Second Cup is a Canadian coffeehouse chain and retailer of specialty coffee headquartered in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

, Ontario. Its stores sell hot and cold beverages, pastries, snacks, pre-packaged food items, sandwiches, and drinkware, including mugs and tumblers.

History

Second Cup was founded in 1975 by Tom Culligan and Frank O'Dea in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario. Culligan eventually purchased O'Dea's shares and expanded Second Cup into a 150-store chain. He sold it in 1988 to the founder of

mmmuffins Marvellous Mmmuffins, also known as mmmuffins, was a Canadian restaurant chain that sold coffee and muffins. It was established in 1979 and granted its first franchise in 1980. Its popularity peaked in the 1980s and 1990s, when most shopping mal ...

, Michael Bregman. As chairman and CEO, Khalil Al Gawad took Second Cup

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

in 1993. Between 1993 and 2002, it was owned by several American companies, including Coffee Plantation,

Coffee People Diedrich Coffee was a coffee company based in Irvine, CA. Its first coffee house in Orange County, California was opened in 1972. History The history of the company started with Charlotte Diedrich inheriting a coffee plantation in Costa Rica in ...

, and

Caribou Coffee Caribou Coffee Company is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain. It was founded in Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. As of September 2023, the company operates over 750 locations worldwide. It is headquartered in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. ...

. Al Gawad sold Second Cup to

Cara Operations Limited Recipe Unlimited Corporation is a Canadian company that operates several restaurant chains such as Swiss Chalet, Harvey's and The Keg, and food distribution for large operations. The company was originated in 1883 as Canada Railway News Compan ...

in 2002. In November 2006, Cara sold Second Cup to Dinecorp Hospitality, controlled by former Cara CEO Gabe Tsampalieros, who became chairman of Second Cup. Tsampalieros died on March 11, 2009. The trademark rights were subsequently split between Canada (the Second Cup Ltd.) and international (the Second Cup Coffee Company Inc.). Stacey Mowbray was head of the Canadian company, and Jim Ragas led the international side. Second Cup was featured in an episode of ''

Undercover Boss ''Undercover Boss'' is a reality television series franchise created by Stephen Lambert and produced in many countries. It originated in 2009 on the British Channel 4. The show’s format features the experiences of senior executives working u ...

'' that aired in March 2012 on the

W Network W Network (often shortened to W) is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts general entertainment programming oriented towards a female audience. W Network was ...

. Under Mowbray's direction, Second Cup was presented as "a company that cares". In September 2012, the company launched

Tassimo The Tassimo Hot Beverage System is a consumer Single-serve coffee containers, single-serve coffee system that prepares one-cup servings of espresso, regular coffee, tea, hot chocolate and various other coffee drinks, notably those including milk ...

beverages. In April 2015, Second Cup started a rewards program, which allows users to earn points using a mobile app. Alix Box was the CEO and president at Second Cup Ltd. from 2014 until her sudden departure, in May 2017; she was temporarily replaced by Garry MacDonald. On April 12, 2018, Bregman announced an agreement with National Access Cannabis to develop and convert a network of recreational

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

stores. Second Cup agreed to transform some of its western Canada locations into recreational cannabis dispensaries, with no cannabis-related products to be sold at its cafés. The company stated that this alliance would allow it to leverage its real estate assets to drive value for the franchisees without affecting plans for new product innovation and opening new cafés across Canada. In August 2018, the company was already considering which of its locations in Ontario might be suitable as cannabis retail stores as an alternative to their current use, in conjunction with National Access Cannabis. On November 8, 2019, Second Cup announced plans to change its name to Aegis Brands Inc. (), pending stockholder approval the following year. The company was scheduled to open two cannabis stores in Calgary in early 2020 and planned expansion into Ontario. On December 5, 2019, Aegis Brands announced its acquisition of Ottawa-based coffeehouse chain Bridgehead Coffee for $11 million. In February 2021, Aegis Brands agreed to sell Second Cup to Quebec-based Foodtastic Inc. for an undisclosed sale price that included $14 million in cash. Foodtastic chief executive Peter Mammas said that the company intended to expand the brand to 300 locations by 2025, from the existing store count of 190.

Rainforest Alliance

The

Rainforest Alliance The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serve ...

is an international nonprofit organization that works to conserve biodiversity and promote the fair treatment of workers. Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farms must meet standards that include the protection of farms, soils, waterways, and wildlife; the workers are in safe working conditions; and the workers enjoy suitable housing, medical care, and access to schools for their children. 80% of Second Cup coffees are Rainforest Alliance Certified. As of the end of 2011, Second Cup offered ten whole-leaf tea blends and herbal tisanes that were fair trade certified.

Firebombing incident

In 2001,

Rhéal Mathieu Rhéal is a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Rhéal Bélisle (1919–1992), Canadian politician *Rhéal Cormier (1967–2021), Canadian baseball player *Rhéal Fortin Rhéal Éloi Fortin () is a Canadian lawyer and p ...

, a member of

Front de libération du Québec The (FLQ) was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970,Reich, Walter. ''Origins of Terror ...

(FLQ), who in 1967 had been sentenced to nine years in prison for terrorist activities including murder, was convicted of

firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary d ...

three Second Cup locations in Montreal. The responsibility for the bombings was claimed by the Brigade d'autodéfense du français (BAF) (translated as Self Defence Brigade of French). BAF claimed it had targeted the stores because the company used its incorporated English name, "Second Cup", demanding the inclusion of French in the name. After the media coverage of the fire bombings, many Second Cup locations in Quebec changed their signs to ''Les cafés Second Cup''.

References

External links

*
MySecondCup.com
(international) {{Food chains in Poland Companies formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Companies based in Mississauga Restaurants established in 1975 Coffee brands Coffeehouses and cafés in Canada Restaurant franchises 1975 establishments in Ontario

History

Rainforest Alliance

Firebombing incident

See also

References

External links