BY TAMARA VON ESTORFF
The team of Pur and Simple opened up a new restaurant on Appleby Line in Burlington last Tuesday.
Approximately 50 people attended the event. The menu had an assortment of breakfast foods and beverages, including speciality coffees and smoothies, pancakes, waffles, french toast, crepes, skillets, sandwiches, and more. Gluten-free and vegetarian options were also available on the menu.
Pur and Simple is a French-Canadian breakfast/lunch franchise first built in Montreal in 2016. It currently has five locations, and the team is planning to open up at least six more by the end of the year.
“I started the company in 2016 with a couple of partners,” says co-founder and executive vice-president Ritou Maloni. “Since then we’ve now built five locations, in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Ontario,” she says. “We hope to open three more within the next three months, and a total of six by the end of 2019.”
Maloni found herself falling in love with the franchising business after her first experience of working in retail.
“I was in the clothing business and it was a business that was full of adrenaline,” explains Maloni. “I never found another business that I was able to say that I could deal with the public and be in the hospitality business and I really loved it,” she says. “It’s a beautiful industry where you get to make food and change the lives of people.”
Maloni says that the company is extremely customer-service oriented, and at first it was very difficult having to find hard-working, determined and friendly people to join their team.
“Once we find a franchise partner, the biggest challenge is training other people to see our vision,” says Maloni. “Knowing the vision of hospitality, and the vision of how quick and efficient the kitchen has to run, and how the front of the house and the back of the house have to work really well together,” she says. “It’s always difficult to find a great team, but once you have that you have so much opportunity and so much potential.”
Maloni says she is very happy with the progress that she and her partners have made over the last couple of years.
“The most rewarding part is seeing the look on a franchise partner’s face when they open a new restaurant,” says Maloni. “When they see the customer’s coming in and they see the reaction on the customer’s face when the food comes to the table,” she says. “They see so much potential in their growth and their success and that’s honestly the best part.”
For more information on menus, locations, and business hours, visit the Pur and Simple website.
