Jerry and Sue Auger are the owners and operators of a successful restaurant that is in its 28th year of operation. It has won accolade after accolade for three decades.
What’s the secret?
The union
The partnership between husband and wife is key. The pair first started going to East Side Mario’s® with their three young children decades ago; back then, they went to the University Avenue location in Waterloo.
“We enjoyed it so much we made that trip all the time,” says Jerry. “There wasn’t much in Guelph back then in terms of chain restaurants. We and our kids enjoyed it and eventually we decided to buy one.”
They loved that East Side Mario’s® managed to create a fun dining experience for the whole family. They liked the high-quality pizzas and pasta, the great value, the music and the friendly atmosphere; the service was great, and the kids’ programs were a big hit. It was always a fun, positive and memorable experience. “We thought that the concept was very exciting and had a sound business model,” he says.
Before jumping into the restaurant business, Jerry had a Majestic Sound Warehouse electronics business. His wife Sue was the aquatic programmer for the city, running all of the pools in Guelph. They waited a year or two until they could find the right location; it was in April 1993 when the doors first opened.
The early days
When the restaurant opened, it was just the 12th East Side Mario’s® in the chain and one of the first independently owned chain restaurants in the area. The company would eventually grow to include over 110 restaurants coast to coast.
The first TV ads that ever aired were shot in their store, which they closed for the shoot. Remember “Hey budda boom budda bing”?
“A lot of our staff—including my wife—were in those commercials,” he says.
The University of Guelph
Over the years, the University of Guelph has provided the restaurant with some great talent. Many employees have stayed more than 15 years and that core group helped them build a special, enduring culture that is dedicated to service.
“I used to do a lecture every fall for first-year marketing students at the University of Guelph. The professor always told me they teach the kids that the life expectancy of a restaurant is three to five years,” says Jerry. “Well, we’ve been the number one store in the country for most of our 28 years and Guelph isn’t exactly the biggest city in Canada. That’s because we were able to develop a really good culture.”
Several people that the Augers ended up hiring mentioned that they’d heard Jerry’s lecture at the university and decided to apply for a job.
“It’s a very detailed, procedural type of business,” Jerry explains. “There are health codes, labour codes, liquor service codes and various other regulations to follow. It’s tough and it can be very nerve-wracking—try managing a staff of more than 100 and serving 1,200 people on a Friday—but it’s very rewarding. We’ve managed to establish a really good family atmosphere with our staff and they have a lot of fun. Many of our staff hang out together outside our four walls, many have gotten married—including my daughter.”
The numbers
The store has won every major award there was to win at least once, including six special ones: National Franchisee of the year four times; Top Sales in North America and a Special Service Award. The restaurant chain once had a President’s Club that recognized the top franchises in the country; the Guelph location won nine times in eleven years. No one else won more than five.
The city kept expanding and the Augers continued to run a successful business. There are a lot of metrics that go into that success: they saw a greater than 5% year-over-year sales increase (which is difficult to do) for nine of those eleven years and had to have many successful audits in all aspects of the business to qualify.
“We place great importance on the people we hire and how we treat them. This business can be very complicated and nerve-wracking but at its simplest, we are in the people business, both with guests and a large staff: you really just need to treat people the way you want to be treated,” he says.
The restaurant welcomes over 5,000 guests a week. It’s crazy, hectic and not for everyone, Auger admits. But for those who enjoy it, they seem to fall in love with the challenge and the camraderie. At the last Christmas party they had in 2019, there was at least one employee there who had started work in every single year of the restaurant’s 28-year history—quite remarkable given the notorious turnover typical in the industry.
Passion from the top down
Jerry says he loves everything about the business. He started off in the corporate world out of college. His father had been a plastering contractor and Jerry knew from a young age that he wanted to start his own business, so he studied it in college.
The staff is always very involved in the local community, volunteering and sponsoring sports teams and charities. They’ve supported most of the city’s youth sports, as well as the Canadian Cancer Society, Partners for Better Health, fundraised for CIBC’s Run for the Cure, and participated in the Big Bike Heart and Stroke Ride.
The pandemic
During COVID, the focus of the business changed. During the three lockdowns, their entire business was just takeout and delivery. The restaurant used to have over 100 employees but during lockdown was running with 20; they now have 70 and are looking to hire more to get back to full capacity.
What a change it has been since the early days when pick-up takeout represented only 2-3% of their business. Now takeout and delivery represent as much as 45 per cent of their sales, even when the restaurant is fully open.
Says Jerry, “We were fortunate that we have emphasized our takeout and delivery business for many years, which gave us an advantage, and we were ready to provide quick quality takeout when the COVID closedowns happened.”
Visit East Side Mario's Guelph or call 519-763-7861.