James McInnes founded Odd Burger in 2014 as a grassroots vegan organization that brought organic fruit and vegetables from local farmers to customers’ doorsteps.
The idea began percolating in his mind while he was running a software company.
He was born and raised in London, Ontario, and went to the University of Western Ontario taking genetics and computer science.
“I’ve always been like a scientist I guess,” said McInnes. “I always found that field of quantitative scientific methods and processes to be really cool, really interesting, especially in the computer science side, with an emphasis on the life sciences.
“After I got my degree I ended up starting a software company and ran that for seven years or so before I left and started this company. It’s always been a passion of mine science and life sciences.”
His first company was a fintech firm.
“While I was still running my software company I went vegan for health reasons. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure when I was about 32. I thought I was leading a fairly healthy life. I didn’t eat a lot of fast foods. I was eating what I thought was a balanced diet and fairly unprocessed,” he said.
“But it still led me to have some serious life implications. I went plant-based just to try it for 30 days and it completely reversed my high blood pressure which was shocking to me that in 30 days you could change your diet and you can have such a drastic impact on your health. The doctors were pretty amazed too.
“At the time, going vegan was such an extreme diet. People were asking how do I get my protein. I was going to die. I couldn’t live like this. A lot of misconceptions at that time. It started as me on a personal health journey. I ended up buying fruits and vegetables in bulk and I ended up starting a buying group with friends and family.”
He partnered with Vasiliki McInnes in 2015 and the couple developed vegan meal kits, through which they learned that people loved their vegan fast food recipes.
In 2016, Odd Burger brought what is now known as the Famous Burger to the London, Ontario Ribfest where it sold out due to overwhelming demand.
The popularity of this vegan option made waves and the disruption garnered great media attention throughout North America. The food truck was launched soon thereafter which brought vegan fast food to communities across Ontario and where customers came out in droves.
In 2017, the company launched Canada’s first vegan fast-food restaurant. Six months later, they opened the world’s first 24-hour vegan drive thru. Odd Burger opened its own manufacturing centre in 2018, where food is produced, and research and development take place.
In August the company, in its third quarter financial results, said it was expecting to open an additional six units in Canada before year end, bringing the total number of expected units operational to 23.
The perceptions of being a vegan have changed over the years.
“It’s becoming mainstream much more so than it was. I remember never even seeing the word vegan or plant-based. You rarely saw it at restaurants. You rarely saw any vegan offerings whatsoever. It just wasn’t on the radar because no one was eating that way whatsoever,” said McInnes.
“I think we’re starting to see kind of a shift, the same way cannabis has shifted from being just for the hippies to now lots of people doing it for lots of different reasons . . . And it’s gone mainstream . . . I think the same thing where plant-based has gone through the same type of transition. The industry itself is massive and the potential is huge.”
McInnes said today he’s 44 years old but feels like he’s in his 20s with lots of energy.
When asked about his entrepreneurial success, he said: “Perseverance was the number one thing because every business is going to have its ups and downs. Sometimes the downs can last for years. You have to be able to persevere through those hard times to sort of see the good times, sometimes.
“There’s this kind of ebb and flow that you have to get used to. You’re going to have failures. You’re going to have setbacks. You’re going to have challenges. You’re going to have times when you don’t think you’re going to make it through. At the end of the day, remember why you’re doing it and what are the reasons you’re doing it. As long as that reason is in the right place. It’s because you love what you do, you’re passionate about it, you believe in the importance of doing what you’re doing for the world, I think that helps you stick with it.”
McInnes said as an entrepreneur it’s important to be able to manage a company’s growth which many don’t think about.
“I think the real challenges and the difficulties come in the growth . . . Every single step of growth has challenges you have to be able to get through.”
In his spare time, he plays tennis and swims. He’s also a musician, working on a musical about the story of Odd Burger, coining it Odd Way on Broadway. He plays violin while his wife plays keyboard, drums and flute.
“I think creative outlets are great,” added McInnes, who played violin in different orchestras as a youth.
