Headquartered in Vancouver, 83-year-old White Spot is an iconic West Coast brand. Founded in 1928 as Canada’s first drive-in restaurant at Granville and 67th, the chain now sees more than 17 million guests annually at 119 White Spot and Triple O's (a smaller, QSR cousin of White Spot) locations throughout B.C., Alberta and most recently Asia. The company’s market research indicates that 87 per cent of British Columbians who dined out in 2010 enjoyed at least one of those meals at a White Spot or a Triple O drive-through.

With a demonstrated passion for food quality, innovation, and professional development, White Spot recently built a 1,548-square-foot, state-of-the-art culinary training centre at its headquarters in Vancouver that offers company chefs Red Seal apprenticeship and certification. 

“We’re an 83-year-old company, and past success doesn’t guarantee future success,” says Erhart. “I think keeping your brand relevant is really, really important. For us, it means doing a lot of consumer research, and we do a lot of internal research to get a pulse of what’s going on in the marketplace. And it’s our job to create strategies to react to that as well.”

Over the next three years, Erhart and his team plan to bring the White Spot experience to other parts of Canada – and the world. A comprehensive strategy is in the works for growth in other provinces, but shorter-term plans include opening another four Triple O’s in Asia, as well as another four in each of British Columbia and Alberta.

The company is well positioned for success, having recently been named one of Canada’s 50 best managed companies, an award sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post, and Queen’s University School of Business. Erhart credits his talented team for this honour, noting that hourly employees work with the company for an average of 5.7 years – an impressive statistic in an industry known for staff turnover due to the number of student and other part-time employees.

“That’s just one example of the uniqueness of our brand,” explains Erhart. “We have a tenure that’s really unheard of in our industry. It’s not that people couldn’t find jobs in other places. There are some great talented people that like to stick with us. It’s all about hiring the best, training the best, and then expecting the best, and then giving the people the environment where they can make a difference in their jobs.

“Today, we have franchisees of White Spot who came over maybe 10, 15 years ago, immigrants to our country, and English was maybe not their primary language. Now they can become franchisees or successful restaurant operators. I think this is wonderful, and that’s a testament to what this industry is all about. You can have young, 25-year-old managers in charge of $3-million budgets. That’s really quite unique. There are not a lot of businesses that have that opportunity.”

It’s precisely because of the opportunities the industry has given him, that Erhart wants to give back.

Asked about his goals as CRFA Chair, Erhart says that in order to have a strong industry, members need to speak with a strong, united voice to collectively move forward and promote common interests. He wants to hear more success stories and industry pride.

“The more stories we tell, the more media, government and public at large will understand the contributions that this industry right across Canada,” says Erhart. “Twenty-two per cent of Canadians’ first jobs happen with restaurants, and one third of Canadian adults have worked for restaurants at one point in their lives. I think there are great stories that way – we should be louder and prouder of what we do and how much we give back to the neighbourhoods that we do business in.”

Erhart gives back to the community through White Spot’s many charitable causes, as well as in his personal life.  An avid hockey fan and former goalie, he volunteered during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver as head of team hosts for the men’s and women’s hockey teams, and was head of logistics for the 2006 World Juniors and 2007 Memorial Cup.

Whether it’s restaurants, hockey, or life in general, success, to Erhart, is all about the effort.

“Everything is so fleeting,” he says. “You have to go through every day and give it your best shot – no matter what you’re doing -- so at the end of the day you feel like you’ve made a difference.”