Award News, Best Ottawa Business Awards

BeaverTails’ sweet success lands Grant and Pam Hooker 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award

October 18, 2023

Last week, Grant and Pam Hooker got a phone call they never would have expected. The founders of Canadian pastry chain BeaverTails learned that they’d been selected as the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients by the Ottawa business community.

“I was really glad I was sitting down,” said Pam of her astonished reaction mixed with disbelief.

They were told the good news by Ottawa Board of Trade president and CEO Sueling Ching and the Ottawa Business Journal’s publisher, Michael Curran, and editor-in-chief, Anne Howland.

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Grant also found himself shocked and pleasantly surprised. “I kind of thought, ‘Why us?’ I look at all the other people who have done what I would consider the equivalent or more and there are certainly people who built bigger businesses than ours.

“Anyway, we’ll take what comes our way.”

The husband and wife, both of whom are 79 years old, were even more flattered and humbled when they heard the distinguished names of all those who’d won the award before them. “It’s such a privilege to be part of that list, that’s what I thought,” said Pam.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the Hookers’ long-term business success, innovation and perseverance, strong leadership and remarkable community involvement.

Along with building the BeaverTails brand, the couple has been the heart and soul of the Canadian Tulip Festival, an annual multi-day celebration that takes place in Ottawa each spring.

As well, Grant played a key role in the 1980s in stopping the controversial proposal for a 17-storey hotel in the core of the ByWard Market, out of concern the tower would physically overshadow the Market and open the historic area to larger-scale development. The project ultimately got rejected and the ByWard Market went on to be designated a heritage conservation district.

The Hookers’ story is the stuff of dreams for the young and adventurous. Originally from the United States, they came to Canada with their young family in the early 1970s during the counterculture movement, settling in the Ottawa Valley village of Killaloe. They originally lived as homesteaders in a shack built from an abandoned horse stable with no running water or electricity.

They first introduced the BeaverTail to the public at the Killaloe fair in 1978, using a recipe from Grant’s German-Canadian grandmother. They next brought the doughy delights to Ottawa’s ByWard Market, where they caught on in popularity once they were introduced to skaters on the frozen Rideau Canal.

BeaverTails remain as much a Canadian tradition as hockey, maple syrup and being nice.

Today, there are roughly 200 BeaverTails locations, including operations in Dubai, France, Japan, Mexico and the U.S. The Hookers sold their majority ownership in 2002 but retained 35 per cent ownership of the franchise company, carving out the National Capital Region, which they continue to control with partner and CEO Andy Cullen.

BeaverTails has employed a total of more than 10,000 young people over the years.

“You can’t live in Ottawa and be connected to the business, government and the not-for-profit community and not know Grant and Pam,” said Ottawa Board of Trade board chair Brendan McGuinty, who has fond memories of enjoying BeaverTails at the Ottawa SuperEx at Lansdowne Park when he was a kid.

“They built a fabulous, fabulous business and for me personally, they’re the kind of team, the kind of leaders, that really embody what success is. When you look at people like Grant and Pam, you think of the successful business they have built and the global brand that they have created and I really think they did it on some old-fashioned — and this may sound a bit corny to say — but on some old-fashioned values: hard work, honesty, integrity and humility.”

McGuinty also holds the Hookers in high esteem for staying true to their roots. “They really just have wonderful traits and they’re the kind of couple I want my kids to look up to. They built a business, they built a brand, but they’re really fundamentally honest, hard-working, decent people who give back to their community. What more can you ask for, and that’s what we really need to celebrate.”

The couple’s impact on Ottawa has been “profound,” said Jim Durrell, former mayor of Ottawa and a past recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“The mere fact that the president of the United States would drop by to get a BeaverTail speaks volumes,” he said of the moment when then-president Barack Obama was served an “ObamaTail” at the George Street kiosk during his first state visit to Ottawa in 2009.

“I don’t think you could buy that publicity for all the money in the world,” said Durrell. “And that, probably, in my mind, is what they’re all about. They make people happy. They serve good food. They’re good to their employees and they’re just an integral part of what I call our tourism and local fabric.

“I’ve always admired them and respected what they’ve been able to accomplish, particularly as a couple of radical kids coming up from California.”

Former Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and construction industry trailblazer Shirley Westeinde has seen how “totally dedicated” her friends are to their business and to the Canadian Tulip Festival, which “wouldn’t still be around if it wasn’t for them,” she said.

Westeinde also spoke to the strength of the Hookers as a couple. They’ve been married 57 years and work “solidly” as a team.

“They have a fantastic sense of humour and if you meet them you’d never have any comprehension of the fact that they’re successful business people,” said Westeinde. “They’re just down to earth, very encouraging to their employees and really, really fun to be with. They really are.”

Westeinde joked about how some people raise an eyebrow when she mentions her visits with the Hookers in the ByWard Market. “And when I say ‘BeaverTails’ that just adds to the confusion of what I’m talking about,” she added with a laugh.

The Hookers and their fellow award recipients will be celebrated at the 2023 Best Ottawa Business Awards taking place Thursday, Nov. 23 at The Westin Ottawa.

No, the dessert won’t be BeaverTails. Among the reasons: it’s too logistically difficult to serve them piping hot to hundreds of guests and the pastries can be a tad messy to eat. “We don’t want anyone wearing cinnamon and sugar at this event,” said Pam playfully.