Why American food chains are choosing Edmonton

Chipotle is the latest American food chain to open in Edmonton. Last Thursday, the popular restaurant officially welcomed customers. Monday, the lunchtime crowd was lined up out the door.

“We really wanted to try it so, we’re excited to try it out,” said one Edmontonian CityNews spoke to.

Another saying, “Our friends in Vancouver said it was good, so we had to try it out.”

“Honestly, Tik Tok, you see a lot of trends of Americans going to Chipotle and doing all these different combinations, so I thought I wanted to try it out.”

Chipotle is just one example, P.F. Changs, Crumbl Cookies, and Chick-fil-A, are all examples of American food chains opening their doors in Edmonton. But the question is, what is so attractive about Edmonton’s market to American retailers?

“Edmonton has a very noticeably growing population. So the population rate is growing, and it’s the capital of Alberta, great university, and diversity of people. Based on the success we saw in Calgary, we thought it would be a natural city in Alberta that we’re going to expand next,” said Anat Davidzon, the Managing Director of International at Chipotle.

“Edmonton in particular has a lot of disposable income. So when they’re looking at the demographics of where they’re wanting to set up shop, they want to make sure that the market can support it financially. The other thing is that we have a lot of space ready to go,” said Heather Thomson, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.

When we think of an example of American shops heading north, we often think of Target as an example; a popular American retail store that lasted just four years in Canada. Thomson says that product retail is different than food retail and the food is more likely to succeed.

“Consumers either want to be wowed and they have to make it worth their time to switch gears, and unfortunately with product retail that’s even more tricky because that’s where people know their time, they know their money, whereas with food, we often just as humans want to try different things.”