There is a version of QSR expansion that is about store count. Ken Otto is not running that version.
Jersey Mike’s second downtown Toronto location opens Wednesday at 425 University Avenue, and the way Redberry Restaurants has gone about getting there says as much as the opening itself. The space at University and Dundas held Timothy’s World Coffee for more than 15 years before the pandemic closed it. Hakim Optical followed. Now it is Jersey Mike’s, in a building that looks out at the AGO, OCAD University, Osgoode Hall, Toronto City Hall and the US Consulate, with offices, courthouses, universities and the kind of daily foot traffic that does not disappear when a trend moves on.
That consistency is exactly what Otto, CEO of Redberry Restaurants, is looking for.
“Toronto is firing on all cylinders right now,” Otto said. “You have a world-class office concentration, a rapidly growing residential base, and a thriving tourism and sports scene all happening at the same time. Jersey Mike’s wants to go where the action is, and right now, that’s downtown Toronto.”
“University Avenue is its own little world,” he continued. “It’s 24/7 activity. You have the healthcare community, which is massive and isn’t going anywhere, but you layer on top of that offices, tourism, and people living in the city. That’s permanent demand, and we love it.”
Redberry builds all of its restaurants corporately, without requiring a franchisee in place before a lease is signed. It is a structure that gives the company a meaningful edge in competitive real estate markets. Landlords do not have to wait for a franchise partner to be secured before a deal closes.
“We use the words accuracy before momentum and patience,” Otto said. “There are lots of companies where store count is the key data point. Ours is average unit volume and success. There are lots of sites out there, but there aren’t many good ones. Be patient for the right dirt. That’s how we go to work.”
That patience shows up in how Redberry approached Union Station, where the brand opened its first downtown Toronto location in January 2025. Getting into Union Station was one thing. Getting the right part of Union Station was another, and Redberry waited for it.
“The landlord community phones us because they know if we’re interested, we’re going to strike, do a good deal, and make it happen as fast as we can,” Otto said. “We’ve mapped out all of Toronto. We’ve mapped out all of Canada. We know exactly where we need to be.”
The downtown Toronto pipeline reflects that. A Yonge and Eglinton location is in the works at the former Z-Teca at 40 Eglinton Ave E, beside Shake Shack, a site where the Eglinton Crosstown LRT figures into the long-term calculus. Construction signage has also appeared at 160 Bloor Street East, the former La Prep location. Combined with Union Station, Redberry is building a downtown presence that covers the city’s most durable trade areas rather than its most talked-about ones.
Otto is deliberate about that distinction. “There are developments that break boundaries, and there are developments that say they break boundaries and kind of don’t,” he said. “I’ve become cautious about chasing hyped-up real estate versus just good fundamentals of what’s going to drive sales. When you have sales, everything works.”
“Chasing a cheap lease is just chasing a bad site,” he added. “Great sites cost what they cost, and when you have great volume, everything works. That’s legacy. It’s not 500 restaurants in X number of years. It’s restaurants on corners where people can see you, where if you’re patient enough to get there, there are 30 years of success ahead of you.”
What makes Redberry’s confidence in those decisions credible is the database behind them. The company currently operates 35 Taco Bells, more than 165 Burger Kings and 26 Jersey Mike’s across Canada. Every site decision draws on what that portfolio has taught them about what actually drives volume and what does not.
“Because we operate so many restaurants in each of the brands, we have a great database and knowledge of what works,” Otto said. “We know what works. We know what doesn’t work. So we apply those learnings to future trade areas. And the science is, because each brand is very unique in what makes it tick, we just apply those site dynamics over and over again so our success rate gets better and better.”
That institutional knowledge is part of why the three new-build Jersey Mike’s locations Redberry opened in 2024 quickly became some of the busiest in all of North America.
Otto came to this industry honestly. His father spent a career in foodservice, which led Otto to study Hotel and Food Administration at the University of Guelph, a degree that gave him a commerce education alongside the operational fundamentals of running restaurants. He has spent three decades across Boston Pizza, Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, Montana’s and East Side Mario’s before joining Redberry as CEO in 2019.
“The appeal was simply that it was very dynamic,” Otto has said of the industry. “Hospitality. Travel. Hotels. Running restaurants. It just seemed to be way more interesting. And lo and behold it is more interesting, because it’s so dynamic and it’s always changing.”
That dynamism is what makes the culture question so consequential. Jersey Mike’s can be franchised, built and opened. The energy behind the counter cannot be manufactured. It has to be hired for, and right now that is one of the harder problems in QSR.
“Culture is job one. It’s the most important thing we control at Redberry,” Otto said. “There’s an energy when you walk into a Jersey Mike’s. A hello, a good morning, chit-chatting down the line about your sub, about your day. It’s infectious, and it’s a huge part of what makes Jersey Mike’s ‘a sub above.’ If you walk in and you don’t like that energy, you’re not going to work for us.”
The hiring market makes that standard difficult to maintain at scale. A single job posting can draw thousands of applications, and the challenge is not volume. It is finding the people who carry that energy naturally rather than performing it for an interview.
“It’s a tough one to find,” Otto said. “I talk with people on a day-to-day basis about the right and the wrong hire. Our job is to nurture the brand, steward it, take care of it, don’t change it.”
Redberry invests heavily in pre-opening training, with teams going through weeks of preparation before a location opens. The goal is not compliance. It is building something the neighbourhood recognizes as its own.
That commitment to community runs deeper than the in-store experience. The opening coincides with a five-day Make-A-Wish Canada fundraiser running through May 31. Customers with special coupons distributed ahead of opening can donate a minimum of $3 in exchange for a regular sub, with donation boxes in-store throughout the week.
At a private celebration at the University Avenue location attended by wish families, wish alumni and Make-A-Wish Canada representatives, Redberry and Jersey Mike’s announced a pledge to raise $1 million for Make-A-Wish Canada by 2030. Canadian locations have raised nearly $270,000 for the organization since the start of 2024.
“Through our partnership with Make-A-Wish Canada, we’ve seen that a wish can be life-changing for a child living with a critical illness,” Otto said. “That’s why we’re proud to deepen our commitment and continue supporting this mission over the next five years.”
The announcement carried personal weight for Kiran Benet, Chief People Officer at Redberry. “As a wish mom, I’ve seen firsthand the power a wish has to lift a child’s spirit and strengthen a family during the toughest moments. This gift represents Jersey Mike’s belief in that power and our commitment to helping more families experience the hope that a wish brings.”
“This extraordinary pledge from Jersey Mike’s will change the trajectory of hundreds of lives,” said Meaghan Stovel McKnight, CEO of Make-A-Wish Canada. “Their generosity and belief in our mission ensure that more children will experience the healing a wish provides, because wishes are medicine.” There are currently 3,500 children across Canada waiting for their wishes to be granted.
Redberry was founded in 2005 and operates more than 200 restaurants across Canada under the Burger King, Taco Bell and Jersey Mike’s banners. It is the largest Canadian Burger King franchisee and the second-largest Taco Bell franchisee in Ontario, backed by Uncommon Equity out of Chicago.
Redberry was named Area Director for Canada for Jersey Mike’s in January 2024, the brand’s first major international expansion in its 70-year history, with a target of 300 Canadian locations by 2034.
Jersey Mike’s traces its roots to 1956, when Mike’s Subs opened as a single shop in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Peter Cancro started working there at 14, bought it at 17 with help from his high school football coach and began franchising in 1987. The brand ranked number one on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 in 2026 and now counts more than 3,300 locations across the U.S. and Canada.
The University Avenue location is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with orders available in-store, through the Jersey Mike’s app, online and through delivery platforms. Catering is offered.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, The Canadian Opera Company, Starbucks Canada and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.