From Donuts to Dynasties

In this episode, I sit down with Celine Bacani: Filipino Canadian entrepreneur, co-owner of Lee’s Donuts in Vancouver, and co-founder of YVT Real Estate Group. We dive deep into her journey of taking over a legacy brand, building a franchise system, and leading with a people-first, community-focused approach. Celine shares the challenges of scaling a business, navigating franchising, and staying true to her values while honoring a brand’s history.

We also explore what it means to be a female leader in male-dominated industries like franchising and real estate, the lessons she’s learned from mentorship and experience, and the importance of slowing down to perfect systems before growth. If you have a fellow female founder in your life, please send this episode their way. 

Connect with Celine:
Instagram:
@celinebacaniyvr
@leesdonuts.ca
@yvtrealestategroup
LinkedIn

Links:
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Website: https://found-her.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberley.hiebert
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberleyhiebert
Door Gurus: https://doorgurusfranchise.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Found Her, the podcast for women who build empires, break barriers, and blaze trails all while fighting themselves. These are bestie level conversations from behind the scenes. The real work, the messy middle, and the wins that last. I'm Kimberly Hebert, founder, franchise builder, wife, mom, and Grammy, and a woman who has done the inner work while building the outer winds. Here we talk business, identity, relationships, and the kind of growth that cracks you open, then puts you back together. Stronger, better. This is your space to rise as a founder and as your truest self. Let's dive in. Welcome back, besties. Today I have another epic, epic female entrepreneur guest. Welcome Celine Bacani. She is a Filipino-Canadian entrepreneur, community builder, probably community builder first, and the co-owner of Vancouver Institutions Lee's Donuts. Alongside revitalizing an iconic local brand, she's also the co-founder of YVT Real Estate Group, where she approaches investment through a people first and community-minded lens. Celine, welcome to the Found Her Podcast. I'm keeping my intro really, really brief because you are such an amazing woman that our listeners are just going to be so engaged with our conversation and want to learn more and more about you from your own perspective. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Welcome, welcome for having me. Yes, I'm excited to be here. And as I mentioned before, I have to be careful not to hijack this podcast because I have just as many questions for you. That's good. That keeps probably not for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Good. We'll we'll we'll we'll go back and forth. That's good. I really because I really like it to be a conversation, right? And so one of the things I just want to uh also add is we are both franchisors, which being, and that's kind of like my instant can we met through the forum and we can talk a little bit about that. But also uh being female franchisors uh is really a unique experience because franchising is to me such a I try to say this in a way that's fun and cheeky, but it is like the old white dude's club. It is like built it, you know, saturated and rooted in hundreds of years of patriarchy. Yeah, that it really, you know, when when I connect with other female franchisors, I'm like, come, let's be in our group. Let's you know challenge the patriarchy in the way it's always done. So that also connects us, and I'm really excited to have conversations about that today.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Thank you as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Tell us a little bit more about yourself then and your journey.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Totally. So born and raised in Vancouver, um, daughter of immigrants who, you know, gave up everything and took the chance to bring us over here. It's a very familiar story for a lot of kids like me. And, you know, my parents were the ones that just came here and didn't expect anything but to try and and provide a better life for their kids. So they worked really hard. They got us a little house in the suburbs, and we were the ones where, you know, my family drove us into Vancouver for all of our activities. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. And so they wanted to just provide the best for us, did an incredible job, you know. Um, and they're still living in the family home today. Oh, that's um, but I grew up around a lot of entrepreneurs and I was Oh, you did? Yeah, I was always very enterprising as a young kid. Um, the story I always like to share is that I was the kid who would create carnivals and events in our backyard, but I would also be that kid to send my mom to get the supplies, and then when I was ready to go, I would sell tickets back to them to attend my event on their property. So I was always figuring out a way to get them to fund your model. Yeah, yeah, but but to do my own thing and feed my own stuff. And I can think as early as those times that it really was rooted in community and wanting to bring the neighbors out, the family out, and just kind of have a good time. And um, you know, fast forward through my high school years, I was more entrenched in the arts. Like I was a trained ballet dancer, I was a competitive ballet dancer, so that really formed and built the discipline and the work ethic, I think.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Oh, that's where that comes from.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

That's where that comes from, and just the need to like win, you know. And then into my college years, um, my best recollection and one of my first mentors actually was when I got my first job at Dairy Queen. Oh, it's a franchise location, and so me and my best friend, we were the Dairy Queens at that location. We ran the thing, and the cool thing about what our he was a franchisee as well, franchise owner. And the cool thing about what he let us do was he let us lead. And we were just in high school, but you know, when uh I don't know if anyone can relate, but you know, their first job at McDonald's, Dairy Queen, whatever it is, that's your first exposure to real team building. Yeah, money is exchanged, there's things at the end of the shift, and things everyone needs to work together for that result. I really enjoyed that, and then my boss at that time was going to open a second franchise location. So I raised my hand, I was just like, Let me do it with you. I'm 19 at the time, any other direction in life. Um, and I was just like, Let me help you open this. And that was really my first exposure to like, oh, this is a brand new franchise location, and he's following a system. And what does it look like? So that was a really fun experience, and um, and and really my first mentor in the real uh entrepreneurship game.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Oh, okay. And then did you like so what came first for you then, being a franchiser or being a uh real estate, a realtor, a realtor.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

So after after we opened the second dairy queen, I was there, you know, managed it for a year or two. I decided to go traveling and I did the whole backpacking for on my own. I didn't do it today, but I needed to really like find myself and figure out what I wanted to do. Coming back from that trip, I um I always knew that sales was my jam. Like I was okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

You always had that kind of people.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

Yeah, I like connecting with people and I like attaching it to an outcome and I like being in control of hey, if I work more hours, I I make more money. I like being in control of that. And so when I came back, I was really kind of doing my community work through dance, through the arts, still connected there. But then, you know, I met my husband, my now husband, and we started doing community events together. Oh, so what kind of community? What do you mean doing community events? Yeah, so I was a dancer and he was in a band. So put that together. So put that together, and then on top of that, where where I have uh Lee's Donuts right now at Granville Island. Okay. So Alan's family, my husband's family owns a butcher shop in there. Oh, and so that's the family business, and that's when people are like, Oh, but your background's in small family business. Well, when we started dating, we both started working for my father-in-law. Oh, okay. And so we got to, I really got training on. Well, first of all, I got introduced to the food scene in a very intentional way. I got to meet all the coolest chefs in the city and build relationships, but I also got to meet a lot of people in sales and in these high-level executive positions who were the sort of bread and butter of the business and the clientele of the butcher shop. It's a higher-end butcher shop. Yeah. And that's where I was like, it was starting to connect to me. I was like, I really need to get into a sales position. Ah, okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. And then, and then so my father-in-law was nice enough and gracious enough to let me keep working there while I was studying to get my real estate license. And so after I got my real estate license, that's when it kind of just took off. And I decided to figure that one out on my own, which was a thing, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah. Learning real, yeah, learning how to build a real estate business as well, right? Well, you're, yeah. So then, okay. So then tell me a little bit. I mean, it sounds, it sounds a little idyllic, like you had this like nice both sides of you. You have like the artsy kind of creative, all that. And then you have this real structure or sh drive for like kind of the strategic building business, that kind of stuff. Tell me, how did can so tell let's talk a little bit about the we talked off air a little bit about the Vancouver's institution, Lee's Donuts, because that's where we connected over the franchising piece. That's right. So first before we go there, this is the so when I met you at the forum at Vancouver, you had handed, I think we were you were quickly leaving the event, or I was leaving, or there was a passing, it was really quick, or something. And you gave me your card and your Lee's Donuts card. And tell me what was, you know, what caught my attention? Because when I went back to look at it, because I was like, I loved your energy when I first met you. And so I go to look at it, and it actually said I it was either the director of fun or the director of happy or the director of something like that was what your title was.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

That's it. So it's owner and director of fun.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

That's what I was like, okay, I got I gotta get to know her. Um and so at that point I didn't know if you like what your role was in the business. I didn't know Lee's Donuts franchise. I mean, I grew up in Vancouver, but I can't remember any business that was there when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

And that's totally fair. You know, it was sort of in this enclosed little hub in Granville Island that tourists knew about.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

And oh, is that was that the uh is that the flagstaff, like the original location?

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Yeah, original location in Granville Island for over 45 years now. Wow. And um, you know, we knew about it. I think a lot of people have memories tied to Granville Island in general, but the donut shop specifically, even Alan and I were surprised after we took over ownership. A lot of locals were discovering us for the first time during COVID when no one we had no outside visitors, right? Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

So, okay, so let's just Lee's Donuts is a brick and mortar donut that's been around for 45 years. So, in a small little like Granville Island, for those that don't know Vancouver, but Granville Island is like it's like bougie, artsy fartsy, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, uh, it's very high traffic, all that kind of uh fun stuff. But what year did you take it over out of curiosity?

SPEAKER_02 10:22

In 2017, okay, when is when we uh found out that it was awarded to us because we it was in competition, we were competing for it, we put in a very strong offer and did all the things, and at that point it was only the one location, correct? Yeah, oh okay, yeah, and what we saw when we were studying it in 2017 was that yes, it had you know the product line, it had incredible donuts that we were, you know, we were fans of the brand for yeah, because you had grown up years already because we grew up around there, and uh, but more than that, it we saw the opportunity for a brand business. Okay, so yeah, so right away, you know, there's there's like little points of analysis that my husband and I would go through when we were analyzing other businesses, not just Lee's. One is the foot traffic, one is the profitability, another is the how do we increase revenues? What if we streamline XYZ the minute we take it over? Would this increase it and by how much? And then future potential. So, like the brand itself, what does it lend itself to?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

So right away we connected to it as community people because Granville Island, where it lives, is an arts and culture and food hub. Yes, and so that really connected with Alan and myself being community people. So when we is that that would literally describe you, it literally does, it aligns like perfectly, right? And so when we were looking at it, we're like, wow, it's a f the colors are great, yellow and line, but it really is a legacy brand, which is very rare, uh, you know, today and in Vancouver. Um, and so we were like, okay, if we take this on, we gotta do this right because I don't even call myself the owner of the brand. I mean, on paper, yes. Yeah, we call ourselves custodians of the brand.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Okay, that's good. So you said you said before the press record, you're not you're not the founder, but you are the custodian.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Uh, we're the custodians of the brand. It was here before us. There's a legacy and a relationship there that we always honor, like where it came from. There's Lee's as it is today under our tenure and what we can improve it. And the motivation really is to uh, you know, the rarity of having a legacy brand like this and a Canadian homegrown brand. I feel we have a responsibility to take this as big as we can because it's such a great fun brand.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

And okay, so let's let's yeah, if I can interrupt you, I just want to go, I want to, because uh lots of my listeners and lots of what I do as a franchise or people are always talking about competition, right? When they're building a new business. But what about the competition? And what about the competition? And so let's talk about donuts for a minute because Lee's donuts isn't just a donut, like it is a hub of, like you said, the culture, the community, all that kind of stuff. But people get focused on what the actual item is or the product, right? It's donuts. And in this day and age, like from 20, that's what I asked you about, like from 2017, I would say even probably it's probably more recent than that, that donuts became this very trendy item. You've got all these like pop-up, like extreme donuts, if you will, right? Yeah. And so talk to me. Was that part of when you were considering buying? Because this also goes back to buy a business, buying a business that is rooted, has that history and rooted, but is not modernized yet, right? So there's a lot of capacity to really build. And you saw that. You saw like there's a brand here that's rooted in this 45 years, all that kind of stuff, and we can modernize it, right? What are the things? So when you were back doing your analysis, did that was donuts a big thing in 2017? What are your thoughts with all of that even now? And has that impacted your brand?

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yeah, I think as a general statement, I will say that like just pastry and bakery in general is um it's a really like highly competitive industry, and that's where we folded in first. The next step to our discovery was finding out that Canada has the largest number of donut eaters per capita in the world in the world. No, really, who knew? That's hilarious. But with that kind of data way to go, Canada. I know so so. For me, then then that that is okay. Who is the competition? We have our Tim Hortons who have been around forever. We also have so many artisanal donuts that have come onto the market.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah, that's yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Listen, I think there's a time and place and room for everybody. One of the best pieces of advice my father.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

There is there. I welcome it.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

You know how hard it is to do this. I know how, and if you have the balls to really like go for it and it's donuts, go. So the best piece of advice I actually got from my father-in-law, as uh I got so many business lessons behind the counter at that butcher shop. But one of the best pieces of advice he gave me is he says, you know what? Don't go for it because there's always room for the good ones.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Uh that's beautiful. That's what I wanted to really pull out. It's a reminder because we get that a lot. Oh, well, there's competition. Oh, well, there's other people doing similar things. That's right, there is. That shows that there's a market. That's what that shows.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

I am like locally, let me shout out. I'm a huge fan of mellow donuts. I am a huge fan of there, there. We just, they're my favorite mochi donuts in the city. I am very confident in what we do and what we offer. And then there's your different price points. You do that study. And what I found with Lee's for us, we are that sort of happy medium in pricing and quality and offering. And so that again, the differentiating factor is that we've been doing this for 45 years. It's the same classic donut. We're not trying to be wherever these guys are, we're not trying to be Tim Portons either.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Right. You're no, you know your lane. You know your uh you know what your your brand is known for.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

That's right. That's right. So we lean into that. That's our North Star when it comes to, you know, even discussions surrounding product innovation. Yeah. You know, all of our franchisees want to know well, how are you going to make things more efficient so that you can help us make more money and this and that? Yes, but we've had the same supplier for 45 years, we've had the same recipe for 45 years, and it's proven by the numbers that this is your bread and butter. The stuff that comes outside of that now, the community building and and uh all the fun stuff that the brand can lend itself to, like merchandise, yeah, supporting the arts, supporting all these organizations, that's going to drive your business in a different way. But get really good at the donut, get really good at the product.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Do you see that for the distractability? People want, and you know, our business, our franchise is very specific. It's doors, it's all the doors. And every single time franchise partners will say, But can I do windows? But can I do this? But can I add this? And we're like, there is such a beauty in becoming the expert and the leader in the space. But there's always this like, oh, we got to offer more, we got to offer more, we got to catch it all. And then it waters down because then you become everything to everyone and it becomes very watered down instead of being known for that thing. And so, you know, my husband, sometimes he's the most difficult part. He doesn't comply with our own franchise brand.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Oh my gosh, it sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

I'm like, dude, are you are you currently rebelling against the system we've just developed? Like please work within it, don't work against it. But it's funny, right? But um, because it is it's really important to go really double down on what you're the expert in, and then those other things you right can they can springboard. So we we say all the time we we just do doors, we don't do windows, right? Not doors and windows, we're not door and window gurus, we're door gurus, and it's just doors. So and reinforcing that to the franchise partners, and then the one that's been with us the longest, now he's starting to see that's what people come to him for, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yeah, because it's clear off, it does pay off, and and this is not even just in the realm of business, but in building teams, you know. Like I work with all different age groups, and and we're just trying to figure out once you get that team synergy to grow. I always tell them becoming an expert isn't from TikTok, Instagram, or any meme you're gonna get. It comes from the really boring work, really boring work of repetition and consistency. Yes. You I tell the franchise partners, if you can get that donut right, I'm not mad at them for having all the ideas. We're all entrepreneurs, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we will always listen to what they have to say when it comes to that because maybe there is a uh million-dollar idea in there.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

But in the absence of you know, uh systemizing it and making and proving time and time again it's a profitable system, that's where we need them to just trust that hey, follow this, get good at the donut, and everything else will fall in place.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yes, yes. That's you know, as a new franchisee, uh franchise or that's probably been the one the biggest takeaway. So we've now launched five partners and all but one. So the other four have all deviated from our pricing structure. They don't trust, not the price, right? They don't trust that we know the model. And uh one did not. He's like, You're the expert. I'm just and and you know what? It's it's proven wild. The others have had to learn, get good at this thing and these services, these are core services, and price it this way. And then, you know, that expertise comes once once it's grounded. So I'm gonna switch shift conversations a little bit. Tell me a little bit about I'm gonna just probably stick within the franchise theme just because it talks a lot about it's it speaks a lot about scaling. Um, what what has been your what was your biggest lesson when you bought into Lee's and then decided to franchise? Was that always the idea was to franchise Lee's, or were you gonna grow it corporately? Or and what was the kind of biggest first lesson, if you if you recall, that's maybe stuck around?

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah, great question. There are so many lessons. So how do we but but uh I I guess to to give it some context, yes, the plan was always to expand. And then the question was how, yeah. And so we actually spent the first few years expanding two ways corporate and franchise. So we're now both ways. We did go both ways because I wanted to test both models, right? Yeah, and for my husband and I, we discovered at the end of now 10 locations that franchising is the way to go. Oh, okay, in terms of scalability. And and a lot of it also rides on, you know, what kind of lifestyle do we want to have? Like we run this together, and what does the future look like five, 10 years from now? Is there an exit? What will lend itself better to us? I think we will always have a few corporate stores under our so that we know what we're talking about when we're talking to our franchise partners. But uh franchising is a business model that is as old as time.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

So I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel there. The challenge for us really became now that we're hitting a uh what I would call a critical mass point where there's a lot of demand for our franchises.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Oh, is there?

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Yeah, yeah. We're we're really starting to, well, we've opened the floodgates again, and that's another story.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

You pulled back, you talked to me before. You You guys had opened it up and kind of then had to pull back.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

I got scared. I got scared. So we did uh bring it back to 2018 a bit and into 2019, there was demand for our brand to be go into other malls and other locations. Then we got excited. We're like, let's start doing the paperwork for franchising. Let's go, right? Did all the things, got all the fancy booth, and uh opened up the floodgates to our first franchise show about four years ago. Within a weekend, Kimberly, we had over a hundred applicants. What? We had 35 people at our discovery day, some with already checks in hand.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Shut up.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

So that is probably one of my biggest lessons. If we're gonna talk about it, is that I need to be way better prepared.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Okay, well that because let's let like let's slow this down a bit because so many times when we start a business or we have this great vision, we want it to come fast. We want the we want, like, yes, people are yeah. So when that happened and was knocking on your door, like tell us a little bit more about that for you from the from your perspective, like because you're new into franchise, you know, you have people like basically lining your like giving you the cash, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Like, yeah, I'll start with the end. The most painful part was giving giving those checks back.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Oh, you did?

SPEAKER_02 23:20

We did, and and I'll tell you why. Because at the time we just had the one store, we had just built out an office, and Alan and I were still trying to perfect making donuts ourselves, kind of figure out our system ourselves with the one store. And so that's when after the discovery day, and my team was already starting to fill them in, and and we were getting to the FDD, and they were going through the process. Alan and I really had to take a moment and pause and say, like, are we ready for this? I have experience in real estate, I know I could give them a spot. I will do for them what basically I'm doing for myself, yeah. But then there's only one of me.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

And then a lot of it came with the fear of just the compliance of everything. If we were to take, if we were to take on these, you know, call it 10, 12 franchisees all at once, and we don't have our systems down, we could really take the it could go sideways very, very fast.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Yeah. It's very typical in franchising. I think that's my understanding, is that's what people do. They take all the checks, and then they're like, oh yeah, well, we got the systems, but they don't.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Part of the reason we were so careful too is that even up to today, I don't have outside investors. It's me and Alan. We bootstrap, I was gonna say a bad word, we bootstrap the crap out of this from day one.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Okay, I swear.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

From day one. So it is money in and money out. Was the money attractive? 1000%. Would we be doing a disservice if we continued at that time? 1000%. It was a very humbling moment and it was very like Alan and I needed to take a step back and say, what do we need to get better at to really be, you know, in a position to do this proper. And that's when we did the franchise show just recently when I bumped into you and I I had this moment when I saw you, I was like, hey, female franchiser.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yeah, I didn't know you guys were gonna be there. I was like, wait, what? Uh so you pulled it back for that many years. Like you just opened up Fran Dev again.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

We opened it up, uh, we we pulled it back for so many years. We decided to focus on let's open a handful of corporate shops ourselves and define and perfect the crap out of the system, everything from location scouting to equipment, you know, all of that. Yeah, and let's work with a handful of franchisees that we can know and trust and will understand that you're helping me build the plane while we're flying the plane. So I needed some very empathetic, understanding entrepreneurs and investors. And I am so blessed that handful of franchisees, they are the ones who have all the stores currently, and they've all signed up for second and third locations, like multi-unal.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

So I know we did something right. It was so hard at the time to pull back and give that money back, but then choosing just a small handful that would give me the feedback, give me honest criticism about how we can perfect this system. Now with the 10, we feel so confident, and that's when we were at the franchise show. And now it's really starting to roll.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Is it? Yeah, has it have you gotten out of province interest yet?

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Yes, we're about to deal those deals, and so now we're in May. That franchise show was in March, I think. Pretty fast in qualifying now that we have everything fleshed out.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Yeah, so that's the thing. It's like that pulling back to slow down, so that whole slowing down to speed up. I know that's what we like. We have our, I call them my founding five. And so my first, yeah, my first five franchise partners, they're my founding five. And during their whole, and they're all very different. None of them, only two out of the five are from my network, but the rest were strangers to us. And during my the candidate diligence phase and the discovery phase, part of my my request, of course, for them is that we are an emerging brand. And we, you know, although we've been in this industry for 50 years, we haven't run a mobile model for 50 years. We run it for at that point four or five years. And so it really is a two-way street. And yes, there, there was some benefits to them joining us early, but there's also some risk to them, right? And so, and that, and also me having to be open to hear their feedback in a way that doesn't hurt me, but just realizing, you know, that this is because the the more people, uh the the difference of the five of them between the the difference of their perspectives, their goals, all that kind of all of those pieces help inform the iterations. Now, Darren and I did a little bit different, is we actually invested. This is what I found out when you said like you were like, yeah, let's franchise, and then you're like, oh my God, we don't actually have all the systems in place. So one of the things that we did over the two years is we invested heavily in our systems and operations before going to market for franchise partners. And as we started to bring on experts to help us with that, they were absolutely astonished at how much infrastructure we had built already. And I was like, what? And they're like, Yeah, you like typically franchise ours are not do not have this level of integrity. They say they have all the systems and operations, and then they sell it, and then it's a shit show.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Yes. And I've seen I've heard horror stories. Yeah, I know, you know, people who have invested in other franchises and it just didn't work out. And we have some candidates that have come to us and shared their experience with other franchise franchisors. And for me, you know, it's always at the end of the day, you're dealing with people and this is their livelihood, or yeah, maybe it's just an investment for them. But either way, you're touching people and you're entering community, especially in our industry. So vetting them is really, really important and making sure we have the system to support, to support yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

And so you have created raving fans from uh uh from your franchise partners.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yes. Have you read that book? It's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

No, I haven't actually.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Oh, okay, yeah. I thought you were plugging the book. There's one of my early, early, one of my favorite books uh in customer service is called Raving Fans. Oh, okay. So so that's what we aim to do is uh through the brand is to create raving fans and our franchise partners. The first five that you talk about, very similar model over here. They were some friends, they were some people who've worked for us to, you know, in terms of career and personal professional development. One of the things we're very proud of is that a lot of people within our head office see the vision, and a few of them have gone on to become our franchisees. Oh, that's awesome. That's beautiful. And we trust, and and I don't take that lightly, you know. So now there's a deep responsibility here to make sure that we do this correctly as we scale. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Well, you know, and you know, I was doing the forum cycle and uh learning to pitch. And when I did my first public pitch, people within the community were like, Oh my god, you did so well, you did so well, blah, blah, blah. You've been doing it so long. I said, No, it was my first time. I've never pitched before. And then I was like, wait a second, I've spent two years doing franchise development and the I do the all the recruiting. That is, I am talking with investors about the vision and the model every single day. So I was like, wait a second, because they are our investors, though those partners, right? They're investing their livelihood, their their money, like everything. And so their their dreams, all of that. And so I was like, wait a sec. For for typical like CPG brands or other founders, they're not doing that every day. They're not, right? They're they're developing their product, but not necessarily bringing partners in right from the get-go. In the franchise model, you're bringing partners in from the get-go. So you're learning how to bring people and help guide people to understand the opportunity, the vision, you know, all of those pieces and whether or not they want to say, here's my money, here's my commitment, and here's my energy. And so I take all, I don't take any of that lightly, which is why I could never say, hey, we have all this sign up and then, oops, sorry, we didn't really have it figured out. Like I would not be able to live with myself. Totally.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Like that's that's too much risk, right? And and essentially, to your point of you know, pitching these people every day, it's you're also looking for franchisees that are similar profile to you. Yeah, you know what it takes to really run this thing and the blood, sweat, and tears. Yeah. So that's what's along with it.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Tell me, Celine, what what I I mean, we didn't even touch on your real estate experience and building a real estate uh company as well. But as a female, what has been the most shocking to you as a female entrepreneur? What has been the most shocking and a surprising thing that you have had to overcome or that you find yourself kind of butting up against?

SPEAKER_02 32:22

You know, as much as I've been doing this for a long time now, like I've had leads for going on what 2026, so so almost 10 years. And in real estate, I've I've been in real estate for 15 years. And at that time, real estate was a very male-dominated industry, and so is franchising. And so is franchising. The observation for me and the experience is really walking into these rooms where sometimes I'm still the only executive leader or the one, you know, ownership or at that level. And these, you know, male counterparts still like to this day, like undermine or talk down to, but for them it's it's subconscious.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

That's something that as a female, you are always conscious of, but our male counterparts don't ever have to think of.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

So very sensitive to that. And and that kind of helps in how I lead my team and build the culture here that we're we're very upfront, you know, when when I'm pitching to other cities that might want to take us in as a franchise. It's like, well, we are a minority-owned company, we are an inclusive company. And if that's going to be a problem for, you know, small town Manitoba or whatever it is, let me know now. Right. Yeah. But but I used to be so much more charged about it. I think I would come in and it's like guns blazing, and then like I have to really fight for my place there. After doing this for so many years, it's like, I'm the girl, I'm the one you're talking to. You're gonna talk to me with respect, or we're just gonna figure this out and I'm gonna move. You know, I still have that confidence. It's interesting to see coming into these rooms that it's still there ingrained in in our, you know, our male counterparts that it's subconscious to them. They don't even know that they're being rude or undermining, or they wouldn't say that to a male leader, right? Yeah. I still I still uh observe and clock any those things. I don't try to change that in the room anymore. I don't get the f about it, but I definitely make note for myself and how I raised my daughter and how how our female team members in our company are being treated. So right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

And well, and that's the thing, right? Like you start to know the there's um, there's a conf a silent confidence that comes with experience. You have the receipts, you know what you're doing, you know what you're talking about. So you don't have to go on you know, charge and take people down at everything to force them to hear you because we know that's not how change well, some parts of change is made, but when you know you you know you know, you're like just they just have to ask you the questions and you just show and then they're like, Oh, snap, she knows what she's talking about.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

That's it. And I think part of it too is when I was younger and trying to fight for my way into these rooms, um, I was tapping more into my male energy because I'm gonna match, right? I was just a match and like, let's get on the same level playing field today. I don't have to do that. Like, I actually and and that kind of folds into us meeting at the forum and getting exposed to these female entrepreneurship groups that it's like we all experience the same things, but it's actually advantageous to lean into your female energy, yeah. And what does that power look like? We don't fight so hard, you know. Like it's it's interesting. It's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

So do you uh with the forum, just uh kind of wrap up, uh have you been involved with the forum for a while?

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Or was that your I that was my first um semi-final pitch. I was out of town for the finals, otherwise I would have been there in the front seat.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Oh my gosh. Well, it sold out right away.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

I know, I know. But um, I, you know, was sharing with some other uh groups recently that I actually didn't really involve myself into a lot of female groups or female founders um until very recently, until the brand started getting notoriety and they started getting awards for leadership and things like that. It's almost like not until it was mirrored up to me that's like, oh yeah, you're a female woman of color, like you're doing stuff because you had your head down, you had your head down.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Sounds like you have kids, you're building, you know, relationships, yeah, businesses. Yeah, you're like what?

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Yeah. So then when when it was sort of being mirrored back to me, I was like, okay, let me lean in a bit. And so the forum was an incredible opportunity. I was invited to a retreat, the sweet futures retreat. Oh, did you go to the sweet futures? Oh my gosh. Yes, I did. I did. Oh, good for you, and uh, and that's where you know it really allowed me the time to look inwards, do some deep work on myself. And what does this next? I'm in my 40s now. It's like, what does this next uh you know, 10, 15 years of my career look like and how do I want it to be? Because I do have that confidence now that I've done it for so many years, and I can lean into that female energy a bit. Yeah, don't get me wrong, the fierceness is still there, it gets us places, but but I'm I'm getting better at managing that and coming into rooms like on my own terms.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

So forum, like when I saw you go up there, Kimberly, and like um, I was with my friend Christina Lumba from Do Well, like another incredible female, like you know, business owner and business that she runs. But we were it's a new world to us. So we were listening to the pitches, and instantly your energy. Oh, I was like, that girl knows that girl's been through it, yeah, and she knows, and you're so confident. I you were probably nervous as heck.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Oh, one, yeah, that was Vancouver. I was better than in Toronto, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

I I had never pitched before, yeah, and and um female franchisee, uh sorry, female franchisors, I was seeking them out, and and when I was first starting this thing with Lee's Donuts, I couldn't find any. Yes, I'd found one.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

You know, Kyla.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

Not Kyla, it's the lady who owns Kids Physio out of Vancouver. I had met her. We've done a panel together in like 2021. I was like, Oh, that's one. That's one. Yes, and then when you went up there and you said, I'm a French, a female franchisora, I was like, Oh my gosh, that's two.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Oh, okay. Then I gotta introduce you, introduce you to Kyla from Foxy Box.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Love it. So I know that I know we're out there.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Yeah, she has a crazy fun story. She's Canadian from the island, she has 24 locations now. Yeah, like her. Okay, we're you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna have our own little get together. Yes, female franchise in Canada, because there are very few of us. I will come to Vancouver.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

Very few of us. And so automatically I was attracted. The pitch was very good.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Then um, as we were going out to the meet uh outside of uh, you know, the forum, the event was ending. I said to Christina, I said, I need to get my card in Kim's hand.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 39:12

And you were exiting. I'm like, no.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

That's why I was like, I remember that, and I see the green in on the card, the green card, and I went back to it after because I tried, I was like, I gotta connect with this woman. So I think that energy was definitely yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

We I knew that I knew instantly we spoke the same language when you said Hizor started from one. The whole I work with my husband, I'm like, oh my god, like looking at the oh gosh, we can get yes.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Next time I'm in town, well, let's go for coffee. Um okay, Celine, this has been fabulous. It's just the beginning of the conversation. We are running out of time because I want to be mindful of your time as well. And uh, where can people get more? Where first of all, where can they taste your donuts? Because they are yummy. I did try to get 110 of them uh for the event in Victoria that I was keynote at, but I'll try for next year. April April 2027. There's an event there again. We'll have a little more planning, but to get to get your donuts there.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

But yeah, where can people just send me a text? Okay, if anyone wants to find the donuts, original flagship location is Granville Island. All over the lower mainland now. I'm in Langley, Richmond, Sevston, Brentwood. Oh, nice. Brentwood Mall is beautiful. Mall. And uh we're at the airport. So anyone flying across Canada when domestic terminal uh was.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

I know that's where I saw you first. That's where I saw your brand first. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

Yeah, yeah. And and many more in the pipeline here. I just can't share yet, but we are looking at out of province now. If anyone's interested in learning more about franchising, it's just on our website, leesdonuts.ca forward slash franchise.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Pretty easy to find online.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

But and then if somebody wants to follow you personally and get more of your yummy energy that you live your life with, they can find you on Instagram. I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Instagram's my main one. I don't know about tick, tac, top, tick, whatever, but let's do the cool kids hang out. Instagram is CelineBacaniYbr lazy.ca, and then I'm also on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

Okay, so we'll make sure all that stuff is in the show notes. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today, and I would love to do a part two.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

This was so fun. Yeah, thank you so much. We'll chat soon.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Found Her podcast. If you've enjoyed it, please, please, please leave me a review, subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes, and more importantly, please share with your business bestie. You can join our newsletter, find me on Instagram, all the places. I would love to hear your feedback and connect with you during your journey of building your legacy.