Monday, 05 October 2026 10:30 AM
Company Update
Michael Aronovici, president of Interaction Restaurants Group, outlines the advisory services the firm has provided to U.S. and Canadian restaurant and investment groups over the past decade.
MONTREAL, QC / ACCESS Newswire / October 5, 2026 / Michael Aronovici spent decades building and selling restaurant brands before shifting the focus of Interaction Restaurants Group toward consulting. For the past ten years, the firm has worked with restaurant and investment groups across the United States and Canada on the operating and financial problems that come up as those businesses grow or change hands.
The work draws on the same ground Aronovici covered as an operator: franchise systems, multi-unit growth, and the financial discipline that keeps a restaurant chain solvent through expansion.
What the Engagements Cover
Interaction's advisory mandates span a defined set of problems. They include expansion strategy, financing, menu repositioning, and margin improvement. Other engagements have focused on entry into packaged goods, supply chain optimization, market assessments, and marketing effectiveness.
"A restaurant group rarely has just one problem," Aronovici said. "Margins slip because the menu has not been looked at in years, or because the supply chain was built for a smaller footprint. The work is usually about finding which piece is actually broken before anyone spends money fixing the wrong one."
That approach reflects how Aronovici built his own businesses. Pizza Hut in Quebec, Cultures, Salisbury House, and Starbucks in Eastern Canada were each acquired or developed under different conditions, with different financial pressures. Each required a separate read on where the business was actually losing money or missing growth.
Experience Behind the Advice
Aronovici acquired the development rights for Pizza Hut in Quebec early in his career and became the brand's largest franchisee in Canada before selling the business to a company controlled by John Bitove. He later acquired the Cultures restaurant chain, then a 60-location franchisor, and stabilized its operations before selling it to a company controlled by the Serruya family. Cultures is now part of MTY Food Group.
During the same period, he acquired Salisbury House, the Winnipeg restaurant chain with more than 70 years of history, and sold the 25-unit brand to a local consortium that included musician Burton Cummings.
Aronovici also held the exclusive license to develop and operate Starbucks Coffee in Eastern Canada, one of the few such licenses granted anywhere by a company that otherwise runs its own stores. He oversaw negotiations, expansion, and operations over seven years before selling the business back to Starbucks Corporation. He later held the development rights for P.F. Chang's in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada, where he introduced the brand to Canada and opened three restaurants before selling the business.
Why Operators Call Interaction
Clients come to Interaction with problems that cross departments: a financing question tied to a menu decision, or a supply chain fix that changes what marketing can promise. Aronovici said the firm's advisory work is built around that overlap rather than around a single specialty.
"Most consultants pick a lane: finance, marketing, or operations," he said. "A restaurant group doesn't experience its problems in separate lanes. A financing problem is often a menu problem wearing a different hat."
Aronovici holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Great Distinction from McGill University and earned his CPA designation before specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, now Restaurants Canada, for 14 years, including a term as Chairman, and sat on the Board of the National Restaurant Association. He was also an independent director of Prime Restaurants Inc., then a multi-brand franchisor with more than 200 casual dining locations, and of Meditrust Pharmacies as one of the board nominees of leading Canadian institutional investors in an $18 million private placement.
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About Michael Aronovici
Michael Aronovici is President and sole owner of Interaction Restaurants Group, a consulting, management, and holding company based in Montreal, Quebec. Over more than 30 years in the restaurant, retail, and franchise sectors, he has built, operated, and sold brands including Pizza Hut Quebec, Cultures, Salisbury House, Starbucks Eastern Canada, and P.F. Chang's in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. He now provides strategic advisory services to restaurant and investment groups in the United States and Canada.
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SOURCE: Michael Aronovici