March 5, 2018
Pascale Cheaib came to Quebec when she was seven years old. Today, more than 25 years later, she is General Director of Andalos, a family-run bakery with a workforce of close to 200. Andalos makes up to a million pitas a day, which it proudly sells, along with its other breads, pastries and desserts, throughout Quebec, Ontario, the Maritime Provinces and the eastern United States.
The company she pours her heart and soul into was founded in 1991 by her father, Raymond Cheaib. He began imparting his entrepreneurial spirit and business savvy to Pascale and her brothers at a young age, putting them to work in various parts of the family operation. Not one to leave anything to chance, Raymond was sure to put a carefully wrought succession plan in place for Andalos. Although he passed away suddenly in 2015, everything had been set up for his children – namely Pascale and her brothers Elie (VP Operations) and Roger (VP Marketing and Retail) – to take over the reins and continue to grow the company in line with his vision.
So Pascale, who up until then had served as the company’s head of marketing and public relations, took on the role of General Director. She decided to follow in her father’s footsteps while still exploring new avenues and embracing a more participatory management style, drawing on what she had learned during her master’s degree at HEC Montréal. Her thesis actually focused on the issues involved in transitioning a first-generation family firm to the second. Based on her experience, close family ties are one of the key factors that help put the “success” in a business succession.
And the ties underlying Andalos are very close indeed. In addition to their father’s expertise, Pascale and her brothers have picked up many valuable tricks of the trade from their uncles and aunts, also leading food industry entrepreneurs. Their impressive track record includes establishing the Adonis supermarket chain and La Sirène de la Mer restaurant and fish market. Her family’s achievements in Quebec are a tremendous source of pride for Pascale, winner of the special jury prize at the 2016 Prix Relève d’excellence.
Cultivating a dual passion for sharing her Middle Eastern culture with Quebecers and savouring baked goods and new flavours of all kinds, Pascale is clearly in the perfect place to grow and build on her father’s legacy.
