In the second episode of our Growing Through The Pandemic we catch up with Jessica Pellow, Vice President of Market at Edo Japan and the brand's growth over the last few years.

[00:00:09] Jessica Pellow: I'm doing fantastic. Thank you so much for asking.

So we're going to talk with Jessica about growing a brand through COVID-19. But first let's get to know Jessica. What was the first brand that you fell in love with?

And honestly ever since then, it's been a bit of a north star for me. It's always so impressive how they've strategically aligned their partnerships and they continue to be successful in addressing both kind of a high fashion segment at the same time as an [00:01:00] affordable, more approachable product offering.

[00:01:05] Jessica Pellow: Oh, not those ones, many others though. Okay.

[00:01:13] Jessica Pellow: I think that's changed over the last number of years, I think before it used to be kind of an NG edgy and innovative product development or storytelling, or, you know, high firepower with, ad campaigns.

Now, I think it's about having a. Deeper intimacy with customers and, putting them kind of at the center of any business. I think that it's more and more important to have a deep understanding about how to solve problems for customers and continuing to, to innovate within that space and deliver it to the needs that are just constantly changing and constantly shifting, especially in the, in this digital world that we live in wherever.

Cut it back, your fingertips and, customer expectations are, are so high these days.

Marketing more. Seems like they talk to people as opposed to engage with people. Would you still consider a brand that focuses or treats their marketing that way? Iconic?

You know, I, conic brands have this innate ability to listen to what is happening to see what's happening and to address that really

[00:02:47] Jessica Pellow: Well actually marketing wasn't. What I wanted to do. Although I have kind of throughout my career, worked in a number of different verticals across marketing, that kind of includes like creative services or event [00:03:00] management or, you know, sponsorships and strategic partnerships, but had a really great opportunity to work kind of more deeply within the, the digital, the digital world with sport check and.

You know, that kind of led to more a brand and marketing strategy integration. I think ultimately what I love about marketing overall is that is the problem solving that's involved. Through through every avenue of, of these verticals, you know, asking questions around how, how brands present themselves to their customers, how we innovate through product to generate better interest and create trial.

You know, what community and business partnerships are going to help bolster our storytelling, and reach new audiences. I like, I truly believe there's a problem to solve at every step of the way. And it's really fun when you're able to, to strike that, that solution in the.

[00:03:54] Jessica Pellow: So yeah, I, so I, you know, I had a, I've had some really great [00:04:00] opportunities to work for big Canadian brands over the last kind of 10 to 15 years and a wonderful contact of mine from, from the sport world. When I was working in sponsorships, had a connection to the CEO at, you know, and, and he just introduced us.

And honestly, I had one really fantastic conversation with our CEO Dave minute, that led to more fantastic conversations with the leadership team and, and the, the marketing team as. As a whole. And I could really just see the opportunity that lies ahead for a brand like EO, that has such a great footprint, in some regions in Canada, but, you know, the opportunity to just kind of grow exponentially off the, the coattails of, of success that's been seen through COVID.

[00:04:49] Jessica Pellow: Yeah, absolutely. So the strongest foot footprint is in, in Alberta for sure. Nationwide, we have 163 locations, most franchise, but some, corporate corporate stores [00:05:00] as well.

We have, we have begun. More expansion into BC over the last number of years. We've got locations in Manitoba. We've got locations in Saskatchewan and, coming up, actually our next biggest growth opportunity is into the Ontario market. And so we have a couple of, or we have a few really key locations open in Ontario, but, in the, in the future kind of months and years to come, Ontario is really where we've got our sights set on them on some big growth.

[00:05:32] Jessica Pellow: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, you don't have to pan is a quick service restaurant. We're known for our teppanyaki style meals. These are made to order on a traditional Tevin grill and which is truly unique. You know, we only use high quality ingredients and, what we are probably most famous for is our teriyaki.

Really well positioned for growth across the country, as we have a really unique kind of offering, and a wonderful kind of delicious, home, or sorry, a wonderful kind of option for a quick service. That's, a little bit, unhealthy side.

[00:06:35] Jessica Pellow: So, Alberta, is, is our strongest footprint, there are many locations in Alberta, but we're also located in BC. We've done some recent expansion into a number of different, kind of smaller and larger centers, in BC. In Manitoba, we've got stores in Winnipeg, in Saskatchewan. And then, Ontario actually, we're, we're starting our growth trajectory there.

[00:07:01] Dave Forde: How about Sudbury? I was born there.

[00:07:07] Dave Forde: come. There you go. It will. If I ever go back there, I'll check up the location. Sounds good. So you've been with the brand for just under a year now.

[00:07:20] Dave Forde: September, but you know, if you I'm sure, I'm sure you've had a chance to talk to Dave about the history of the brand. What has been some of the challenges over the last two to three years for, you know, building a brand like this and then especially during COVID.

Totally. So, you know, I'd actually take, take this back maybe to 20 16, 20 17. And this is when you don't really went through some, some really great work around modernizing the brand a little bit more, with the goal of appealing to new audio. So, there's a lot of work done, a deep dive on kind of the menu and the food offering and pricing, that was being offered to customers, the store design, and [00:08:00] now the, the restaurants were operating and the profitability of our franchisees.

And then of course our marketing and then the overall value proposition, At that time as well, we had a need to implement a digital ordering capability, which didn't currently exist. And so, you know, going through the, the process of doing that actually created a really great foundation for where our businesses today, At that time as well, we started to look into the east and Canada to markets where we were truly unknown.

And, you know, this is something that we're still working towards, but trying to build awareness within communities where you know, maybe the, the Alberta ex-pats, we're familiar with the, you know, Japan brand, but, you know, there's a real need to engage with new audiences. I think at the time as well, you know, 20 16, 17, 18, one of the other challenges was real estate.

Pretty quickly actually. And I think that that gave us an advantage walking into a situation like COVID where there was so much uncertainty, with what was going to happen next.

[00:09:32] Jessica Pellow: Yeah. So we have, we have our own, you know, app, which is used for a pickup and we have delivery partners, skip, exclusively in Alberta, but we also work with other delivery partners in, in other markets. And truly those are some, some great. It's strategic partnerships for us. Honestly it, you know, it, it has given us access to, to people, at a time when it was really difficult to access them.

[00:10:02] Dave Forde: out of those partnerships. You talk about, you know, building brand and brand awareness. How has COVID changed that, you know, our marketers now are gonna look differently when they build a brand post.

You know, from creating partnerships with local businesses to, really understanding the demographics and psychographics of, of those communities. So it's. It's a much more community focused approach, I think. And, and I believe, especially for mid-sized businesses, and smaller businesses having that deep and intimate connection with communities is the thing that is going to be, driving success for people.

Because you know, you, you want the businesses that are coming into your towns to really, be able to address the needs that, that you have specifically, based on what.

[00:11:01] Jessica Pellow: Absolutely. Yep. So, you know, influencers in a, in a big way, you know, from category definition, Food influencers and things like that certainly help, us today. But we're also starting to dig into micro influencers within these communities that, you know, that, that are really well known, within these cities and, and can help, help to bring people to experience this wonderful brand.

As we start to open up new stores in these matters.

[00:11:40] Jessica Pellow: So. The difference between all of these comes back to, I think the connection with the customer, that, that customer intimacy is really important to us.

But it's way more nuanced than just, kind of sending messaging out into the world that way. We have to explore storytelling. We have to explore relevancy. We have to tap into the, the sources where people are receiving their information so that we can be as relevant as possible and, and drive trial, especially in new.

[00:12:44] Jessica Pellow: Absolutely. I think, actually in, in London, just this weekend, we're doing a grand opening event, which is super exciting. And we've had the, the, the great fortune of being able to partner with Coke, who is, our, one of our suppliers to, to bring, you know, a really fun kind of [00:13:00] activation to the community.

It's interesting because we're just starting to get back into that, but you know, we've always said we've always really. I believed in, you know, celebrating in the community and creating trial and excitement around, around our brand as we enter into different markets.

[00:13:24] Jessica Pellow: Oh, absolutely. We are, we are right on the verge of something big. And I think, you know, you're going to see some really, really great we're coming out of our new agency partnership, later this year. And, and also coming to communities near you in, in Ontario. All

[00:13:49] Jessica Pellow: Yeah, like, you know, if you get a chance, if you're out there, if you see an Edo, Japan sign, if you get a chance to come in, I promise you that, you know, if you step foot into [00:14:00] our store the first time and try the food, you will come back forever and ever, because it's really familiar and experience.