A restaurant chain beloved for its all-day breakfast could be coming to Moncton — and the Maritimes — as soon as 2023.
Bobby Naicker, the director of franchise development for Denny’s Canada, said he and his real estate team are about to promote the opportunity for franchisees across the Maritimes. They hope to eventually open five Denny’s restaurants across Atlantic Canada.
“I think the soonest you’ll see a Denny’s in New Brunswick is in 2023 because it takes about six months to get the package together. As we speak, the team is putting things together, so I see us having a restaurant there in 2023,” he said.
Moncton, Halifax, and other major Maritime cities are the first places Naicker is considering promoting franchise opportunities. He said establishing a presence in larger centers first is a priority to mitigate risk, before he looks to smaller centers.
Naicker said Haligonians would likely be the first people to see a Denny’s coming to the Maritimes. The chain’s sole Atlantic Canadian location is in St. John’s.
“Halifax would be the natural place to begin first because we’ve had some communication with people in that area,” he said. “Once we have infrastructure and people in the area know who we are and enjoy our offerings, it will allow us to open in smaller towns.”
Naicker said pivoting to Atlantic Canada is more challenging than provinces like Alberta or B.C., where Denny’s has a stronger presence, since it doesn’t have any significant footprint in the region yet.
Denny’s Canada is considering a swath of communities across New Brunswick, including Moncton, Fredericton, Dieppe, Riverview, Quispamsis, Miramichi, and Edmundston. The restaurant is also considering promoting the opportunity for potential franchisees in Cape Breton, Truro, Yarmouth, and New Glasgow– as well as several more locations in Newfoundland.
“There are a whole bunch of areas we can be in and we haven’t done a lot of work on this yet. It’s been earmarked by our real estate team as areas we could potentially be in,” he said.
When asked if he’s seen much interest in Atlantic Canada from potential proponents, Naicker was direct: “No – and the simple reason for that is we haven’t aggressively marketed in that area.”
Naicker stressed that Denny’s Canada won’t open restaurants piecemeal or slowly but will expand quickly and aggressively, opening three of four restaurants, six-months-to-a-year at a time.
“Otherwise, it makes it immensely difficult to manage those restaurants, when they are that remote,” he said.
That expansion will only come after targeted promotions in the region.
“You may potentially see some ads go on social media, et cetera, trying to entice franchisees. We may go to food shows or restaurant shows. We’ll be more aggressive when we try to find sites and match them with franchisees,” said Naicker.
He noted that Denny’s is also trying to find a group or individual to sign an exclusive marketer franchise deal for the Atlantic region.
“What the master franchise agreement does is it allows someone or a group to open several locations,” he said.
Denny’s Canada has opened seven locations across Canada this year. Naicker said he expects to open as many as nine next year. The cost of investment to open a Denny’s franchise in Canada ranges from $1.3-million to $2.5-million.
“It depends, if you’re buying a restaurant that exists – a family-type restaurant – it costs much less, but if you buy a restaurant that’s not a similar type, it’s more expensive. And if you’re building a restaurant from the ground up, that’s a little bit more,” Naicker said.
Denny’s Canada, previously owned by the South Carolina-headquartered Denny’s restaurant chain, split off from its parent company about two-and-a-half years ago and is owned in Canada by Northland Properties.
Northland, headquartered in Vancouver, operates in five countries and owns several chains, including the Sandman Hotel Group, the Sutton Plans Hotels, Moxies, Chop Steakhouse & Bar, and the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Grouse Mountain – as well as the Dallas Stars NHL team.
Naicker said this change in ownership allowed Denny’s Canada to open restaurants far more quickly than when it was still a franchise of the American Denny’s.
“We often talk about Atlantic Canada and how we know we’ll do well, it’s just about getting our foot in the door and not getting there too quickly. We’re making sure we’re talking time and doing it right,” he said.
Denny’s Canada is headquartered in Vancouver and has locations in six Canadian provinces, with the majority of its restaurants in British Columbia (29) and Alberta (25).
Sam Macdonald is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
