By Steven Chester
Making many steps in a global corporate journey that has taken him from his home town of New Britain, Connecticut to his current role as president and CEO at Boston Pizza, Mark Pacinda has learned the importance of building a strong team, cultivating positive press and always putting your best foot forward.
After completing his MBA at Binghamton University, New York, Pacinda began his career with a six-year stint at Monsanto’s oil division out of Texas. He then moved back to New York and spent four years working in the corporate office of PepsiCo Inc. It was during his time at PepsiCo that Pacinda got his first “finger-lickin’” taste of the restaurant industry, working for KFC in Louisville. He then travelled to assignments in New Zealand and Australia, before moving to Canada in 1994, when he became president and general manager of Arby’s International.
Three years into the Arby’s gig, Pacinda received a phone call from a headhunter representing Jim Treliving and George Melville, owners of the Boston Pizza franchise.
A Canadian legend
The story of Boston Pizza is quickly becoming a Canadian legend. Jim Treliving, a former constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who has become a household name thanks to his role on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, opened his first Boston Pizza restaurant in Penticton, B.C, in 1973. He partnered with George Melville, a B.C.-based accountant with whom he grew his franchising footprint to 16 restaurants by 1983. The pair bought the company in 1983, and began to spread eastward across Canada.
“My first interview was with Jim on a Thursday, and my second interview was with George on a Tuesday, and I had a job offer at the end of the week,” recalls Pacinda. “I thought there was something refreshing about working with these two entrepreneurs. After spending my whole career working with big companies that take a lot of time to make decisions, I thought that this would be a really cool thing.”
The push eastward was not without its challenges. The first three Boston Pizzas that opened in the 1990s quickly closed.
“I think Jim and George realized that it was difficult to support the business expansion in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic with three- and four-hour time zone differences,” explains Pacinda. “They wanted to have a presence on the ground. They needed an office there, a presence to grow the business. That’s when we made the agreement for me to join the company, and off we went.”
Pacinda effectively became executive vice president of Eastern Canada, tasked with the job of setting up an office in the Greater Toronto Area. He likens the task to operating a start-up. New staff were hired in the company’s central Mississauga office building, and new Boston Pizza locations sprung up, taking advantage of a lot of big-box development that took place in Southern Ontario in the early 2000s. (Boston Pizza locations are often located near new Wal-Mart stores and AMC Theatres).
Positive press
“It was tough to find franchisees to believe in a brand that was primarily a Western Canada-based chain,” says Pacinda. “But slowly, we started building stores and generating some positive press. Guests started coming, and business was doing well. George has a habit of saying: ‘Successful restaurant companies begin with a successful restaurant.’ As we started opening successful restaurants, we got a bit of momentum and rode the wave of a lot of development back east.”
Pacinda was rewarded for his success in 2005, becoming president of the company. Last year he added CEO of Boston Pizza to his title.
Boston Pizza Inc. is a publicly traded income trust listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company recently marked its 10-year anniversary of going public, as employees were on hand to ring the bell at the opening of the day’s trading on the TSX. Pacinda estimates that 25 per cent of his time is spent working with trustees and managing that aspect of the operation. The balance of his time is spent running the restaurant company.
“My basic philosophy is to make sure that you have great people working with you. Make sure they’ve bought into the strategy, and give them the autonomy to be able to do their job, and keep revisiting every year to make sure you’re on the right path and achieving the goals you want to achieve,” says Pacinda.
The philosophy must be working. Boston Pizza has gone from a $250-million to $300-million company upon Pacinda’s arrival in 1997 to a $900-million business today. The chain has 350 locations across Canada.
Plans for growth
Growth plans for the company include a focus on its new urban concept, as the brand from the ‘burbs begins to tackle fast paced city living.
“We’re starting to develop an urban prototype,” says Pacinda. “We actually opened a couple of stores in Toronto. There is a bit of a different look and feel. It’s more bar-focused versus restaurant and family focused because downtown you have a lot more singles. That’s doing very well for us. There’s a big push now to get out in urban markets across Canada in some non-traditional type of expansion.”
A self-described devoted family man, Pacinda spends much of his spare time with his wife of 28 years, 24-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son. He enjoys travel, time at the cottage and golf.
Asked to name some memorable moments within the walls of Boston Pizza, Pacinda quickly recalls a Tiger sighting.
“In 2000, Tiger Woods came to Canada and played in the Canadian Open,” says Pacinda. “He just drove by and saw a Boston Pizza and walked in with his caddy and agent and had a pizza. I think it was on a Wednesday night that he came in, and sure enough, he came back on Friday and had another meal. It created such a buzz in the community that for two hours after he left, people came in asking: ‘Is Tiger here?’ Social media was just starting out at that point.
“It’s amazing when you’re in this business, you never know who is going to walk into your restaurant. You have to be prepared. You have to put your best foot forward.”
About the author
Steven Chester is the editor and social media community manager for Restaurant Central. His 13-year journalism background includes writing and editing for digital and traditional media. He is an expert in social media, online content and email newsletter development. Follow him on Twitter at @ChesterGoSocial.
