LAVAL, QC. — Laval-based Rôtisseries St-Hubert Ltd is testing menu changes and planning strategic growth of its 105 rotisseries in the Quebec market with newly opened outlets in recent weeks in Rockland, ON., and Bathurst, NB.
The company expects to add a dozen in Eastern Canada within two years as well as moves into Boston and to Asia according to Daniel Cousineau, president of St-Hubert’s restaurant division.
Speaking with the Montreal Gazette, Cousineau said that he sees no value in the company resting on its laurels. He was hired [in 2010] to expand and evolve the family business, he points out that roughly 80 per cent of St-Hubert’s restaurant clients are aged 40 and over, which means even within provincial limits, the company has a major task ahead to attract younger and more culturally diverse diners. “I’sm 48. I was raised with St-Hubert. My children were not,” Cousineau said. “I think that probably one of our largest challenges is to make sure we can properly manage through the generational transitions that we’sre going to see over the next 10, 20 years.” Last week, St-Hubert introduced six new dishes and cut two: a soup meal and chicken soufflé are in. Chicken pot pie and vol-au-vent puff pastries, both dishes that had been on the menu for 60 years, are out. There’s a new focus on smaller snack-sized portions to appeal to younger customers. Among the other new items being considered are halal and kosher chicken and meat foods to attract ethnic consumers.
Founded by Hélene and René Léger in 1951, St-Hubert , with sales of some $420 million is synonymous with affordable comfort food. A chicken dinner for four people with fries, beverages, buns and barbecue sauce costs $27.95. A Caesar salad with chicken and mandarins is $9.75. The company’s 112 locations bracket several sectors including: family oriented rotisseries restaurants; hip Le St-Hub resto-bars; St-Hubert Express for people on the go; and dozens of products in 10 grocery categories throughout the province. Product manufacturing, estimated to be some valued at $280 million a year, also includes powdered sauces and private-label sugar pies for customers such as Cora and IGA.
Keep Reading
High Liner Foods in Talks with Icelandic Group
Chef Bowers Opens a Meatball Joint
Yogen Früz Signs Deal With Jamba Juice
Central Canada Foodservice News
