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A classic treat of Canadian nostalgia, BeaverTails pastries have swept outside of the Great White North and across the world, now holding more than 170 locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia. While BeaverTails desserts have become an international craze, the humble roots of the flattened artisanal donuts founded in Killaloe, Ontario, still pervades throughout the chain’s global ethos.
The masterminds behind BeaverTails, Pam and Grant Hooker, originally created the delicious fried dough treat from an old family recipe to be sold at theKillaloe Craft and Community Fair in 1978. After a resounding reception from its local audience, the duo opened a stand at the Byward Market in Ottawa just two years later.
While the eighties and nineties brought in a large expansion for BeaverTails stores across Canada as a whole and an emphatic growth into the its largest province, Quebec, 1987 marked an unexpected point in the chain’s history: the hiring of Pino Di Ioia as summer manager of the BeaverTails location at La Ronde. Before long, Di Ioia would find himself a franchisee, master franchisee, and ultimately became BeaverTails own homegrown CEO, taking control management alongside his wife and twin brother in 2002 and assuming majority ownership in 2009.
Under Di Ioia, a total restructure of the management of BeaverTails franchises across the world led to a major shift in the company’s profitability, closing underperforming locations and introducing an operations-forward culture throughout the chain. Soon, BeaverTails stores began offering new treats to their clientele, including ice creams, poutines, and new toppings to adorn the traditional and beloved BeaverTails pastries, and ultimately extended the chain’s distribution licenses into more than six international markets, including Mexico, Japan, France and the UAE.
As savvy business moves have taken BeaverTails stores worldwide, foreign consumers and Canadian expatriates alike can now indulge in BeaverTails pastries for a sentimental one-way ticket to Canada in their minds. Indeed, BeaverTails pastries have become such a pillar of Canadian culture that the former U.S. President Barack Obama made a point to indulge in the delicious dessert during his official trip to Ottawa in 2009.
With plans to continue growing BeaverTails stores across the map and bringing its delicious pastries to new countries and continents, the Canadian fixtures’ goal of becoming a global mainstay in the dessert market is already well on its way to fruition.
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