Celebrating 30 years in the pizza business

Fort Garry

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This article was published 28/06/2023 (809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Little Caesars’ owner and operator Jackie Dean has been serving up pizza every night for seven years at the Fort Garry location, located at 1235 Pembina Hwy.

Dean came to the Pembina location with plenty of experience. In 1992, Dean, her husband Richard, and their two small children, Amber and Derek, moved back home to Manitoba from North Bay, Ont., where they had run a successful business. A good friend and mentor, Bob Jones, helped them purchase Winnipeg’s first Little Caesars franchise in 1993. Since then, they have expanded their business to six Little Caesars franchises, including four in Winnipeg, one in Portage la Prairie and one in Brandon.

Amber and Derek have been a part of the family business venture from a young age, washing dishes and sweeping floors after school. After 30 years of managing restaurants, Dean still loves her job. She enjoys interacting with people and working with her team. The camaraderie of people owning other franchises in the area provide support.

“We don’t feel like we are alone,” Dean says.

Tragically, Dean’s husband, Richard, passed away seven years ago. The loss hit the family in more than just personal ways. Dean, with her now-grown children and son-in-law, worked hard to continue the family business.

“We’ve all pulled together, including two of my strong managers, Mark and Sandra Isabey, who have been with us for almost 20 years. I’m grateful for their support over the years. It’s been a tough seven years after losing my husband and then the pandemic. We were grateful to keep our doors open with take-out and delivery,” she said.

“Now we are facing the highest inflation ever seen as well as the rising minimum wage. It’s getting more difficult for small businesses to stay profitable. We’ve increased the food prices a little, but we want to stay affordable. In today’s market it’s very competitive but at Little Caesars, you can feed a family of four for under $20.”

“We pride ourselves in using the finest ingredients like dough made fresh in store every day, sauce from fine ripened tomatoes, and a 100% real Canadian shredded cheese that has never been frozen. Our vegetables come whole and are sliced daily,” Dean says.

Pizza is not the only food item Little Caesars serves. Chicken wings, boneless bites, stuffed-crust pizza, and crazy puffs are just some of the others. New products coming up are cinnamon bites and cheese puffs. To promote these, Fridays during the summer will be sample nights from 5-7 p.m. in the Little Caesars parking lot and surrounding area.

Dean is looking at other ways to promote the store by catering for the hot lunch school programs in the area.

“All our slices our individually packaged with no touching of the food at the school,” she said.

Little Caesars also caters for many other events such as for wedding socials, churches, hockey tournaments or other corporate, community and sporting events.

Dean has always worked full-time in the stores in a hands-on manner. While having a flexible work schedule is a perk of owning your own business, she said it’s been 25 years since the family took a family holiday. The Dean family is hoping to get away soon to celebrate 30 years in business. Jackie Dean with her daughter Amber and son Derek.