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When the elder brother succeeded in productively selling his chickens to the abattoir, his seven brothers followed in his footsteps. In the distance of a few years, the Bennys established themselves as major domestic fowl farmers in Lanaudière. They then moved from farming to the construction of a texture mill so they could control the feed they were giving their chicks. Next they constructed their own hatchery and abattoir in ordain to process their chickens and deliver them clean to markets themselves .
It was Yves Benny ’ mho church father, a machine operator by craft and the youngest of the eight brothers, who got the mind to create an oven that could slowly roast their chickens without burning them. “ After doing a few tests with the unharmed class, the three-hour work was unanimously approved, ” affirms Yves Benny. Their first rotisserie saw the light of day in Joliette in 1960. A few years late, the brothers ended up dropping poultry production to devote themselves to the restaurant business, opening more rotisseries across Quebec .
“ The second coevals, which included Yves and myself angstrom good as our cousins, didn ’ thyroxine waste a bunch of time getting into the family business, given that we often lived on the floor above our restaurants, ” explains Jean Benny, the CEO of Benny & Co. “ As soon as we were bad enough to use the stairs, we were big adequate to help out in the restaurant ! ”
A unifying brand
Their first restaurants were founded with good intentions, but without an actual structure. Basically, the brothers bought the restaurants together, then shared their recipes amongst them. While they all used one logo, each brother would slenderly deviate “ the sauce ” when it came to the name, frankincense the chain did commercial enterprise under Benny, Ti-Coq, Au Coq, Coq Rapid, Coq Roti and Shawinigan B.B.Q. The brothers were operating about a twelve rotisseries when they gradually started handing over the reins to the second generation in the 1970s and 80s .
In 2006, Jean Benny and his brothers Yves and Vincent created the Benny & Co. trade name. “ We felt we needed to unify the family to take advantage of our greater purchasing office and better selling world power, ” stress Jean Benny. Furthermore, “ a global sword besides enabled us to offer all the services and advantages of a franchisor, such as an engineer department to facilitate the opening of new restaurants, equally well as fiscal management, ” mentions Yves Benny .
Over time and with the multiplication of restaurants, the brand besides allowed them to standardize their recipes and processes and to ensure the infection of their family ’ south values. The first five mark changes were made before 2010. The lie of the cousins followed suit with their own establishments from 2011 to 2014. “ New restaurants opened subsequently were under the Benny & Co. mark, ” explains Elisabeth Benny, vice-president of marketing and public relations for the chain a well as the daughter of Jean Benny and a extremity of the third generation at the company .
As of 2020, Benny & Co. had 64 restaurants. Under the management of members of the second and third gear generations of the Benny family, the chain ’ south revenues have increased by 670 percentage from 2009 to 2019 .
A new generation deals with adversity
For around a decade, the second genesis of Bennys have been following their elders ’ exemplar and making more room for their descendants. “ They besides grew up in the kitchen, and many came on board after finishing school, ” explains Jean Benny .
The sheer act of family members that make up the third coevals would be the envy of any family business : these 24 successors occupy a diverseness of positions based on their experience and field of concern. “ We even have a young member of the fourthly generation who just started working at one of our restaurants, ” mentions Yves Benny. The reliance accorded to the energetic genesis paid off at the startle of the pandemic. “ even though we ’ re hush running the business, they very proved their extraordinary leadership skills, ” states Jean Benny .
All of the ship’s company ’ sulfur services needed to review their operations. “ We established a COVID-19 committee, which became the executive committee, ” explains Elisabeth Benny. “ We quickly changed our message to redirect customers to our drive-through and pitch services, and adapted our operations based on government announcements, which changed much every day. ” Amongst the numerous measures undertaken was the addition of a delivery service to restaurants that did not however offer one, a well as an increase in the geographic image covered by other establishments that were already offering delivery .
Before the pandemic, the company had 1,800 employees. “ While our employees were temporarily suspended at the start of the crisis, we had cursorily called most of them back before the increase in demand, ” adds the vice-president of selling and populace relations. In fact, the chain ’ s popularity necessitated the rent and educate of raw delivery people .
The first step of five new restaurants besides contributed to the creation of jobs during this time period. “ The chain was already in a thoroughly military position, but the future generation, who cursorily made some dear choices and continued the execution of our growth plan, despite construction delays, they made all the dispute, ” underscore Jean Benny .
It should be said that the chain ’ south rescue service and on-line order were already among its strengths. “ The on-line service became an authoritative transmit, which saw major increase compared to the same meter end year, ” adds Elisabeth Benny .
Sales through the pitch service represented 35 percentage of their tax income in 2020, compared to 27 percentage during the same period of the previous class. And the symmetry of sales made by the delivery avail besides grew, increasing from 23 percentage of revenues in 2019 to 35 percentage in 2020. This vogue will credibly continue, according to Elisabeth.
A greener future for the red rooster
The provision chain besides became more building complex during the crisis. While all the wimp for Benny & Co. comes from Quebec, that wasn ’ t the character for the vegetables. The team of third-generation Bennys had already started negotiating with suppliers in February, and the pandemic only accelerated the process. The chain now gets its provide of Boston lettuce from Hydroserre. “ The tomatoes and cucumbers besides come from Quebec, and the peppers should soon follow, ” emphasizes Elizabeth. As for the cabbage, which plays a large role in the chain ’ randomness menu, it ’ second already comes from La Belle Province .
“ Today, 80 percentage of our foods come from Quebec, and 10 percentage from Canada, for a total of 90 percentage, ” states Yves Benny proudly .
What ’ s more, Benny & Co. has become a collaborator of AecopaQ, which specializes in the design and product of biodegradable packaging. At the originate of 2021, this Joliette company supplied the rotisserie chain with its first wood-fibre containers created specially for them .
“ We ’ re besides revising the inner and outside plan of our three new restaurants in Montreal, which will late be used elsewhere in Quebec and Ontario, ” says Elisabeth. “ In these three establishments, the ordering stations will be replaced with a solution enabling orders to be submitted by cellular telephone immediately from the mesa, but which will not be replacing the human reach provided by the person serving the table. ” Smart digital menu may besides be tested out .
In 2021, Benny & Co. plans to invest $ 16 million, in particular to open between seven and ten new restaurants, which should create around 200 jobs .
Benny & Co. in Numbers
64 : total number of Benny & Co. outlets as of November 2020
200% : increase in on-line orders since the beginning of the pandemic until December 2020, compared to the same period in 2019
$16M : total to be invested to open modern restaurants in 2021
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Visit the Benny & Co. website
Main photograph ( from left to right ) : Yves Benny, Jean Benny and Vincent Benny .
second photograph ( from left to proper ) : Marc-Antoine Benny, Jérôme Benny, Elisabeth Benny and Jean-Christophe Benny .
