Eataly Plans Expansion Into Canada

Eataly, the upscale Italian eatery and foodie shopping destination, is scouting out prominent Toronto locations for its first Canadian restaurants-and-store emporium, according to reports in The Globe and Mail.

Adam Saper, managing partner and chief financial officer at Eataly’s U.S. unit, confirmed to the Toronto newspaper that the company has teamed with Canada’s Weston family business, which owns Canadian luxury chain Holt Renfrew & Co., to help find the best local site. 

They have looked at a number of potential locations near the Holts Bloor Street West flagship store in the Yorkville area, he said.

Eataly has even considered setting up shop inside the soon-to-be renovated Holts store, he said in an interview with the newspaper.

Founded by Oscar Farinetti in Turin, Italy, in 2007, Eataly has 10 stores in Italy; one each in Istanbul, Dubai and Sao Paulo; and 13 in Japan; a giant flagship in New York and another in Chicago, with plans for more in the United States.

New York’s Eataly features celebrity chefs, seven restaurants, a cooking school and displays of more than 10,000 products, including fresh pasta, cheeses, meat, breads, fish and vegetables.

The pending arrival of Eataly in Canada raises the ante for other high-end food retailers and restaurants. At the same time, Eataly will face burgeoning competition in the retail food arena as rivals ranging from Whole Foods Market to local players such as Pusateri’s Fine Foods expand.

Eataly’s Saper said he was surprised at the extent of Italian food sophistication in Toronto when he started to look at the market a few years ago.

“We’ve got more serious over time,” he said. But he added he doesn’t want to rush the move here, nor does he want to build too many of Eataly’s massive restaurant-stores. “We’re not a Starbucks kind of brand.”

Saper said he’s looking for almost as big a space in Toronto as in New York and is in discussions with landlords as well as local suppliers. “We don’t want to be a cookie-cutter brand.” 

Already, Eataly has a joint venture with the Weston family to launch a food hall at its luxury Selfridges department store in London.