History
Extreme Pita was founded by Alex and Mark Rechichi, two Canadian brothers, in 1997. The two came up with the name in order to distance the company from the pita's Middle Eastern roots and break out of the ethnic niche. As a solution, the name "Extreme Pita" was born, meant to encourage the idea of "extreme" sports and an active lifestyle. The first Extreme Pita opened near Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario in 1997, but the original location is no longer operating.
Extreme Pita's second franchisee was Sean Black, one of the current Vice Presidents of Extreme Pita. Black helped the company expand into new locations in Canada. The company continued to expand and grow over the years, expanding into new locations in Canada, from 1997 (the year when the first Extreme Pita was opened) to 2003 (when Extreme Pita began to expand into the United States). This continued expansion throughout Canada increased Extreme Pita's recognition as a brand name, and allowed it to challenge already-established fast food companies like Subway and McDonald's. This growth also provided the company the money to expand and franchise in the United States. By 2007, there were about 200 stores in Canada. Extreme Pita also prides itself on being a healthy low fat snack, and is also well known for its vegetarian options. The Canadian-based Extreme Pita began to expand to include stores in the United States in 2003, beginning with Arizona. The company has continued to add locations throughout the United States, mainly through franchising. In many cases, the franchisees were the ones most eager to expand the company and to increase Extreme Pita's brand name recognition. Since 2003, Extreme Pita has expanded into locations in California, New York, Texas, and other parts of the Western, Mideastern, and Northeastern United States.
Read more about this topic: Extreme Pita
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when modernism’s high-minded principles and preoccupations have ceased to function, but before they have been replaced with a totally new system of values. It represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange and hybrid interregnum that might be called the last gasp of the past.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)
“America is the only nation in history which, miraculously, has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.”
—Attributed to Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929)