playing in helping us grow this,” van der
Lee said.
Papa Murphy’s was first introduced into
the U.S. market in 1981 in Portland, Or-
egon as the result of a merger between
Papa Aldo’s Pizza based in Portland and
Murphy’s Pizza out of Petaluma, California.
The aim was to create a product that ex-
ceeded pizzeria quality but could be baked
in the customer’s home, avoiding that
lukewarm “out of a cardboard box” experi-
ence associated with traditional pick-up or
delivery chains.
The franchise made its move intoWestern
Canada in 2006 with the opening of its cor-
porate location in Surrey, B.C. At the same
time, van der Lee was nearing the end of
a 20-year career with Rogers Communica-
tions. As chief executive officer of Rogers
Retail, van der Lee was spending great
MAR/APR 2015
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