Fifteen Boston Pizzas, 1,000 Staff: The Enright Group's Manitoba Bet Pays Off

Fifteen Boston Pizza restaurants employing more than 1,000 people — that is the Enright Group's footprint in Manitoba, a scale that places the Winnipeg family among the top five multi-unit Boston Pizza operators in Canada by both unit count and total sales volume. Jordan Holm, president of Boston Pizza International Inc., confirmed the ranking.

The recognition arrived in batches this year. Richard Enright, co-founder of the Enright Group, was inducted into the Manitoba Restaurant Hall of Fame in February. In April, the family took gold in the traditional franchise category at the Canadian Franchise Association's Franchisee of the Year Awards in Ottawa.

The numbers sit on top of a 37-year franchise career that began with one restaurant and a Chrysler Voyager.

How did a minivan become a head office?

In the early 1990s, Richard and his wife Kim ran a handful of Boston Pizza locations in Abbotsford, B.C., with the family minivan serving as his mobile office between stores. The children, now partners in the business, remember the evidence.

"The classic was the convenience store cheeseburger wrappers, Diet Coke cans and Oh Henry! wrappers," Karley David, 40, recalled. Jonathan Enright, 42, added: "Do you know what Diet Coke smells like once it's evaporated? That's what the van smelled like."

The franchise route started after the couple visited Expo 86 in Vancouver and encountered Boston Pizza, a chain founded in Edmonton in 1964 and acquired in 1983 by Jim Treliving, an RCMP officer, and George Melville, a chartered accountant. The Enrights signed as franchisees and opened their first Abbotsford restaurant in 1988, eventually operating five locations across the Lower Mainland — with Kim handling hiring, marketing and accounting while the children folded pizza boxes.

Richard even ran informal competitive research. Karley recalls being 10 years old when he promised her supper, but only after she collected a rival restaurant's menu.

What did the Manitoba expansion look like?

The family relocated to Winnipeg in 1998, opening the city's second Boston Pizza at 2517 Portage Ave. Their agreement with the franchisor committed them to five restaurants in six years. They delivered: a Regent Avenue location followed 18 months later, then three more Winnipeg restaurants and one in Portage la Prairie, plus the acquisition of the single pre-existing Winnipeg Boston Pizza.

Richard was born in 1953 and raised in Lac du Bonnet, 100 km northeast of Winnipeg, where his family owned the Lakeview Inn.

Around 2010, Jonathan left Manitoba Hydro and Karley left the insurance industry to join the business. Richard declined to install them in corner offices. He put them to work in the restaurants to learn every aspect of the operation first. Today Richard provides strategic guidance, Jonathan oversees development and construction, and Karley leads people and culture.

Where does the growth go next?

With Boston Pizza saturated in the province, the family diversified. In 2018 the Enright Group opened Winnipeg's first Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Eight years on, the portfolio has grown by 11 more locations.

The community ledger is also substantial. Holm noted the family has donated more than $1 million to Manitoba charities. "They create a lot of employment among the 15 restaurants, but beyond that, they give back," he said. "And that's always been a part of Richard and Kim's orientation."

Shaun Jeffrey, executive director and CEO of the Manitoba Restaurant and Food Services Association, which oversees the Hall of Fame, called Richard a pioneer who made the industry bigger and more accessible. "Franchises are a big segment of our industry here in Manitoba, and he grew it locally," Jeffrey said.

Jonathan frames the economics plainly: franchisees are local operators with local capital. "We use some systems and some branding and some tools from the franchisor, but we build the restaurants with our money," he said. "We're investing in our province and providing jobs for local Manitobans."

Holm's verdict on the partnership: "We're very fortunate to have them in the Boston Pizza system."

With a second generation running development, construction and people functions across two brands, the Enright Group's expansion model — dense provincial territory, self-funded builds — remains very much in motion.