Ajax, ON

St. Patrick’s Catholic School is one of many elementary schools in the Durham Region that has made a stand around healthy lunches for their students. To tackle this initiative, the school recently partnered with the Pita Pit in Ajax at 105 Bayly Street West. Pita Pit staff, along with Petey, their mascot, stops by the school twice a month to provide healthy and delicious lunches for the students and staff. Students get a choice of pita, fruit and drink in this well-rounded meal that follows Canada’s Food Guide. With the help of The Pita Pit, the school has successfully been transforming the minds of children by showing them that “fun food doesn’t have to be junk food.” For more information, visit their website at www.ajaxpitapit.com.

St. Catharines, ON

The newly renovated Pita Pit in St. Catharines, ON is now open for business and ready to roll up everyone’s favorite pitas again. New franchisee Jeff Kozak gave the Pita Pit at 160 St Paul Street a total makeover. So now locals can enjoy the same fresh, healthy pitas they’ve enjoyed there since 1998, but now they can enjoy them in terrific new surroundings.

Hamilton, ON

The Pita Pit was a principal sponsor of this year’s Women’s CIS University basketball championships. At the end of an exciting weekend of truly great basketball, Simon Fraser University took home the hardware. A good time was had by all—especially when Petey stepped onto the court and entertained the crowd.

Cold Lake, AB

Our mascot Petey went to Cold Lake, Alberta to cheer on our athletes at the Alberta Winter Games. 2000 athletes and 2800 volunteers from across the province converged on Cold Lake and Bonnyville to make the Games a rip-roaring success.

Whitby, ON Grand Re-Opening

Ta da! The Pita Pit at 119 Brock Street South in Whitby has a new owner and a whole new look. Franchisee Patrick Kane bought the Pita Pit and totally renovated it, re-opening it to rave reviews.

Guelph, ON

New franchisee Kulbir Bedi opened Guelph’s fourth Pita Pit location (yes, fourth—they love us there). It’s at 204 Silvercreek Parkway North and it’s a gorgeous new-look store with light colours and natural materials that let you know as soon as you walk in that we’re all about freshness, healthy food and fun.

Niagara College, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

Now there’s a new attraction in Niagara-on-the-Lake—and this one has nothing to do with summer theatre. In January, Niagara College opened a second Pita Pit location, this one on their Niagara-on-the-Lake campus. (They’ve had one on their Welland campus since 2003.) So now Welland students can’t lord it over their Niagara-on-the-Lake counterparts. The entire Niagara College student body can now enjoy healthy and fun Pita Pit fare.

Richmond Hill, ON.

Elton Mattis, owner of the Pita Pit in Vaughan, opened his second location at #7–115 York Boulevard and was immediately mobbed by crowds of customers who’d been eagerly anticipating opening day.

Stoney Creek, ON.

Rob Anderson opened a new Pita Pit at the Heritage Greene Plaza, 1791 Stone Church Road East, having been impressed with the Pita Pit in Westdale (Hamilton). Stop by and visit Rob and his wild and crazy crew, who promise not to be as rambunctious as they were when mugging for the camera.

Waterloo, ON.

A new Pita Pit opened up in the Student Life Building on the University of Waterloo campus, so now students don’t have to go far to eat fresh and healthy to keep up their energy for studying. Or partying.

North York, ON.

The Pita Pit opened a second location at York University, this one in the Central Square Building on the Keele Street Campus. The other one is in the TEL building. Two York U. Pita Pits— and both are big hits.

Toronto, ON.

John Konstantinidis moved his Pita Pit business from Queen Street to 744A King Street West. A lot of Johnny’s regulars followed him and he’s now happily serving them in his beautiful new location as well as welcoming new customers who live and work nearby. Drop in or call him at 647-348-2748.

Ajax, ON.

Scott Baird gave the people of Ajax a real treat: the city’s first Pita Pit. Our mascot, Pita Pete, dropped by 105 Bayly Street to check it out, and caused quite a stir with the local kids. Come by unannounced or give Scott a call at 905-289-7482 and he and his staff will be pleased to roll up your favourite pita for you.

Burlington ON.

Chris Bennett, a new franchisee, opened a new Pita Pit—Burlington’s second— at 2015 Lakeshore Road. He and his crew can’t wait to get rolling and serve you! (Pardon the pun.)

Ottawa, ON.

Pita Pit mascot Pita Pete took to the soccer field and managed to stop two of three shots on goal in a Free Kick contest. Ottawa franchisee Andrew Scott remarked that “Pita Pete’s goal tending was good, but we’ll be practicing and next year he’ll stop all goals!” [Editor’s note: Pete may well be more agile when he tries to block goals next year. We’re putting him on a diet and giving him a makeover.)

Cold Lake, AB.

Dean and Roxanne Paskniak proudly opened their new family business: Cold Lake’s very first Pita Pit. Their shiny new store is in the Cold Lake Energy Center at Imperial Park (7825–51 Street). Join the locals and visitors who’ve already discovered it. Just drop in or call ahead at 780-639-7433.

Vancouver, BC.

Timmins, ON.

David Johnson opened the first Pita Pit in the city at 235 Third Avenue and although he loves all his loyal customers (and they love his pitas) he keeps hoping Shania Twain will drop in on her next visit. [Shania, if you’re reading this, call in your order to Dave at (705) 267-PITA or fax it to him at (705) 267-7483 and he’ll have it waiting for you whenever you come by. Then again, he’d be happy to hop a plane to wherever you are, and prepare your favourite pita right in front of you. But then, who wouldn’t?]

Petey celebrates with the 2009 Vanier Cup winners

NOVEMBER 2009: Petey (a.k.a. Pita Pete Sr.) and Harvey Rosen, the mayor of Kingston, joined the crowds to cheer on the Queen’s University Golden Gaels as they paraded their hard-won Vanier Cup through the streets of Kingston and the university campus. It was the first Canadian university football championship win for the Golden Gaels since 1992—and what a thrilling game it was! Despite trailing the Calgary Dinos by 18 points at the end of the first half, they rallied in the second half to win 33-31.

We’re a textbook case!

The Limestone District School Board is using The Pita Pit as a case study. Boy, are we flattered. We made it into the Introduction to Business textbook used by high school students in the Kingston area. The case study points out that our success is that we single-mindedly do one thing and do it very well: make fresh, healthy pita sandwiches and serve them up fast (instead of offering just a few healthy items like typical fast-food outlets). We hope our example will inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs— and maybe even attract new Pita Pit franchisees in a few years’ time!

Excessive sodium hits the headlines.

On September 15, the front-page story on The Globe and Mail’s was an exposé on the high levels of sodium Canadians consume, much of it hidden in processed and fast foods. It seems Canadians consume more than twice as much salt as they should every day. (The recommended daily intake of salt kids and adults 9–50 is 1500 mg. The actual average intake is 3092—and a whopping 4130 mg among 14-year-old boys!) Not mentioned in the story is the fact that meals from The Pita Pit are way lower in sodium than typical fast food fare. For example, a 1/6 slice of an 18” pepperoni pizza from Pizza Pizza contains 1630 mg of sodium; a Big Mac and medium fries? 1310 mg of sodium. A 6-inch Cold Cuts Combo sandwich from Subway? 1220 mg of sodium. A regular-size Pita Pit Chicken Breast pita with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers? 411 mg of sodium (and only 2.4 grams of fat). So if you’re concerned about all the health risks associated with sodium,maybe you ought to eat at The Pita Pit more often.

We made it onto the list of top global franchises!

In September, The Pita Pit was acknowledged as being among the global elite when Franchise Direct ranked us #49 on their list of the Top 100 Global Franchises. Looks good on our résumé, doesn’t it?

We rank high among privately owned companies.

In August, the Pita Pit (US) was ranked #60 on Inc. Magazine’s list of 100 fastest-growing food and beverage companies in their annual Top 500 issue. (Our growth rate was clocked at 131%!)

Our growth proves you can’t keep a good idea down.

In the August issue Restaurant Business, The Pita Pit made it onto the magazine’s “Future 50” list of the fastest-growing small chains in the United States. Not bad for an enterprise that began with two friends and one store in Kingston, Ontario back in 1995.

Toronto Star exposes high calorie counts in restaurant meals

On April 8, 2009, the headline in the Star read: “1,230 calories and counting…That’s what a tuna melt sub packs; the kind of scary information that Ontario doctors battling obesity say belongs on restaurant menu.” The calorie counts for restaurant meals (including fast foods) was pretty darn shocking to the general public—but not to us at the Pita Pit. We’ve known for years that our fresh and healthy pita sandwiches have way fewer calories and less fat than other fast foods. In fact, we’d be proud to put our nutritional information right on our menu boards as well as our menus.

Entrepreneur rates us in the top 500 franchises.

In January, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked The Pita Pit on their “Franchise 500” list of top franchise operations in the USA. What a great start to the year!