It all began with a summer job selling Beaver Tails at a Montreal amusement park in 1987. Now, more than 35 years later, Pino Di Ioia (BCom’92, MBA’93) stands as the company’s CEO. He acquired the brand rights in Quebec in 1998, expanding its presence there before assuming leadership of the head office a few years later.

Today, the company boasts over 200 locations across Canada, adding approximately ten new ones each year. Di Ioia attributes his success to perseverance. “I once read an article that followed a whole bunch of successful people, and it wasn’t education and it wasn’t how much money you started off with; the number one lesson and the number one criteria was perseverance or tenacity,” he told Retail Insider. “You’re going to fail constantly. But it’s what you do with that.”