Balzac’s currently has 14 locations with four under development. The locations are all in the southern Ontario and Greater Toronto Area. The company started as a coffee cart operation in its early days in 1993 with the first cafe opening in 1996 in Stratford, Ontario.
“We don’t endeavour to be the next Starbucks or the next Tim Hortons. That’s not what we want. We are a boutique coffee company that wants to scale but still feel boutique. If we looked at nationally, I can’t really see us doing more than 100 or 150 because we’re looking for smaller, unique spaces where we’re part of the community versus scaling it across the country,” said Cecillon.