Bringing an American Food Franchise to Canada? Start With These 3 Lessons From the Co-Founder of Eat Up Canada, Inc.

Franchise professionals often ask me what it takes to successfully translate a restaurant brand across borders. Over the past 11 years, I've introduced three American restaurant brands to Canada and each one required a different operating model and unique approach to scaling. Social media was in its infancy when Alex Gerzon and I brought Firehouse Subs to Canada in 2015. When we founded Eat Up Canada, Inc. and launched Pokeworks in 2022, digital marketing had become a central part of local store marketing playbooks. As we prepared to bring Playa Bowls north, we spent months cultivating consumer demand through social media before the first guest ever walked through the door. My experiences with Firehouse Subs, Pokeworks and Playa Bowls have taught me that successful international expansion starts with three things: the right partnership, thoughtful localization, and building brand awareness before opening day. Choose the Right Partner, Not Just the Right Brand As a franchisee or franchisor, the most important decision you'll make is choosing a strong partner for international growth. The best master franchise relationships operate more like joint ventures than traditional franchisor-franchisee relationships. Inevitably, you'll encounter moments where local realities don't align perfectly with a brand’s existing playbook. When that happens, a relationship founded on mutual trust is guaranteed to be more valuable than what's written in the agreement. The Playa Bowls leadership team was on the ground with us in Canada well ahead of our first opening. They visited our other restaurant operations to observe how we interacted with guests and supported our team members. Investing time in understanding the realities of scaling a restaurant concept successfully in Canada created strong trust as we began the path to opening our first Playa Bowls location. Our foundation with Playa Bowls leadership allowed conversations around adapting certain aspects of the business to became more collaborative. They knew every recommendation came from a shared goal: protecting the integrity of the brand while setting it up for success in a new market. Localize the Concept Without Diluting the Brand Two of the biggest mistakes that brands make when entering Canada is assuming consumers behave exactly like they do in the United States and assuming the economic model is the same. Retail provides plenty of cautionary tales. When Target entered Canada, many consumers expected the same assortment and overall experience they loved in the U.S. Instead, they found different inventory and pricing, and the gap between expectations and reality ultimately hurt the brand. Restaurant brands face similar challenges. We've seen operators introduce U.S. technology platforms, products and marketing programs without recognizing that Canada is different. We've seen brands make subtle changes that leave guests wondering why their experience doesn't match what they enjoyed while travelling in the U.S. Our philosophy has always been to preserve what makes the brand special while thoughtfully adapting around the edges. With Playa Bowls, we made deliberate decisions alongside the franchisor about which menu items made sense for launch without changing the core guest experience. We localized visual elements in the hand-painted murals within the restaurant by incorporating Toronto and Canadian touches while maintaining the unmistakable Playa Bowls aesthetic. Guests should immediately recognize the brand and its core menu but should also feel it belongs in their community. Cultivate Consumer Demand Before Day One Launching Firehouse Subs in Canada was a very different experience from launching Playa Bowls. When we opened our first Firehouse Subs location eleven years ago, social media wasn't yet influencing where people chose to eat. To most Canadians, we were introducing an entirely new brand from scratch. Our second brand, Pokeworks, benefited from a more connected digital world but still required significant market education and local store marketing efforts because relatively few Canadians had tried a poke bowl before. Playa Bowls was different. Long before we opened our first location, Canadians were already asking when the brand was coming north. Some had discovered Playa Bowls while vacationing in Florida or traveling through New Jersey and New York. Others knew the brand through Instagram and TikTok, where its colorful bowls and beach-inspired aesthetic had already built a loyal following. We were responding to an existing demand, which fundamentally changed our approach to market entry. Rather than waiting until opening day to introduce the brand, we spent four to five months building anticipation through local marketing, public relations, influencer partnerships and community engagement. At the same time, we were able to leverage Playa Bowls' existing social media presence and passionate fan base to create excitement that simply wasn't possible in 2015. Today's consumers often discover brands long before they enter their city. For franchisors, that means the first step to international expansion begins when global consumers first encounter your brand online or experience your product in existing locations. Franchisees that recognize and capitalize on that awareness have a significant advantage over those that assume opening the doors is enough. Of course, none of this matters if the first location doesn't deliver. Once guests walk through the door, it's up to your team to deliver an experience that lives up to the expectations that the franchisor and their franchisees have created online. That's something my business partner, Alex Gerzon, understands better than anyone. Alex has an incredible ability to connect with both guests and team members while bringing the Playa Bowls culture to life in an authentic way. The social media buzz may introduce people to the brand, but it's genuine hospitality and operational excellence that turn first-time visitors into loyal guests. While we think about building 160 locations, every guest judges us on one visit, one shop. That's why our first locations also serve as training centers for future franchisees, allowing us to refine operations, strengthen our supply chain and build a foundation that can scale. Canada continues to represent an incredible opportunity for growing restaurant brands. Brands that thrive here won't necessarily have the biggest development agreements or the fastest expansion timelines; they'll invest in true franchisor-franchisee relationships, respect the nuances of the market and remain disciplined enough to create scalable systems with a long-term vision in mind.