-old PORT, a waterfront 

fixture in nearby Pickering. 

“Guests are looking for an 

experience-based product. That’s 

where we’ve had success with 

both of our products,” he says. 

“We sell 60 per cent in food 

sales at both of our properties.” 

Drinks, decor and music, he says, 

all contribute to “the tone and 

the culture. We’re trying to create 

neighbourhood destinations — 

that ‘third space’.” 

Food-and-beverage training 

for front- and back-of-house staff 

is part of the mix, as is catering 

to special dietary requests. 

At Maple Leaf Tavern, “we have 

people who come from across the 

city because they have confidence 

in [chef Jesse Vallins] to be able 

to accommodate their gluten or 

celiac allergy,” says Morgan. 

Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality 

(O&B) operates numerous 

Toronto staples, such as Canoe, 

Auberge du Pommier and 

Bannock, as well as Montreal’s 

Bar George, Saskatoon’s Shift 

and Calgary’s Sub Rosa and 

The Guild. It’s recently opened 

Maison Selby, a unique French 

bistro in a 136-year-old Toronto 

mansion. 

“Millennials love going out 

and they want experiential 

things,” says president and CEO 

Andrew Oliver. “When you walk 

into Maison Selby or Bar George, 

you’re really entering another 

place. You could never build 

something like that again.” 

O&B is “super keen” on developing 

its plant-based menu items. 

“Last year we did our first Canoe 

vegetarian-based tasting menu; it 

did well,” he says. 

“The customer is now more 

sophisticated than ever, from 

ordering to flavour profiles 

to expectations,” says Kevin 

Kalaydjian, owner of Windsor, 

Ont. fixture Capri Pizza. “We’re 

introducing a little bit of heat 

now in some of the toppings. We 

have a bakery that provides us 

with gluten-free pie shells.” 

Capri Pizza has a longstanding 

tradition of using local ingredients, 

which has recently become 

more of a selling point with 

customers who want to know 

what’s in their food. Kalaydjian 

marvels at the scope of today’s 

competition: “before it would be 

the staples: Chinese, pizza, Italian, 

hamburgers. Now the variety 

is incredible.” 

Angela Caputo is similarly 

enthusiastic about the culinary 

scene in Northern Ontario. 

“We’re seeing people in the North 

really branch out,” she says. Four 

years ago, Caputo opened The 

Breakfast Pig, a breakfast-andlunch 

spot in Sault Ste. Marie, 

Ont. that is Feast-On certified for 

using local ingredients. 

“We’re experiencing a lot of 

growth. Chain restaurants don’t 

last very long here; people here 

like to see the face of the person 

they’re supporting,” she says. “I 

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travel to Toronto and go to some 

high-priced place to try something 

cool; you can go to different 

places in your hometown.” 

Overall, “Quebec and Ontario 

have performed really well over 

the past four or five years,” says 

Chris Elliott, a senior economist 

with Restaurants Canada. 

Year-over-year sales growth is 

six per cent in Quebec and 6.5 

per cent in Ontario over the past 

four years — among the largest 

growth rates in the country. 

However, says Elliott, “once 

you factor out inflation and unit 

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expansion, it’s been an entirely 

different story.” After these calculations, 

Quebec shows only 

1.5-per-cent growth from 2017 

to 2018, while Ontario is actually 

down by 2.2 per cent — a drop 

directly attributable to a 6.4-percent 

increase in menu prices 

following a minimum-wage hike 

from $11.40 to $14 per hour 

($9.90 to $12.20 for liquor servers) 

between 2017 and 2018. 

Restaurants in Quebec and 

Ontario are also struggling to 

find and keep qualified staff. 

“Labour is our number-1 cost 

and for us to have it go up 20 to 

25 per cent was a massive shock 

to the system,” says Oliver. One 

solution has been fine-tuning 

schedules. “We’re also investing 

in technology to make our 

employees more efficient; for 

example, tablet ordering to 

increase the speed at which people 

can get things going.” 

At Capri Pizza, the largest 

impact came not with the wage 

increase but with an increase in 

eligibility for holiday pay introduced 

at the same time. “We 

had to cut some hours,” 

says Kalaydjian. 

Quebec’s 2019 increase to 

$12.50 an hour ($10.05 for 

tipped employees) was less steep, 

but still significant. “We’re dealing 

with a lack of candidates 

almost more than the minimum 

wage,” says Durand. “We’re fighting 

for cooks; we’re fighting, 

even, for dishwashers. I want 

people to be paid fairly. More 

and more we 

see [operators] 

costing menus, 

costing drinks 

and trying to find 

ways to be more 

disciplined in 

order to be able 

to have a wellstaffed 

kitchen.” 

Among 

other factors, “technology is 

the number-1 influence,” says 

Robert Carter, industry advisor, 

Foodservice Canada for the NPD 

Group. He cites third-party apps 

to connect with customers and 

tools to make operations more 

efficient. Back-of-house is now 

“measuring performance, scheduling 

staff, ordering inventory,” 

he says. 

The startup, ResQ, applies QR 

stickers to equipment that staff 

can scan to connect to repair 

services. MeazureUp monitors 

kitchen operations — including 

food temperatures. “Even the 

POS systems are becoming much 

more advanced,” Carter says, 

mentioning Givex, which manages 

loyalty programs and the 

iPad POS system TouchBistro. 

In Ontario and Quebec, prosperity 

beckons for operators who 

hit the sweet spot between efficiency, 

quality, cost and the sense 

of connection for every diner. FH 


TOP 30 PROFILE 

RICHELL 

CASTILLO 

Executive sous chef, Fabbrica, Toronto 

Story By Shelby O’Connor 

After emigrating from Manila, 

Philippines to Canada, Richell 

Castillo’s parents expected her 

to pursue a career in health, 

science, engineering or law. 

However, inspired by the chefs she watched 

on the Food Network, Castillo instead 

applied to the Culinary Management program 

at George Brown College in Toronto. 

There she developed a passion for food — 

exploring and experimenting with different 

cooking techniques, cuisines and flavours. 

Following graduation, Castillo joined 

The McEwan Group, climbing the ranks 

Chef Richell is easy to 

communicate with, a stickler 

for details and can crack a joke 

to break any awkward moment. 

She exhibits a sincere love 

and obsession with food 

that’s entirely contagious 

— ABBY RUBIALES, GENERAL MANAGER, FABBRICA 

to become Fabbrica’s executive sous chef. 

“Starting at our pantry station at One 

Restaurant and working her way up to sous 

chef is no easy task at our establishments,” 

says Andrew Ellerby, corperate executive chef 

at McEwan Group. “Richell has impressed 

me every step of the way. She’s a driven, 

hardworking and talented chef who is committed 

to her chosen profession.” 

Castillo is considered the life of the kitchen 

by her peers — amusing them with her 

positive attitude, renditions of show tunes 

and the occasional Whitney-Houston classic. 

She’s also become one of the mostdependable 

chefs in the company. “When 

Richell was in the kitchen, my team [and I] 

all breathed a bit easier,” says Matt Beasly, 

chef/owner of The Pigeon and former chef 

de cuisine at One Restaurant. “Her talents as 

a chef are second only to her generosity and 

humility as a person.” 

Always willing to give back to the community, 

Castillo often participates in Eat to 

the Beat — a cooking event that supports 

women with breast cancer — and helps foster 

a new generation of chefs in her Culinary 

Skills 101 class at Centennial College. FH 



SAVE THE DATE 

CO-HOSTS 

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Editor & Publisher 

Kostuch Media Ltd. 

Nov. 29, 2019 

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EQUIPMENT 

TAILORED 

APPROACH 

Choosing an oven can’t always 

be a one-size-fits-all approach 

STORY BY DENISE DEVEAU 

For many chefs, one or two combi 

ovens or a convection oven are 

enough to fill their day-to-day needs. 

But when the scope goes beyond a 

smaller restaurant operation, oven 

choices get a lot more complicated. 

At the Drake Commissary in Toronto, there’s 

a full contingent of ovens working their magic 

on everything from baking pastries to curing and 

smoking proteins. The location encompasses a wide 

range of operations, from catering prep and the 

main restaurant, to a bakery and café. 

That requires a multitude of ovens for handling 

all the production needs, says chef de cuisine Jonas 

Grupiljonas. “We have so many different facets to 

our operations. So each oven is adapted to what 

those sections are for.” 

For example, bakery output is handled by four 

Miwe Condo (Mississauga, Ont.) stone deck ovens 

for pizzas and baguettes, as well as two Miwe Econo 

convection ovens for croissants, burger buns and 



EQUIPMENT 

crackers. “The deck ovens 

are pretty good for generating 

a lot of steam to get 

that dark shiny colour on 

things such as our sourdoughs,” 

Grupiljonas says. 

The Miwe stone ovens 

are also equipped with 

an Elevateur oven loader 

from ARIA Constructeur 

(Vieillevigne, France). 

Two Garland (Toronto) 

convection ovens are used 

for baking fresh cookies, 

as well as reheating savory 

croissants and scones. 

Then there are two 

RATIONAL (Mississauga, 

Ont.) ovens — one full 

size, one half size — for 

large day-to-day production 

needs, including 

roasting, smoking 

and steaming. “The 

RATIONALs are valuable 

because they save so 

much cleaning time and 

are easy to maintain,” 

Grupiljonas says. “The 

clean-down option 

is important.” 

While he appreciates 

the programming features, 

Grupiljonas says 

he prefers to play it by 

ear. “Because our menu 

changes so often, we don’t 

want to go through the 

process of reprogramming 

the oven so many 

times.” 

Three Garland deck 

ovens take care of café 

service needs and finishing 

and heating mains. 

There’s also a CVap 

cook-and-hold oven from 

Winston Foodservice 

(Louisville, Ky.) and two 

MerryChef (Cleveland, 

Ohio) rapid-cook ovens 

for quick heating of small 

to-go items such as 

sandwiches, muffins and 

pizza slices. 

Grupiljonas estimates 

the total tab for Drake 

Commissary’s oven collection 

is about $160,000. 

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STICKING TO BASICS 

At The Broadview Hotel 

in Toronto, Eric Hadley, 

Events and Catering chef, 

says he tends to stick 

with the basics on the 

oven front. His banquet 

event space can be set 

up for 150 seats or 300 

standing guests. 

His inventory list 

includes three gas ranges 

— two Garland and one 

Imperial (Corona, Calif.) 

— which he describes as 

tanks. “If you know how 

to use them properly, they 

work just fine.” 

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include a Garland doubledeck 

convection oven 

and a RATIONAL combi 

oven. “The convection 

is where we do most of 

our [cooking] and we use 

the RATIONAL for large 

batches,” he explains. 

Like the ranges, it’s the 

simplicity of deck ovens 

that Hadley likes best. 

“You never have to worry 

about them breaking 

down and everyone has 

the parts for them. I’ve 

used them for years. They 

just go on forever. With 

a combi, if it goes down 

it can take a couple of 

weeks to service it. With 

only one, we don’t have 

that luxury.” 

Hadley says he’s seeing 

more combi ovens 

being used for a variety 

of functions. “They’re 

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great because of their 

versatility. They can do 

steaming and sous vide 

now. I’m seeing a lot 

more RATIONALs and 

Alto-Shaams being used 

for smoking. Even though 

they tend to be expensive, 

places are willing to make 

that investment because 

they can do so much 

more. The programmability 

is also great for consistency, 

regardless of who is 

working that day.” 

SHOW STOPPER 

Wood- and gas-fired pizza ovens have become eye-catching 

centrepieces for many restaurant operations. The newly opened 

The Parlour in downtown Toronto has upped its game by installing 

two Marana pizza ovens shipped directly from Italy at a cost of 

about $50,000 each. 

Unlike the typical hearth-style façade, the huge metal iglooshaped, 

gas-fired ovens feature an expansive stone deck that 

rotates as the pizza is cooking (speeds can be changed to speed 

up or slow down the cooking time). Lateral gas burners shoot 

flames into the chamber to create a more even cook — not to 

mention an eye-catching visual effect. 

The larger of the two can hold up to 12 pizzas, while its slightly 

smaller sibling is exclusively used for gluten-free orders. “We 

even use the ovens to roast meats as well as toppings such as 

garlic, mushrooms or pineapple,” says head chef Joey Agostino. 

The stone deck can also be raised to capture the higher temperatures 

in the upper parts of the chamber. 

All in all, it’s a pretty special oven that draws a lot of interest, 

he says. “You won’t find many of these around. Nothing beats it,” 

says Agostino. 

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The Stratford Chefs 

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“We have a whole range 

of equipment for singleuse 

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same way you have different 

frying pans for different 

protein applications,” 

says Eli Silverthorne, 

open-kitchen manager 

and chef/instructor. 

The newer facility is 

home to eight Garland 

gas ovens (four of which 

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EQUIPMENT 

are French top), two 

Doyon (Menominee, 

Mo.) convection ovens 

and two Pavailler (Saint- 

Hubert, Que.) deck ovens 

primarily used for bread, 

pizza and high-heat 

applications such as Beef 

Wellington. “The deck 

ovens are great because 

they distribute heat 

from above and below,” 

Silverthorne says. 

He says while a few of 

their ovens were able to 

be transferred from the 

old location, deck ovens 

can be more problematic. 

“They’re essentially built 

to fit the wall structure. In 

those cases, it’s better to 

simply replace them.” 

Like some other seasoned 

chefs, Silverstone is 

not a huge fan of digital. 

That said, he’s trying 

to show students both 

classical and new-age 

approaches. “We do look 

at the different applications 

with combi ovens, 

such as steaming, poaching 

and sous vide. The 

reality is, if chefs move 

into an environment with 

combi ovens, they’ll be 

trained on it anyway.” 

As for brand choices, 

Silverstone says chefs tend 

to be creatures of habit. 

“We stick with the brands 

we like.” 

PLAYING WITH FIRE 

When you have 22 restaurants 

under your banner, 

oven choices are often a 

central factor in creating 

a concept, whether 

it’s fine dining, pub style 

or ethnic fare. “We have 

every type of oven you 

can think of,” says Ben 

Heaton, corporate executive 

chef of ICONINK in 

Toronto. “We have woodburning, 

gas-fired, deck, 

combi and basic ovens. 

Everything we use is for 

the specific restaurant’s 

purpose and intent.” 

A recent addition to its 

repertoire is at Shook, a 

new Israeli concept where 

everything on the menu 

is wood fired — from 

bread and pastries to vegetables 

and proteins. The 

restaurant features a sixfoot 

hearth/wide-open 

fireplace with different 

heights of grills. Steel 

poles run through the 

open fireplace for hanging 

vegetables for smoking. 

“It’s a real eye opener 

when people walk by. It’s 

amazing,” Heaton says. 

Wood burning and 

charcoal-fuelled ovens 

and grills are on the rise, 

he notes. “There are two 

reasons for that. One, 

chefs love working with 

fire. The other is the way 

you can manipulate the 

smoke and flames to create 

different flavour variations. 

We like to make it 

difficult for ourselves.” 

All of the wood ovens 

have been custom built 

to match specific use 

cases, he adds. “We might 

be looking for larger or 

smaller mouth, different 

capacities — whatever 

works for that concept.” 

While traditional 

techniques may be de 

rigueur, Heaton says they 

also make sure they 

install RATIONALs in 

every kitchen. “We know 

how to use modern and 

old school to our advantage.” 

In some cases, they’ll 

install two combis to 

facilitate dishes that 

require steaming and 

roasting, he adds. 

“They’re great because 

they allow us to remove 

the margin for error. And, 

they’re so intelligent now, 

you can press a few buttons 

and walk away to 

braise meats overnight 

and know you’re meeting 

HACCP [Hazard Analysis 

and Critical Control 

Points] temperature 

requirements. Nothing 

is over or under cooked. 

You can even boil eggs, 

steam vegetables or cook 

sous vide. It’s a requirement 

given the diversity 

of [items] on our menu.” 

As with most chefs 

with multiple oven needs, 

there’s always room for 

traditional deck and 

regular ovens. “They are 

workhorses for a lot of 

kitchens,” Heaton says. 

The only missing 

element for Heaton is a 

tandoori oven. “I’d like 

to get one down the road. 

I’ve never cooked with 

one but I think they’re 

pretty cool.” FH 


POURING FOR PROFITS 

the coffee & tea report 

THE AWAKENING 

Millennials are driving growth in the specialty, 

iced-coffee and tea sub-segments 

STORY BY JESSICA HURAS 

iSTOCK.COM/JACOBLUND 

Whether it’s an on-the-go latte from 

a neighbourhood café or a leisurely 

afternoon cuppa, Canadians love their 

coffee and tea. While brewed coffee 

showed a slight decline in foodservice 

orders over the last year, according to 

Toronto-based market-research company 

Ipsos FIVE/FSM, there are plenty 

of bright spots in the segment, with 

espresso-based drinks, iced coffee and 

hot- and cold-tea purchases on the rise. 




There are clear generational preferences when it comes 

to the types of coffee and tea Canadians are drinking. 

Older demographics tend to choose traditional coffees and 

teas, with Ipsos’s research showing baby boomers (age 52 

to 70) are responsible for 42.4 per cent of all hot coffee 

and 39 per cent of hot tea consumed both at home and at 

foodservice. The same research shows millennials are the 

driving force behind the growth of the specialty and icedcoffee 

and tea sub-segments. 

Robert Carter, Industry Advisor for market research 

company NPD Group Inc., says the demand for specialty 

drinks is helping independent cafés carve out a niche for 

themselves. “From a marketplace standpoint, we’re seeing 

these unique coffee places pop up,” says Carter. “They’re 

introducing nitro coffee, cold-brew coffee, et cetera 

and driving innovation in the category. Consumers are 

responding to that.” 

Regardless of consumer support for smaller cafés, big 

players such as Tim Hortons, Starbucks and Second Cup 

Coffee Co. are still capturing the lion’s share of the coffeeand-tea 

market, with Tim Hortons leading the pack at 

$8.9-billion in sales for 2018, according to 

Foodservice and Hospitality’s Top 100 Report. 

Carter says the availability of quality coffee 

and tea is continuing to expand beyond 

the classic cafés to places such as full-service 

restaurants and grocery stores. “Historically it 

was limited to very specific channels like coffeeshops,” 

says Carter. “Now you can walk into 

multiple different channels and have a selection 

of good coffee and tea.” 

Delivery apps, such as UberEats and 

SkipTheDishes, are also helping make coffee and 

tea more accessible. Vanda Provato, vice-president 

of Marketing and Category at Second Cup, says 

delivery apps are positively impacting sales. 

“Customers want the convenience of ordering 

from the comfort of their home or office and the 

orders are often larger than we see in café,” 

she explains. 

Convenience is key and the rise in mobile-ordering-app 

use shows Canadians are looking for a quicker experience 

at the counter (and the opportunity to earn points to put 

towards future purchases). 

JUST BREW IT 

Although coffee consumption in Canada is plateauing, 

it’s still a massive industry, with the Canadian Coffee 

Association reporting 72 per cent of Canadians consumed 

coffee in 2018 (up slightly from 71 per cent in 2017). 

Experts agree espresso-based specialty coffees are driving 

the small growth occurring in the coffee category, with 

millennials fuelling the popularity of specialty beverages. 

The Canadian Coffee Association’s 2018 study shows 29 

per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 had consumed an 

espresso-based beverage within the previous day. 

Iced coffee continues to be a popular sub-segment 

of the specialty-coffee category, with Technomic’s 2018 

Canadian Consumer Beverage Trend Report showing a 

24-per-cent increase in cold/iced or blended-coffee orders 

at foodservice over the past year. “We’ve seen a significant 

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growth in the cold-beverage category,” says Provato, who 

points to rapid growth in sales of Second Cup’s Flash 

Cold Brew — the brand’s signature iced coffee — which is 

freshly brewed directly over ice. 

Brian Turko, founder of B.C.-based Milano Coffee, 

agrees cold brew is steadily growing in popularity. “It’s 

not just in restaurants and cafés, but people are buying 

cold-brew set-ups for home,” says Turko. He adds the 

home-cold-brewing trend is still good for business, since 

consumers are generally buying their beans at foodservice 

(even if they’re ultimately consuming their coffee at 

home). 

Within the specialty niche, operators say the types of 

dairy substitutes consumers prefer is evolving. “Oat milk 

has displaced soy,” says Cliff Hansen, head roaster for 

Ottawa-based Bridgehead Coffee. “It tastes better, it showcases 

the coffee much better and it’s more sustainable.” 

Provato says Second Cup is also noticing non-dairy 

milk alternatives expanding. “We’re continuing to see 

innovation into new types of non-dairy options,” she says. 

“We’re exploring these options for our cafés.” 

Experts are quick to point out, however, that while 

these sub-segments of growth are exciting, traditional coffee 

still reigns supreme. “Our biggest seller is still hot black 

coffee,” says Hansen. And, according to Technomic’s 2018 

report, traditional coffee was the most widely consumed 

coffee beverage among those surveyed. 

Technomic’s findings are consistent with the trends 

observed by the Coffee Association of Canada, according 

to its president, Lesya Balych-Cooper. “The niche [beverages] 

are interesting, such as cold brew and nitro,” she says. 

“They’re growing, but they’re still quite small.” 

Within the traditional-coffee market, both Hansen 

and Turko point to natural coffee as a trend that’s gaining 

momentum. In contrast to the classic-washed-processing 

method, natural processing dries the coffee bean within 

the coffee cherry, rather than being removed immediately. 

The resulting coffee is “fruitier, distinctive and creamier,” 

according to Turko. 

Hansen says the more unique, intense flavour of natural 

coffee is resonating with consumers. “A lot more people 

are intrigued by that bigger, fruitier coffee.” 

TO INFINI-TEA AND BEYOND 

The tea segment continues to experience growth, according 

to Shabnam Weber, president of the Toronto-based Tea 

and Herbal Association of Canada (THAC). 

Weber says the general consumer trend towards healthier 

food-and-beverage choices is generating increased 

interest in tea, which has long been positioned as a goodfor-you 

option. “If you ask anybody on the street today: 

‘what do you associate with tea?’, nine times out of 10, one 

of those words is going to be ‘health,’” says Weber. 

Billy Dietz, Tea Research and Development manager 

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Operators are 

noticing an 

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iced teas 

for Montreal-based DAVIDsTEA, agrees the health benefits 

of tea are a key motivator for consumers. “Many of 

our customers are looking for a healthier juice or soda 

alternative,” says Dietz. “While a few of our blends contain 

calories, the count is much lower than most bottled juice 

on the market and it still delivers the punch of flavour that 

customers crave.” 

Carter says specialty teas — including “functional” teas 

offering added health benefits — are among the main 

drivers behind the gradual expansion of the tea category. 

“It’s a small segment, but it’s growing dramatically,” 

says Carter. 

Weber notes functional and fortified teas are a 

natural extension of the inherent health qualities of tea. 

“Companies are now enhancing their [tea] products with 

additional vitamins and other goodness,” says Weber. 

“We’re going to see more of that.” 

Experts say iced tea continues to be another significant 

area of growth within the tea category. Last May, Second 

Cup launched its new Iced T-Fusions, brewed iced teas 

paired with fruit flavours. Provato says these new iced-tea 

products are showing “strong early performance.” 

Dietz says DAVIDsTEA is seeing noticeable seasonal 

shifts towards its “iceable” blends, such as Frozen 

Raspberry and Caribbean Crush. 

Jennifer Commins, founder and CEO of Toronto-based 

Pluck Tea, also reports growth in iced-tea sales. However, 

she says many operators have been slow to add freshly 

brewed iced teas to their menus, which she calls a missed 

opportunity for foodservice establishments. 

“There’s lots of ways to make iced teas,” says Commins. 

“You can make simple syrups, use sodas to dilute them 

or combine them with locally pressed juice. You can add 

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great, healthful options to make premium 

drinks. It’s giving a restaurant a whole 

new pantry of flavour options.” 

Commins notes freshly brewed iced tea 

sometimes intimidates consumers who 

are unfamiliar with it, but it’s often easier 

to prepare than traditional tea. “Just like 

with wine, when we chill tea, the flavour 

profile changes radically,” says Commins. 

“So, you can get away with something 

that’s really over-steeped or steeped at the 

wrong temperature.” 

According to THAC, about 70 per cent 

of tea in Canada is enjoyed hot. Weber 

says for the iced-tea sub-segment to really 

take off, Canadians need to begin thinking 

of tea as a drink that can be enjoyed 

year-round. “We’re still a hot-tea-drinking 

nation,” says Weber. “There is an opportunity for growth 

by making people see this beverage can be enjoyed hot 

or cold.” 

COME AGAIN 

Loyalty programs and mobile apps are becoming more 

important than ever in foodservice, with the Coffee 

BUNN FSandHFall 2019 2.pdf 1 2019-08-12 8:45 AM 

Association of Canada reporting 16 per 

cent of coffee drinkers used a loyalty card 

in 2018, while seven per cent of respondents 

ordered coffee through an app. “It’s 

vitally important that [restaurants] have 

a solution where consumers can order 

ahead and collect loyalty points,” says 

Carter. “The coffee player needs to get 

more from their existing customers and 

steal from their competitors, since the 

market growth is relatively flat overall.” 

Tim Hortons, Starbucks, McDonald’s 

and DAVIDsTEA revamped their loyalty 

offerings in early 2019. Tim Hortons 

launched its new Tims Rewards Program 

in March 2019, giving customers the 

option to collect rewards through a physical 

card or the Tim Hortons app. The 

customer response to the new program has been strong 

so far, with the brand reporting “more than 20 per cent of 

the population of Canada” has used the loyalty program 

and about 50 per cent of customers scan loyalty cards in 

its restaurants every day. 

Starbucks updated its Starbucks Rewards program in 

April 2019 with changes allowing customers to redeem 

INNOVATIVE 

BREWING 

In July, Tim Hortons 

opened its first-ever 

innovation café at 

Toronto’s Exchange 

Tower in the city’s 

financial district. The 

new location boasts a 

selection of espresso 

based-beverages 

(americanos, lattes, 

cappuccinos, flat 

whites, cortados and 

macchiatos to name 

a few) and new tea 

beverages, including 

whole-leaf specialty 

teas and tea lattes — 

all made to order by 

skilled baristas

A CUP OF COFFEE 

IS MADE FROM 

STARBUCKS [MOBILE APP] 

rewards sooner (customers can collect “stars” on a preloaded 

Starbucks card or use the Starbucks app); while 

McDonald’s launched a new mobile version of its McCafé 

Rewards in January 2019 (although customers can still 

collect points using the old on-cup rewards system). 

DAVIDsTEA also updated its Frequent Steeper loyalty 

program in January 2019, allowing customers to collect 

points using a physical card or key fob (a mobile app is 

in the pipeline). “Our Frequent Steeper program has an 

incredibly high participation rate, as 80 per cent of our 

customers are members,” says Dietz. 

At Second Cup, Provato says the brand’s loyalty program 

is “a key part of our growth strategy,” adding the 

Second Cup Rewards Program accounts for a quarter of 

its annual sales. The brand is poised to launch pay ahead 

via its app and website later in 2019 — one of the brand’s 

biggest initiatives for the year. 

While larger chains are increasingly offering pre-ordering 

via their own branded apps, many independent cafés 

are getting into the skip-the-line game through third-party 

pay-ahead apps such as Ritual, a meal-pick-up app that 

partners with restaurants in several major Canadian cities. 

Ottawa-based Bridgehead Coffee has its own app that 

customers can use to collect loyalty points, but it turned to 

Ritual (which launched in the city this year) to allow for 

pre-ordering. 

“Pre-ordering pick-up apps are having a big impact 

on people,” says Hansen, who notes balancing pay-ahead 

orders with at-the-register customers was challenging at 

first. “It was briefly [challenging] as we found our legs 

with it, but once we got the flow down it became easy,” 

he explains. 

Starbucks Canada has taken things one step farther by 

launching door-to-door delivery service in partnership 

with Uber Eats. Starbucks Delivers is available in major 

cities, including Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary and the 

company expects the service to help it reach new customers 

using the Uber Eats platform, as well as offer existing 

customers added convenience. FH 


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SHOW PREVIEW 

GRAB A CUPPA 

Annual Coffee & Tea Show brings together thousands 

of attendees and exhibitors under one roof 

The 2019 Coffee & Tea Show takes place September 22 and 23 at the Toronto Congress 

Centre. The event showcases the industry’s latest technology and equipment innovations and 

gives attendees the chance to learn about the latest trends and gain knowledge to improve 

their business strategy. Featured products include roasting, brewing, grinding and espresso 

machines; premium coffee and tea; green coffee beans and loose tea; and baked goods, chocolates 

and desserts. The Coffee Association of Canada’s (CAC) annual conference will also be 

held during the show on Monday, September 23, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Here are a few companies to check out at this year’s show: 

Supramatic Inc. 

Eight Ounce 

Coffee/Acme & Co. 

Founded in 2011, Acme&Co has established 

itself as the specialty-coffee-cup leader. 

Designed by career coffee professionals, Acme 

cups are design-led, beautiful cups and saucers, 

durable enough to withstand daily life 

and a pleasure to pour latte art into. 

The all new Schaerer Barista Hybrid Espresso Machine 

from Supramatic is the perfect blend of super automatic 

and a semi-automatic. It grinds, tamps, hisses 

and it knocks, but all brew variables can be controlled 

by the machine or the barista, creating consistent 

beverage quality. 

Morala Trading Inc. 

Your one-stop shop for equipment, coffee, chocolate, 

syrup, smoothies and frappes, Morala Trading Inc. offers 

professional coffee essentials with the largest selection of 

Sweetbird Vegan Society certified products in Canada. 

Specialty Beverage 

Solutions Inc. 

Specialty Beverage Solutions Inc. (SBS) is privately 

owned and operated and is one of Canada’s largest 

distributors in the specialty-coffee category. SBS 

specializes in providing chains and individually owned 

business with quality equipment, personal service and 

innovative solutions to achieve their goals. 

TFI Canada 

Discover a world of coffee machines to produce 

the perfect serving, every time. Franke Coffee 

Systems has the right machine to suit any 

business. Reduce waste with bean-to-cup 

equipment or lower labour costs with automated 

machines. 


TECHNOLOGY 

GETTING 

TO THE 

POINT 

Restaurateurs are 

saving time and 

money with the 

help of POS systems 

BY JORDAN MAXWELL 

iSTOCK.COM/SHIRONOSOV 

Point-of-sale (POS) 

systems have changed 

the game for restaurateurs, 

helping them juggle 

employee schedules, 

labour costs and customer 

orders. Cloud- and tabletbased 

POS providers have 

granted operators easier 

data access, simplified 

ordering and ticketing 

and seamless guest 

experiences. 

For Turgay Kirbiyik, co-owner at Ozzy’s 

Burger’s — with three locations in Toronto, 

Vaughan, Ont. and Mississauga, Ont. — a 

partnership with Toronto-based TouchBistro 

provided a central location to review orders 

and allowed the company to increase sales by 

tracking data during peak periods. “It makes 

it a lot easier to run a smoother operation 

for ordering and ticketing and it’s been great 

for tax purposes [because you can pull up 

old orders],” says Kirbiyik. “We’re able to 

see trends, such as [top-selling] menu items, 

so it’s helped us to make the right decisions 

when it comes to growing the business.” 

While the system has greatly benefitted the 

business, Kirbiyik craves more. He wants to 

integrate a third-party delivery app into his 

existing system, but says the company has 

been slow to partner with a mobile-ordering 

platform because of the demands of operating 

two separate systems. POS companies 

have been slow to innovate beyond clientservice 

technology and adapt to digital 

applications. The systems have created a 

simplified environment for many but, going 

forward, modern POS technology will have to 

evolve and go beyond Cloud support and API 

reporting to a fully integrated omni-channel 

commerce and order-processing engine. 

One company leading the charge with 

third-party-delivery-service integration is 

InnQuest Canada — a POS software-solutions 

company in Edmonton. Trina Stephens, 

president of InnQuest Canada, says the 

company will soon be releasing an integration 

with San Francisco-based on-demand 

food-delivery service, DoorDash, through its 

Restaurant Manager POS system. Its current 

platform costs approximately $349 a month 

and training can take anywhere from two to 

five days. InnQuest has also partnered with 

Hasa — a POS-system solution based in 

Eastern Canada — that’s offering a similar 

application. 

Alex Barrotti, president and founder of 

TouchBistro, says companies are continuously 

working together to develop the technology 

and share information and strategies that 

will lead to the improvement of POS systems. 

Through Apple’s App Store, TouchBistro can 

easily add updates to its software, limiting the 

impact delivery and kiosk-ordering channels 

have on the overall guest experience. 

“The business model of these older companies 

was to hold onto your data very tightly 

and not share it with anybody. That was their 

security. But today’s mentality is the opposite,” 

Barrotti says. “There’s more strength in 

sharing your data with other systems in terms 

of customer attention, than there is in keeping 

it as proprietary as possible.” FH 



CHEF’S CORNER 

COOKING FROM MEMORY 

Chef Lanny MacLeod taps childhood 

memories for culinary inspiration 

STORY BY SHELBY O’CONNOR 

Chef Lanny MacLeod’s love of cooking began when he was a child —trying 

new recipes and watching Julia Child on PBS with his grandmother. 

“We went through her old Betty Crocker cookbooks and her 

Chatelaine and Canadian Living magazines and picked out recipes we 

both liked to make a [recipe] scrapbook.” 

Though the scrapbook was lost in a devastating fire, MacLeod still has his 

grandmother’s old Betty Crocker cookbook (a first-edition copy) and often turns 

to it for inspiration. 

These memories are what MacLeod says fuels his cooking style at Toronto’s 

Victor Restaurant in Le Germain Hotel Toronto Mercer. “I like to cook things I 

thought were fancy when I was a kid — very soulful [and] to the point,” says the 

executive chef. “I want to remind people what it’s like to eat a home-cooked meal, 

BITS & BITES 

FAVOURITE 

INGREDIENTS 

Wine and butter 

ALTERNATE 

CAREER 

"As a kid, 

a firefighter... 

but now, 

I want to start 

an alpaca farm 

FAVOURITE 

KITCHEN TOOL 

Wooden spoon 

FAVOURITE 

CULINARY 

DESTINATION 

Le Select Bistro 

but elevated to [incorporate] the luxe factor [of] this 

beautiful hotel.” 

Examples include Perch Almondine — a Lake-Erie 

perch with French beans, wild rice and a lemon-butter 

sauce($28) — and the Big Vic, a house-ground beef patty 

topped with double-smoked bacon, caramelized onions, 

aged white cheddar and Russian dressing($23). 

While attending Niagara College Culinary School, 

MacLeod met his mentor, Virginia Marr. “[She was] 

a really kick-ass chef who inspired me and my entire 

class,” he says, remembering how Marr took him under 

her wing and made sure his career set off in the right 

direction. “[For my internship] she set me up with Chris 

Smyth [at Noble Restaurant in the Prince of Wales Hotel 

in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.] He’s the calmest, most 

kind man and I’ve always said I want to be like him 

when I run a kitchen, because you can get great work out 

of people [by treating them] with kindness.” 

Shortly after graduating, MacLeod moved out east to 

P.E.I. with his partner and headed up the kitchens at The 

Pearl Café and Shaw’s Restaurant. 

When MacLeod was hired as sous chef at Victor 

Restaurant — and later promoted 

to executive chef — 

he set out to create a fun, 

familial environment with 

his team. 

“I’m grateful for the team 

I have here. It’s important to 

have fun at work— we’re 

cooking food not performing 

brain surgery.” 

The chef says his greatest 

accomplishment has been 

maintaining a healthy relationship 

amidst the gruelling hours 

that come with a career in the 

restaurant industry. “My 

relationship with my partner 

[is my] utmost success, because 

being able to have it and still 

[work this job, is something] 

a lot of people in this industry 

don’t get.” FH 

EVAN BERGSTRA 


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September 2019

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