Customer Story: How our scalability has supported Italian Centre Shop’s exponential growth
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Founded by Frank Spinelli in 1959, the Italian Centre Shop (ICS) has been a “home away from home” for expats and longtime Canadians alike for almost 65 years. What originally started as an Italian newspaper-importing business grew into a café, grocery store and ultimately community hub for recent immigrants from all over the world, located right in the heart of Edmonton, AB’s Little Italy.
At the ICS, everyone is family. Frank’s generosity was the stuff of legends, as he was known for assisting new Canadians under the philosophy of mangia oggi e pago domani: “eat now; pay tomorrow.” ICS remains known for its philanthropy, and this community-building is reflected inside the business as well: one of ICS’ core values is creating an environment where staff of all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances are welcomed, respected, and given the opportunity to flourish.
Over 40 years after ICS opened its doors, Frank’s daughter Teresa took over as President. In keeping with ICS’ values, she gathered her staff of 30 together to discuss the future of the business and establish goals and strategy as a team. Feedback was essentially unanimous: we want to expand!
Together, they’ve spent the past two decades doing exactly that, and now operate five bustling locations across Edmonton, Sherwood and Calgary, AB. In the process, the ICS team has grown from 30 to almost 700 staff.
For Human Resources Manager Tammy Gano and her team of three, this means managing payroll and HR for hundreds of employees province-wide while adhering to the same core values from which ICS has so successfully grown.
In order to do this, they needed integrated, scalable tools, support and resources that would help them pay their team accurately and on time, find and retain the best of the best, and identify staffing trends to strategically plan for the future… all while making it as simple and accessible as possible for employees to track time, access their pay stubs, and book a well-deserved vacation every now and then.
A tall order? Not with Payworks! Find out why: https://www.payworks.ca/docs/default-source/customer-stories/italian_centre_shop_en.pdf.
We’re proud to say it: we’ve got the very best clients! And we love to share their stories. If you’re a Payworks client who’d love to tell us yours, please reach out to your dedicated CSR.
