Building a local business with loyalty and tradition

For 50 years, people in certain areas of Cape Breton have had a sure way to tell that it's spring. It has nothing to do with weather, the calendar, or Uncle Joe's trick knee. It's the annual opening of the three Tasty Treat drive-in restaurants.

Now moving into its sixth decade, Tasty Treat is still a family operation. John and his siblings Michael Jr., Betty, and Mary, along with nephew Vincent, are partners in the operation. Until her death in 2004, sister Carolann was the manager of the Grand Lake Road location, and John's wife Colleen is the manager of the Keltic Drive spot.

Back in the late 1950s, Michael Dezagiacomo Sr. bought a tabletop soft-serve ice cream machine as an added attraction for the Glace Bay restaurant he had been running for 25 years. Soon he opened a drive-in on Grand Lake Road near Sydney. "The only thing there at the time was Lakevale School and the farm owned by Dougal MacAulay," says John Dezagiacomo, Tasty Treat's general manager and Michael's eldest son.

The second location was opened at Howie Centre, just west of Sydney, and the third was built shortly after that on Keltic Drive, to Sydney's north. The original Glace Bay restaurant was then closed in favour of the new operations.

The elder Dezagiacomo believed the secret to success in the restaurant business was portion control, a notion he passed down to his children. "You have to give customers what they're paying for," says John. "If you go over that you're cutting into profits."

In the early days Tasty Treat also had four trucks that traveled the communities outside Sydney. The white trucks with bells tinkling and big ice cream cones painted on their sides, blasted calliope tunes from the double-sided megaphone speakers on their roofs. The restaurants only offered ice cream products and pop in the early days but soon moved into a full menu of burgers, fries, drinks, and desserts.

As a seasonal operation, usually from March to October, the outlets see the same people come back year after year—some are now second- and third-generation customers. "We buy local," says Betty. "Local businesses, and people, appreciate that. Since we're loyal to them, they're loyal to us."

The seasonal full-time staff of 35 also tends to stay loyal. Many students have worked their way through university with summer jobs at the small, distinctive red-and-white buildings. Liz Vincent started when she was just 15. Now, 32 years later, she still works for the family, managing the Howie Centre location.