Nelson Lang is the Founder of Pita Pit, a quick-service restaurant with over 600 locations worldwide. Nelson founded the company in his late twenties and built it into the massive franchise restaurant brand it is today before selling the company to Foodtastic in 2021. With no intention of retiring, Nelson bought Lightcaster Brewery and is now the managing partner. Listen in as Nelson shares his story all the way from getting kicked out of the house in grade 11, owning his first restaurant at 21, to founding Pita Pit and turning it into a global success.
Chapters:
1:00 - Childhood and Early Years
3:00 - Nelson's First Restaurant
9:00 - Kingston Restaurant Market
13:00 - First Customer
15:00 - Franchising and Expansion
20:00 - First Competitor
25:00 - Work Hours
28:00 - Pita Pit Adversity and Financial Trouble
31:00 - New Venture: Light Caster Brewery
34:00 - International Franchising
36:00 - Fraud Pita Pit in Korea
38:00 - What makes a good Franchisee?
41:00 - Partners and Ownership
44:00 - Restaurant Industry Finances
48:00 - Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs
53:00 - When the switch flipped to become an Entrepreneur
55:00 - Career Paths out of University
58:00 - Competition
1:00:00 - Fear of Failure and Perseverance
1:02:00 - Family Owned Business's
1:05:00 - Selling Pita Pit
1:08:00 - Nelson's New Venture
1:14:00 - Nelson's First Jobs
1:15:00 - Being the Boss
1:16:00 - Final Takeaways and Advice
