Manitoba's Top Employers

9 Your Home in Manitoba Manitoba's Largest Hospitality Provider EAT MEET PLAY STAY ® canadinns.com 1.888.33.CANAD (22623) Can AND EARN REWARDS! 12962-CI-ManitobasTop30EmployersBannerAd[10.375x3]-Nov2018-FNL.indd 1 2018-11-09 12:03 PM Canad Inns family members getting ready to have fun and show Canad pride in the annual Santa Claus Parade. CANAD INNS ALL ABOUT IDENTIFYING, MENTORING TALENT BY JARED STORY As a made-in-Manitoba company, Canad Inns is committed to its communities, its employees and the people of the prairie province. The family hospitality business was founded in 1978. Since its small-town start, Canad Inns has grown into Manitoba's largest hospitality provider, with 15 facilities in Winnipeg, Brandon, Portage la Prairie and Grand Forks, N.D. The company employs more than 3,500 people and serves over nine million customers a year in its Canad Inns Destinations Centres, as well as such establishments as Radisson Winnipeg, Tavern United Bell MTS Place, two Garbonzo's Sports Pub locations and The Metropolitan Entertainment Centre. "Canad Inns was started as a very small, privately-owned company by my dad (Leo)," says Canad Inns president Lea Ledohowski. "We've grown substantially over the last several decades, but have made a conscious choice to stay regional, to stay Manitoban, and to stay true to the communities that we operate in. "We have a very strong philosophy that it's a reciprocal system. We are the beneficiaries of the customers from our community and we feel very strongly that it's our responsibility as a local organization to give back to the community." In 2011, Canad Inns established the Canad Inns Foundation which supports hundreds of local and national charities. Canad Inns sponsors WE Day Manitoba, presents Canad Inns Winter Wonderland, an annual light display at Red River Exhibition Park, and for 17 years the company hosted Family Fun Day on July 1 at Assiniboine Park. Canad Inns also matches employee donations to the United Way. "We encourage our employees to be ambassadors to the community," Ledohowski says. "Each individual Canad Inns Destination Centre or restaurant has its own relationships with its own community and supports its own community in a variety of different ways, both in terms of gifts in kind, as well as pure financial contributions." Ledohowski believes that because Canad Inns is privately-owned, it allows the company to be "very nimble" in how it develops its personnel. "It's a private company that is large enough to allow for someone to have a soup to nuts career development experience," says Ledohowski, who started at Canad Inns as a youth serving and bussing tables. "Many of our senior executives started with us in entry-level positions and have been with us for decades, working their way through the ranks. One of the things that's really important to me as a leader in the organization is to be able to identify talent in the early stages, to mentor and foster that talent, and grow people into careers that are interesting for them." Ledohowski says her business philosophy isn't about filling positions but finding the right people. "We don't have cookie-cutter positions and try to put people into those roles. We find great people and try to develop roles that they can be really successful at," she says. Canad Inns employees are also encouraged to find the right people, as the company operates an employee referral program. Recruiting the right person can earn a Canad Inns employee $250 to $1,500 depending on the position. Other perks at Canad Inns include subsidized meals, discounted hotel stays, and regular work parties. Ledohowski says she and the staff at Canad Inns are thrilled to be recognized as one of Manitoba's Top Employers. "One of our taglines we use in our marketing materials is 'Manitoba owned, Manitoba grown, Manitoba proud' and I think that's crucial to our organization," Ledohowski says. "That's been a conscious choice. There's been lots of discussions at the executive level and there was that critical moment where we said 'We can franchise. We can go Canada-wide. We can be bigger.' But the realization was in doing so you lose control, you lose ownership of what you're doing. "We knew we could do what we do better by staying true to who we are and staying local."

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