Foodtastic has built a $1B restaurant empire — but its CEO is still hungry for more

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As he sits in the back office of a Pita Pit in Kingston, Ont., on a recent Thursday morning, restaurant impresario Peter Mammas is all smiles.

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His rosy demeanour defies the tariff storm and customer cutbacks roiling his industry but reflects the optimism he’s feeling around the future of his restaurant conglomerate, Foodtastic.

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The nine-year-old, Montreal-based business has 1,200 locations across its 27 chains, which include Second Cup, Milestones, Freshii and Quesada. Mammas wants the empire to grow bigger and better, with the goal of tripling its sales to $3 billion in the next five years.

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Getting there will mean ensuring whatever duties U.S. President Donald Trump levies next don’t derail a plan Mammas has to dramatically transform pockets of the Foodtastic portfolio.

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“Basically anything we’re not really in, we’re looking to acquire,” Mammas said.

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While he didn’t name his acquisition targets, Mammas said big brands on both sides of the border that specialize in breakfast, quick-serve pizza and burgers, sushi, shawarma, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food are all on his radar.

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To make room for them, some smaller Foodtastic brands will likely get dumped.

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“I don’t want four brands of the same thing. I want to own one and I want to do it properly,” Mammas said. “I don’t want to cannibalize our franchises or our market with similar competing brands.”

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Foodtastic’s current roster includes some overlap _ pub-style restaurants, taco joints and chicken rotisseries.

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Sit-down dining brands could be on the chopping block, because “that middle of the market seems to be really suffering” as diners pare back spending, said Jo-Ann McArthur, Nourish Food Marketing’s president.

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It didn’t surprise her that Mammas was reviewing his portfolio and is open to acquisitions because he has a history of identifying chains in distress, such as Second Cup and Freshii, then purchasing and revamping them.

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“I certainty wouldn’t bet against him,” she said.

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A quick glance at his brands had her musing that Mammas likely has his eye on more global cuisine, such as Indian food.

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Any acquisitions he makes will join previous purchases Noodlebox, a B.C. Chinatown food cart-turned chain, and Jimmy John’s, an American business slinging submarine sandwiches made with bread baked fresh at each restaurant and loaded with deli meats sliced daily.

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Mammas, who developed Celine Dion-backed delicatessen Nickels in 1990 with his brother, was no stranger to sandwiches but courted Jimmy John’s because no one in Canada had cornered the premium portion of the market.

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Most people looking for sandwiches went to Subway, but Mammas was unimpressed with its quality and thought the firm’s Canadian footprint alone was too big to buy.

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The next closest sandwich chain was Mr. Sub. Because it’s owned by Foodtastic’s biggest competitor MTY Food Group, Mammas figured they’d be unlikely to sell.