Boston Pizza - History

History

Boston Pizza began in Edmonton, Alberta on August 12, 1964 when Greek immigrant Gus Agioritis opened Boston Pizza and Spaghetti House. By 1970, Boston Pizza had 17 locations in Western Canada, 15 of which were franchised.

One of the first franchisees was Jim Treliving, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. In 1968 he had noticed the growing popularity of Boston Pizza and purchased the rights to open a restaurant in Penticton, British Columbia. While in Penticton he met up with George Melville who was a chartered accountant. He acted as Treliving's business consultant for four years then in 1973 became Treliving's partner in the business. Over 10 years, they built 16 restaurants in BC.

In 1983, Treliving and Melville acquired the Boston Pizza chain from then owner Ron Coyle, who had acquired the company from Agioritis in 1978. The two divested 15 of their restaurants to other franchisees, converted one restaurant to a corporate training restaurant and set about establishing systems and operating standards designed to standardize company operations. In 1986 Boston Pizza became the official pizza supplier for Expo 86 in Vancouver. This was a major success for the company - in the next two years it would lead to another 17 franchises.

By 1995 the chain had grown to 95 restaurants in Western Canada with sales in excess of $110 million (CAD). Over the many years the restaurants had become a success, more sports bars had been established as an integral part of the business.

In 1997 Mark Pacinda was hired to bring the chain to more eastern areas of Canada. The first eastern location opened in Ottawa in September 1998. The company later opened a regional office in Laval, Quebec in April 2004. Today there are 334 Boston Pizza restaurants in Canada.