Pacini to enter Ontario market

Having successfully conquered the Quebec market, the Pacini restaurant chain is ready to proudly introduce itself to the province of Ontario. On June 10, President Nathalie Lehoux enthusiastically signed a first franchise agreement for a Pacini restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario. This 180-seat restaurant, which involves an investment of approximately $1.2 million, will be located right next to a new Marriott Courtyard hotel. The restaurant will open in January 2017 and will create more than 80 jobs. This is all part of a vast development project that also opened five other restaurants in Canada during the past 18 months.

“Pacini is a Canadian franchisor and we are proud to bring our Italian concept to Ontario for the very first time. The market is ideal for us, given this region’s limited selection of full Italian-style family dining that serves breakfasts, lunches, dinners and weekend brunches. I am sure that we will enjoy great success in Mississauga,” says Ms. Lehoux.

The next Pacini opening outside Quebec will be in Banff on July 15, 2016. This is the chain’s second restaurant in Alberta after opening another near the Calgary airport. With investments totalling approximately $1.5 million, this next Pacini will have 200 seats and employ about 80 people. In addition to these openings, the company will pursue further expansion in Alberta and even into the Atlantic provinces. “We are always looking for potential franchisees throughout Canada,” says Lafleche Francoeur, Vice-President of Business Development.

A genuine institution in the Italian restaurant business for more than 30 years, Pacini currently employs about 1,300 people in Canada. The company is always looking to innovate in order to offer its guests an exceptional, authentically Italian experience with table service and its famous Bread Bar, a special location for exchanges and meetings where people can grill a selection of breads and choose from a variety of favourite spreads.

Pacini is recognized for its principle leadership tool, applied across all its all business spheres: love. The restaurant’s Love the Food, Love the People slogan expresses the Pacini’s values and actions. Out of love for its employees, the restaurant created a Recognition Plan that has resulted in a turnover rate that has been among the lowest in the industry, year after year. Out of love for its customers, Pacini has eliminated all artificial trans fats from its menus (still the only chain to have done this), reduced by one ton per year the amount of salt in its recipes, created gluten-free and allergen-free dishes, and has recently installed EpiPens in its restaurants. Out of love for the communities where the restaurant operates, the chain has set up the For the Love of the People program, which donates large sums of money to a variety of local community organizations. Increasingly, Pacini’s love gives a little bit everywhere across Quebec and today we are excited to bring it to Ontario.