Sunny Street’s ambitious Canadian expansion

Columbus, Ohio-based chain Sunny Street Café is expanding into Western Canada with the opening of its first Canadian restaurant in Edmonton slated for late summer or early fall.
 
Sunny Street Café specializes in breakfasts and lunches and operates 14 locations in Ohio, Texas, Missouri and Kansas. The company’s move into the Western Canadian market represents its first foray outside of the U.S.
 
Canadian developer and franchisee Percy Johnson will launch the Edmonton restaurant. Johnson plans to grow Sunny Street’s presence to 40 locations across the four Western provinces in the next decade.
 
Mike Stasko Jr., director of business development for Sunny Street, said his company saw Western Canada “underserved as far as breakfast and lunch is concerned. We think that segment can evolve pretty quickly and we think we’re going to fill a void there.”
 
Stasko said that, in order to differentiate itself from Canadian competitors like the Cora chain, Sunny Street will follow the brand blueprint it established in the U.S.
 
“We’re very comfort food-oriented, homestyle-oriented,” he said. “We’re focused on the quality of the food and the quality of the service in the store and making each store part of the community.
 
“We’re not about large media blitzes and stuff like that. We’re more focused on getting involved in the community with civic associations, churches, sponsoring events and embracing the communities we’re in.”
 
Stasko said the current priority for his company is the Edmonton launch, and that no timeline is yet in place for subsequent openings.