BeaverTails, specializing in iconic Canadian pastries and treats, continues to expand its horizons as it gets ready to open in one of the country’s most famous shopping centres.
Pino Di Ioia, CEO, BeaverTails, told Retail Insider the brand will open in the near future in the West Edmonton Mall.
“This is the story of BeaverTails. Everyone knows us as the classic tourist location but as our stores are at Blue Mountain, and Banff and Whistler and all those beautiful places, our sales are deep double digit. We continue to explode. But we have exhausted the availability of those types of locations,” said Di Ioia.
“So we’ve gone more and more from pure tourist to tourist and leisure. And tourist and leisure spills into Quartier DIX30, a large regional mall in Montreal that the Royalmount developers operate . . . Andrew Lutfy has a great presentation that you can find online. He explains that to be a Class A mall you have to have a certain cluster of high end restaurants, a certain cluster of fine dining, a certain cluster of quick service, casual, a certain cluster of the big brand fashion and on and on. Quartier DIX30 is the only one in Canada that has all of those things.
“Our job has become to continue researching and continue probing how far we can push that leisure envelope. In the case of West Edmonton Mall, not much of a push at all. And frankly if you were a Montrealer this expansion would not be much of a push at all. These are natural extensions of the Banff world.”
The BeaverTails brand has just over 190 locations in Canada.
Di Ioia said BeaverTails has been in Méga Parc, Quebec City, for a number of years. It also has a couple of strip malls that are hit and miss.
“We have some winners…but we’ve had a small handful of less successful stories,” he said. “But those are really like a handful. Five or six. What we really look for is locations that make you smile. So if you’re in Quebec City you’ve got some big malls and if you need a pair of pants that’s where you would go. But if you’re in Méga Parc that’s the one that’s going to make you smile.
“If you’re going to put a picture of yourself on Instagram chances are it’s when you’re at West Edmonton Mall. Tell that to the real estate guys, it’s like ‘are you kidding you want locations that make you smile? What does that mean?’ But that’s what it amounts to. BeaverTails is not something you’re going to have every day so we’ve got to do it when you’re smiling.”
Di Ioia said BeaverTails is fairly consistent as it tends to open five to 10 new locations each year including mobile trailers.
“We still have a number of trailer territories because our food truck business is a big part of what we do. The festivals, the fairs, the amusement parks. All of that world. Basically anywhere that you go through a turnstile,” he said.
“Our growth is completely unnecessary. We’re not owned by Foodtastic or MTY. We’re not looking to be sold. We want the right deals, not the minimum amount of deals. So for us, if it’s a good quality location where magic happens we must absolutely be there and if that means we have 20 in a year we will. I wish I had that problem. We want those smiling locations.”
In a post-COVID environment coupled with an uncertain economy, consumers are treating themselves.
“The health trend continues, let’s not kid ourselves, but it’s less urgent than it was before COVID. Now, life is short, life is fragile, the economy is fragile, I want to enjoy myself. When you look at 2019, our chain volume has doubled. There’s two reasons for that. One is that people are pleasing themselves, they’re taking pleasure seriously. But the second reason I think it’s because the locations where we make magic happen, where we make happy happen, as we say internally, those are magical locations where we all want to and maybe need to escape more than ever. So we have the right product, treating yourself in the right environment, which is also treating yourself,” added Di Ioia.
He said the company has a “spectacular” new project that will be unveiled soon for Old Montreal.
“We’re going to use that as a canvas if you will for an even more amped up experience to follow the consumer that is spoiling themselves more than ever.”
Based on an old family recipe, BeaverTails pastries are a Canadian icon – a unique and delicious treat. Served hot and topped with numerous choices, including cinnamon and sugar, chocolate hazelnut spread, Reese’s Pieces and peanut butter, BeaverTails pastries aim to satisfy indulgences of all tastes.
Grant and Pam Hooker began serving the BeaverTails artisanal pastry in 1978 at the Killaloe Fair, just west of Ottawa.
Today the brand is known internationally with intense interest sparked after U.S. President Barack Obama visited Ottawa’s Byward Market in February 2009 and indulged in the iconic treat.
