CONCORDE GROUP, O&B TEAM UP WITH EYE ON GROWTH
Strategic partnership a boon for city’s hospitality industry
Concorde Entertainment Group has been Calgary’s most influential hospitality brand for three decades and boasts a portfolio of many unique establishments.
President and CEO Victor Choy has announced the company’s strategic partnership with one of Canada’s premiere independent restaurant and event groups, Oliver & Bonacini, to create one of the largest independently held hospitality groups in North America.
The two companies will continue to run as separate entities with their respective executive management teams, while being able to focus on and benefit from leveraging operational systems, including purchasing power, talent development and acquisition, and combining their forces to assist each other in accelerating future growth plans.
Choy says he and his Calgary team, which have grown Concorde into one of Western Canada’s leading hospitality companies with 19 establishments under its current banner, will continue to run its local operations as usual.
Focusing in creating exciting destinations since its launch in 1987, Concorde’s impressive list of establishments include awardwinning concepts Model Milk, Pigeon Hole, Bridgette Bar, Anju and National Beer Hall.
Oliver & Bonacini was founded by Peter Oliver and Michael Bonacini in 1993 and is today recognized as one of Canada’s premiere independent restaurant and event groups.
It has a diverse portfolio of unique concept restaurants with locations in Toronto, Montreal, Saskatoon and Calgary, where it opened The Guild Restaurant, Sub Rosa and The Hudson event complex in The Bay building on Stephen Avenue Walk downtown, and Buffo Italian rustic restaurant in the new Saks Fifth Avenue store in Chinook Centre.
Oliver & Bonacini president and CEO Andrew Oliver says the strategic partnership with Concorde will allow it to continue developing unique concepts, while achieving operational efficiencies usually only attainable by large-scale operators. “Our shared infrastructure will help support the development of creative culinary talent and contribute to Canada’s ever evolving restaurant culture.”
Beyond the geographical synergies the companies share, there is a mutual focus on growth. Oliver & Bonacini plans to open several new restaurant concepts in Edmonton’s Ice district in 2019, while Concorde will continue to open independent restaurants and focus on expanding its National Beer Hall brand across the country,
Choy’s group has become an important and beneficial employer within the Calgary economy, with a local staff of more than 1,000.
And another exciting new establishment will be announced in the coming weeks that will help bring more life to our downtown.
NOTES:
Post-Brexit Britain and the opportunities it represents for U.K.-Canada relationships will be addressed at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce luncheon Oct. 2 at the Westin Calgary to be addressed by Graham Stuart, U.K. Minister for Investment at the Department of International Trade. After serving as a Cambridge city councillor, Stuart was elected as a Conservative MP in 2005. In his current role, he focuses on encouraging investment into the U.K. economy and promoting overseas investment opportunities to British companies. He will discuss how our governments are working closely to deliver a seamless transition from CETA to a U.K.Canada bilateral trade agreement. The U.K. is Canada’s third-largest export market and Canada’s second most important destination for investment abroad. For Calgary companies currently doing business with the U.K., investing in the U.K. or considering either of the two, the luncheon will be of prime interest.
Michael Kehoe, broker owner of Fairfield Commercial Real Estate, will attend the Independent Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC) Canadian Convention in Toronto next week. He has been an attendee member since 1982, but this year he will be in the role of Lead Ambassador for ICSC in Canada for the worldwide trade organization that represents the retail real estate industry with more than 70,000 members in 100 countries. Kehoe has been involved in ICSC scholarship judging for the past two years, involved as a speaker at career days on behalf of ICSC and for 10 years has served as a member of the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres.
We should all be walking tall next week as around 300 Canadian and international invited travel media will be in Calgary from Sunday to Thursday attending GoMedia, a high-profile event promoting Canadian tourism during which delegates will enjoy events and tours throughout our region.