In The News

June 6, 2009 - The Ottawa Citizen

Alex Rechichi, left, president of Extreme Brandz, and partner Sean Black at the opening of their latest Mucho Burrito, in Kanata's Centrum Plaza, this week. The Extreme Brandz chain of Extreme Pita and Mucho Burrito restaurants boasts annual revenue of $85 million.

Sean Black is a self-taught entrepreneur and his education started early, at the age of 14 when he was slinging doughnuts at an Arnprior shop called Aunt Sarah's. Five years later, he bought the company.

Today, at the age of 34, the capital-area native is one of three partners in Extreme Brandz, the parent company of Extreme Pita and Mucho Burrito. Together, the two restaurants boast revenues of $85 million -- $70 million for Extreme Pita, $15 million for the newer Mucho Burrito.

Black was in town this week to open Mucho Burrito at the Kanata Centrum, the first in the area. The opening extravaganza, where the first 50 customers got free burritos for a year, featured mariachi players who lined the street. All proceeds from the first day were to be donated to CHEO.

But back to Aunt Sarah's: He worked there as a kid, and then moved on to Pizza Pizza and bartending gigs.

Then Aunt Sarah's came up for sale, and he had the savings to buy it.

"I was making more than my mom was, going through high school. As soon as football practice was over, I would go work a shift, from 4 or 5 p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m. I saw a great opportunity: work with the menu, upgrade the uniforms, change the staff."

So he bought it, and ran it for a couple of years before he decided to get out, and make some money from it.

"Believe it or not, the original owner bought it back."

At that point, he tried the corporate world and worked in sales before becoming business manager at Bank Street Jeep Eagle. But soon, his entrepreneurial spirit kicked in again. He started researching the concept of a pita restaurant in 1996 and, two years later, at the age of 24, bought an Extreme Pita franchise.

He ran the shop at the corner of Albert and Bank streets for a couple of years before selling it, acquiring a portion of the parent company, and taking over operations for Extreme Pita.

"There was a need in the company for someone who was operationally focused," he says. "The person who was running it at the time was more from a sales and construction background and his partner was working full time with PricewaterhouseCoopers and doing the accounting behind the scenes and, for me, opportunity knocked. I could work on the bigger picture and help other people realize their dreams of opening a restaurant."

The company has grown exponentially since. Today, there are 250 Extreme Pitas in Canada, and 30 in the U.S. Head office in Mississauga has 30 staff members and there are about 3,000 employees companywide.

"Despite the tough economic times, we'll probably open another 70 to 80 stores this year," he says.

"Twenty in the U.S. and somewhere between 50 and 60 in Canada, so we're almost doubling our U.S. operations alone."
Then, there's Mucho Burrito, a restaurant that came about because Black had been opening stores in the U.S. and discovered "real" Mexican.

"Up to that point, I'd only been exposed to Taco Bell or Mexicali Rosa's," he says. "I saw an opportunity, instead of going full dine, or quick service, to go fast-casual -- which today is one of the fastest growing parts of the restaurant industry -- and bring in fresh Mexican."

Today, there are 14 such stores in operation and 40 in development, and they hope to have 100 in Canada by the end of 2010. They're now also expanding to the U.S. and looking at China, the Middle East and Australia.

With that concept rolling out, they've launched another, a smoothie shop called Pur Blendz. He says to expect to see combo stores with Extreme Pita.

Black, who now lives in Mississauga, is in partnership with two brothers, Mark and Alex Rechichi. Asked how the company is expanding so rapidly in the midst of a downturn, he made two points.

First, it's a self-financed company.

"We pay cash for everything. If you're relying on the banks to do it for you, you're out of luck," he says.

Second, they're in a recession-proof sector. In fact, the recession might actually be helping them.

"Instead of going to full-service restaurants, people are picking up burritos and pitas and going home," he says. "Instead of spending $100, they're spending $30 for the family."

The Ottawa Citizen

June 6, 2009

Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington