REDBERRY - ONE OF CANADA'S FASTEST-GROWING RESTAURANT COMPANIES - LANDS AN EXCITING NEW BRAND, BUILDS 27 NEW RESTAURANTS, HAS SIGHTS ON 600+ MORE LOCATIONS ACROSS CANADA

TORONTO, Jan. 22, 2024 /CNW/ - As one of Canada's fastest-growing restaurant companies, Redberry Restaurants ("Redberry"), a multi-brand Restaurant Franchisee, capped off 2023 with an unprecedented year of growth; solidly positioning the company for years of upcoming expansion and amplifying it's brand partnerships and values.

The past year saw significant new store and remodel development with Burger King and Taco Bell, signing an exciting new brand partnership with Jersey Mike's Subs, securing a renewed and expanded credit facility, and significant investment in people who are integral to Redberry's continued growth and success.

Redberry fueled immense growth in their Canadian restaurant footprint in 2023. The company added 27 new restaurants to its portfolio and remodeled an additional 20 locations. This growth will only continue, with plans to build almost 300 new Burger King and Taco Bell locations over the next eight years. This growth trajectory will undoubtably secure Redberry's position as Canada's largest and fastest-growing restaurant Franchisee, as well as the largest Franchisee for these world-class Brands in Canada. 

Ken Otto, Redberry's CEO notes, "The passion and support we get from Burger King and Taco Bell propels us to be their strategic growth partner in Canada.  Each Brand, a leader in their respective categories, has huge runway coast to coast."

In 2023, Redberry made the strategic decision to sell its Pizza Hut portfolio to focus on onboarding one of North America's fastest growing and powerful Brands. Redberry recently announced its appointment as Canada's Area Director for Jersey Mike's Subs. This partnership has been over a year in the making and will result in seeing 300 Jersey Mike's being developed in the next nine years across Canada.  Growth will be a combination of Redberry building its own stores, complimented by Franchisee growth. 

Redberry will be acquiring the two existing Canadian Jersey Mike's locations and will build five new locations in 2024. This will kick off a multi-year partnership commitment to building 300 Jersey Mike's restaurants, developing an infrastructure across Canada through a combination of corporate and franchisee locations.

"We couldn't be more excited about our strategic development agreement with Jersey Mike's and our role in bringing this powerful and category-dominant brand to Canada," says Gary Graves, Redberry's Board Chair. "We were won over by the entire culture of Jersey Mike's and know that their quality brand will strongly resonate with Canadians. They are indeed 'A Sub Above'."

To fund this outstanding new growth, Redberry renewed its bank facility in 2023. The up-sized facility will ensure successful support of future development of Burger King, Taco Bell and Jersey Mike's locations, which could exceed 600 new stores in the next decade.

The number of lenders in Redberry's syndicate increased as additional financial institutions offered to partner with Redberry in its future growth plans. This is a strong show of support for Redberry, recognition of the company's past successes and a ringing endorsement of the Company's business plan for the coming years.

To support and lead the expanding company, the already-tenured Redberry Executive team added additional bench strength and deepened expertise to their foundational leadership team.   

New internal appointments in 2023 included the June promotion of Robert Masson from Chief Financial Officer to Chief Development Officer. In December, Kiran Benet was promoted from Vice President of Human Resources to Chief People Officer, and Scott Lewis was promoted from VP of Burger King Operations to Burger King Brand President. External appointments included welcoming Gregory Pope to the position of Chief Financial Officer in June.

Redberry has experienced significant growth since being acquired by City Capital Ventures (CCV) in 2019, and the thesis CCV identified at the start of its investment remains very much intact. CCV's Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Dan Kipp, believes the brightest days for the company lie ahead.

"Despite Redberry nearly doubling its unit count since our investment five years ago, we're confident that significant 'white space' for development remains in Canada," said Kipp. "Ken and Gary are disciplined capital allocators, and with the addition of the Taco Bell and Jersey Mike's brands, we see even greater development opportunities in one of the world's truly compelling markets ? Canada.  We have a clear line of sight to building a billion-dollar business."

Redberry added almost 3,500 new hires to its team in 2023. In addition, there were close to 600 internal promotions of existing team members as they advanced their career with Redberry.

The Department Leadership Team was strengthened through the onboarding and promotion of several key leaders. This includes Shoaib Merchant and Mohammad Javed, each with more than 20 years tenure, who were promoted internally to Directors of Burger King Operations. Steve Pereira was also onboarded as the new Director of Taco Bell Operations.

To foster a supportive growth environment, including identification of career paths and succession for all interested team members, the Redberry Academy was successfully launched in 2023. The Redberry Academy was created to provide a central source of learning, focused on building real business capabilities in a scalable, open, and empowering way. Hands on training and access was provided to all levels of team members.

To physically support their planned growth trajectory, Redberry kicked off 2023 by moving the Restaurant Support Center into a modern, new office space in Mississauga, Ontario. The new office doubled their previous square footage, and provides inspired workspaces where team members can gather, share ideas, and grow together.

To accommodate the rapid growth of 600 stores in the next nine years, Redberry will hire up to an additional 5,000 team members in 2024 across the three brands ? Burger King, Taco Bell, Jersey Mike's ? as well as in the Mississauga Restaurant Support Center.

"To set the company up for strategic growth, we recognized the need to clearly define what makes Redberry stand out in this competitive job market," says Kiran Benet, CPO, Redberry. "Redberry credits its outstanding culture for our successes and living our core values is integral to helping our team thrive."

Redberry is committed to a culture of P.R.I.D.E.: Partnership, Respect, Integrity, Diversity, and Empowerment. 

In 2023, Redberry introduced self-ordering kiosks in several locations, making them the first Burger King and Taco Bell Franchisee in Canada to do so. Tech-savvy millennials often prefer to control their dining experience using kiosks and apps. Kiosks tend to have a higher average check, decreased wait times, enhanced order accuracy, and labour cost savings.

Redberry remains steadfastly committed to the Burger King Foundation, supporting both their educational scholarships and the family emergency fund programs. Redberry held in-store initiatives, as well as corporate donations, to donate almost half a million dollars to these outstanding causes in 2023.

"This year, Redberry was honoured to award 85 Burger King Foundation scholarships. These scholarships helped the students fulfil their educational goals and dreams," says Sharron Fry, Director of Marketing, Redberry Canada. On average, Redberry collects more than $60,000 annually in donations and adds corporate contributions up to $250,000 annually.

Fry also spearheaded the introduction of the Taco Bell Foundation scholarship program in Canada this year. The Taco Bell Foundation helps breaks down barriers to education and inspires the next generation of leaders through provision of grants and scholarships to Canadian students. More than $40,000 in donations was raised in this first year of the Foundation in Canada.

Redberry also proudly supports numerous local activities in the communities in which they serve and is a proud supporter of Student Co-Op Work programs.

City Capital Ventures ("CCV") leaders were intrigued by Redberry Restaurants performance, position in the marketplace, and experienced leadership team. Seeing the untapped potential of Redberry, CCV acquired the Redberry Group in 2019. City Capital Ventures, LLC (CCV) invests on behalf of City Capital, a boutique investment and merchant banking firm known for seeking out companies with untapped potential and giving them the investment capital they need to grow and realize their full potential. Their investment strategy is focused on business model design and people; with the goal of identifying and investing in the most compelling businesses.

Founded in 2005, Redberry is one of Canada's largest QSR restaurant Franchisees. Redberry owns and operates 180-plus restaurants across the country operating under the BURGER KING®, Taco Bell and Jersey Mike's Subs brands. With signed agreements to build more than 600 new restaurants, Redberry is one of Canada's fastest-growing restaurant companies. Redberry's mission and accelerated growth trajectory are made possible by its partnership with City Capital Ventures. Culturally, we have created an environment where our partners, brands, and team members can achieve the best versions of themselves. Redberry is proud to have been awarded "Restaurant Top 200: The Nation's Largest and Most Successful Franchisees" by Franchise Times for the last two years, and Burger King's Franchisee of the year for North America in 2021. We truly are architects of a different kind of restaurant company.

SOURCE Redberry Restaurants