A New Taste for Okotoks: Inside the Freddy’s Franchise Expansion

Is Freddy’s Just Another Burger Joint? Not Even Close.

Carlin Lutzer sits down with Ted Tomanik, the man behind bringing Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers to Southern Alberta. 

Ted shares the surprising backstory of how a casual visit to a Phoenix restaurant turned into a bold business venture that’s now changing the fast-food landscape in Okotoks. 

From skepticism to full-on enthusiasm, Ted talks about discovering the magic of Freddy’s smash-style steakburgers, addictive chili cheese fries, and the ultra-creamy custard that's unlike anything most Canadians have tried. 

But it’s not just about the food, Ted emphasizes the importance of community, explaining why Okotoks was the ideal place to launch Canada’s second Freddy’s, and how they're partnering with the local food bank to give back. 

Whether you're a foodie, a franchise enthusiast, or just someone curious about what makes Freddy’s stand out, this episode serves up great insight with a side of local heart.

Listen For

4:05 How did Freddy’s expand into Canada—and why did Okotoks come second?

7:10 What makes Freddy’s steakburgers different from traditional burgers?

8:03 What exactly is frozen custard and how is it made differently from ice cream?

9:33 Why was Okotoks chosen over Calgary for Freddy’s Alberta debut?

15:41 How is Freddy’s giving back to the Okotoks community from day one? 

Connect with guest: Ted Tomanik

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers| LinkedIn

Connect with Carlin

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

Transcript

Announcer (00:00):

Welcome to the Okotoks Podcast, where the stories are real, the laughs are accidental, and Carlin Lutzer real estate makes it all possible.

Carlin Lutzer (00:22):

Freddy's frozen custard and steak burgers. Today we're diving into one of the newest and most talked about additions to our town, Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steak Burgers. If you've ever driven past the old Tim Hortons spot lately, you've probably seen the lineups and the buzz, and for good reason, Freddie brings a unique dining experience to Okotoks with their famous shoestring fries, smash style steak burgers, and that unbelievable rich frozen custard that has already made its mark with local families, including mine and me. I love Freddy's, but what really stood out to me and why I wanted to have this conversation is the heart behind the brand hasn't just opened their doors here. They've stepped right into the community building relationships, getting involved and supporting the Okotoks Food Bank in meaningful ways and other organizations. It's also encouraging to see a business arrive, not just to serve food, but to serve people. Today I'm joined by Ted Tomanik, one of the partners behind Freddy's Okotoks location. We'll talk about how the brand made its way from Wichita, Kansas to Okotoks. What makes this menu so unique and why investing in our community is central to their mission. Let's jump into it. Ted, thank you for joining me on this first. It feels like the first day of winter with all the snow, doesn't it? Hey,

Ted Tomanik (01:51):

Yeah, happy to be here with you and appreciate the invitation for sure.

Carlin Lutzer (01:55):

Yeah, no, we're certainly curious about Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steak Burgers. Now, a lot of companies like to have a short title, but this is, I imagine if you're ever writing out checks or whatever and have to write out your full name, Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steak Burgers is quite the handle. Can you tell us a little bit about the background story of Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steak Burgers?

Ted Tomanik (02:20):

Yeah, no, for sure. It's a brand that, to be quite honest with you, I knew nothing about myself up until a couple years ago, and a good friend of mine who happens to be involved with Boston Pizzas, same as we are, just stumbled across one of these restaurants when he was down in Phoenix, and he ended up thinking so much about it after his experience there that he actually purchased a franchise for North Dakota. And after that, he realized, I think this brand can work in Canada. And he reached out to me and asked me what my thoughts were of having the Southern Alberta territory. And to be quite honest with you, I thought he was crazy. And my first reaction was not a chance. I've never heard of Freddy's. I've never heard of Frozen Custard and thought it was absolutely insanity to try and go head to head with some of the burger giants that are very well established in all communities as is. But he convinced me to go down and try it, to get a feel for the vibe of the restaurants, try the product, and yeah, man, after doing that, I quickly thought to myself too, wow, this is good, and I think this could work. So yeah, here we are. We ended up opening up the second location in Canada about two months ago.

Carlin Lutzer (04:05):

And the first one is in Winnipeg, correct?

Ted Tomanik (04:07):

Correct,

Carlin Lutzer (04:08):

Yes. And how long has that one been opened for in Winnipeg?

Ted Tomanik (04:11):

That one opened up in June, so we're talking five, six months now for that location.

Carlin Lutzer (04:17):

Okay. And now, are Freddy's all over the us, are they in every state almost, or is there some states they're not in yet, or

Ted Tomanik (04:28):

It's a growing brand down south. I believe they've got about 550 locations last I heard, but they are opening new ones very quickly down there. It started in the Midwest, actually in Wichita, Kansas, and they sort of have just sort of started spreading out east and west from there. But yeah. Yeah, it's definitely an up and coming growing brand down there as

Carlin Lutzer (04:58):

Well. Yeah, I know that my family certainly has visited the restaurant and the burgers were spectacular. Oh, thank you. We'll certainly come back to that. We want to talk about the frozen custards, but the one thing that I can't get out of my mind is those fries. Normally I just order fries, but my daughter likes to order, so she ordered the chili cheese fries. Good choice. I just tried one, and it was just like, what were those chips that where Mark Mess lays? Mark Messey was doing the advertisement. He was like, I bet you can't just eat one. And that was the case. Those were delicious. And I still probably on an unhealthy level, think about those fries a little bit too much. They're

Ted Tomanik (05:44):

Delicious. Yeah. One of the many unique items that we sort have with Freddy's is the shoestring style fries. They have their own seasoning for 'em. And then of course, the fry sauce is awesome as well. Now if you're getting chili cheese on them, you won't need fry sauce on top of that. But yeah, the first time I tried 'em down south, I said, man, those are my favorite fries. I mean, that's my favorite fries I've ever had. Yeah.

Carlin Lutzer (06:22):

Yeah. What are you talking about, fries, sauce? I just got regular fries. I didn't get any sauce on 'em. So you got to help me out with your menu a bit.

Ted Tomanik (06:32):

Yeah, it is set up on our condiment station where you can ask for it as well at the counter. And basically what it is, is it's a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, and pickle juice, and it's just a recipe that they've created with it. And yeah, it's very, very popular with people that try it out for the first time. It's a nice alternative to ketchup only. No, for sure. Yeah, it's great.

Carlin Lutzer (07:02):

Yeah. And your steak burgers, are they different than other burgers that you'd get at other restaurants?

Ted Tomanik (07:10):

Well, we do Smash Burger, so that is, again, it's not unique strictly to us, but it is somewhat unique in Canada. There's not too many places that do that style of burger. And what it allows us to do is we make every order fresh to order, and because we smash 'em, it allows us to cook them fairly quickly. They get nice crispy edges around it. And yeah, it makes it for a somewhat unique burger compared to what you're probably used to

Carlin Lutzer (07:51):

Note. The burger that I had was absolutely delicious. It was fantastic. Okay. Now what's Custard? I don't think we're really familiar with custard.

Ted Tomanik (08:03):

It's crazy to me that this product hasn't made its way north to Canada sooner than this. We all know custard kind of as a hot pudding style dessert. And again, I remember before we went down to try it in Phoenix, I said to my wife, you know what? It's, I guarantee it's just basic ice cream, and they're just trying to make it sound fancy and unique and interesting. But the minute we try it, the first bite, we quickly realized that, no, it's different from ice cream. It's much thicker, much creamier, denser kind of product, but the reason for it is because it's made with egg and then the machine that it churns in daily, when we churn it, it doesn't allow air to get into it like ice cream can get. So that's how you end up with sort of, again, a much thicker and creamier kind of product.

Carlin Lutzer (09:13):

Yeah, no, and obviously we had to try that as well, and it was delicious, so everything was a home run for sure. So as you said earlier, this is the second one that opened in Canada. Why did you choose Okotoks? That's the million dollar question.

Ted Tomanik (09:33):

Yeah, that question's right up there with what is frozen custard when people come in. That's probably the second most popular question that I feel it. The way it worked out for us is, again, being Southern Alberta, boy, I said that was the territory that I was interested in, and we were really keeping an open mind for which area we were going to go into with this. We knew that we required a certain amount of square footage. We knew we wanted a drive through. Those were two key things right off the bat, that as long as those two points were there, we'd be open-minded to everything else. And it just so happened that, yeah, the Tim Horton's location there in No Ketos came available quite quickly after I had signed our development agreement. Wasn't expecting something to fall on our lap so quickly, but when I got to go out and look at the site, yeah, I was excited about, again, the square footage was able to fit for us for sure. Love the drive through that. It's a nice, big, long one, not causing a bunch of congestion in the parking lots, great parking. The access off of one of the main arteries in Okotoks was great as well for location.

(11:12):

We started asking ourselves at that point, okay, we're talking about a town of 30,000 people, roughly. Is that really, really going to be enough to support this business? But what we love about Okotoks is it's unique in the sense that it seems to be the central hub for all the surrounding towns, your high rivers, your Diamond Valleys, dewinton. It sort of seems to be the central hub for those towns as well. And it also, with the proximity that it has to South Calgary, I know it draws people in from the south end of the city as well. So we thought that with all of that in mind, it was really a unique opportunity for us and a location that the more we kept talking about it and looking at the upside, we got more excited about it. And it also helped that two of our partners that are part of our group actually live in Oak tos, which was a bonus for us

Carlin Lutzer (12:23):

For

Ted Tomanik (12:23):

Sure, knowing that we had that local owner, and they were familiar with Freddy's. They've had it down in the US and they thought for sure, just with their experience living in Oak Tilts that the brand would be well received there. So all of that, and I guess the last thing I'd say about it is it's exciting to see the future development that they've got planned for that town and the growth opportunities that seemed to be headed oak tos way. So yeah,

Carlin Lutzer (13:00):

You guys did your group, your investment group kind of figure that if you were to place it in Calgary, it could have very well gotten lost a little bit in all the businesses and all that stuff.

Ted Tomanik (13:13):

Yeah, absolutely. Calgary was probably the area that we were least interested in starting this with. Now obviously Calgary is going to play a big part in our future development, hopefully with the brand if fall goes according to plan, but we really wanted to try and get into those smaller town where you're not battling as much competition. You have the ability. What I've really found to be fascinating for me is just the ability to build a real relationship within the community in a small town versus trying to do that in a big city like Calgary.

Carlin Lutzer (14:02):

And

Ted Tomanik (14:03):

So we really liked the idea of trying to create a bit of a buzz in the smaller areas before we make our way to Calgary eventually here. So

Carlin Lutzer (14:16):

Yeah, no, we're certainly pleased you guys chose Okotoks. It's a great restaurant. It's a great, well, even when visitors come from out of town or whatever, it's nice to take 'em out if you're going out for a quick meal to take 'em to a place that they've never been before. And so it's certainly great to have Freddy's here in town, and we're glad that you guys chose us and we look to support you guys throughout the years. And that, is that a location that you have? For those that don't know? It used to be Tim, but it's a closed up shop due to other Tim Hortons, I guess, in the area or whatever. But I'm sure you guys also, I'm sure the businesses around you are thankful that you're around there as well, because you're no doubt bringing some new life to them as well.

Ted Tomanik (15:06):

Yeah, the response from our neighbors and the surrounding businesses there has been fantastic. So yeah, we couldn't be happier of the location that we landed on.

Carlin Lutzer (15:21):

Now I know that already, Ted, the way that you kick things off and the way that you guys are running your business now, part of my reason why I wanted to have you to record with you is I get a sense that you guys are really concerned about the community and you want to be a part of the community. You're not just here to take, but you want to give back.

Ted Tomanik (15:41):

Yeah, a hundred percent. The first thing that we did was reach out to the oak TOS food bank before we got opened up and just partnered with them, told them we wanted to do a food drive with them, especially going into this time of year when the need is even greater for a lot of people less fortunate.

Carlin Lutzer (16:07):

Yeah. That's awesome. No, and that Food Bank is such a great organization. They're doing incredible things. It's sad that they're so needed right now, but that need continues to grow throughout the years as well. But such a great organization there. So thanks for doing that, Ted.

Ted Tomanik (16:26):

My pleasure.

Carlin Lutzer (16:27):

Well, Ted, thank you for your time. I am sure I'll run into you every once in a while at Freddy's, and yeah, I haven't had lunch yet, but now I'm starving. I might have to brave the snowy conditions today and go out to go through the drive-through and get some fries, at least, at very least.

Ted Tomanik (16:45):

Okay. Well, thanks again, Carlin. I appreciate the kind words and yeah, inviting me on. It's great.

Carlin Lutzer (16:51):

Yes, you bet. Thanks, Ted. You have a great day.

Ted Tomanik (16:53):

You too.

Carlin Lutzer (16:54):

Take care.

Ted Tomanik (16:55):

Bye now.

Carlin Lutzer (17:05):

What a great conversation. A huge thank you to Ted for joining me today and giving us such an inside look at Freddy's, their story, their menu, and their passion for serving the community. If you haven't been to Freddy's yet, stop by, grab a burger and try not to think about those fries at 2:00 AM like I do. And if you already love it, well, now you know a bit more about the heart and story behind the brand. Thanks for tuning into the Okotoks podcast. We'll see you next episode.

Announcer (17:36):

You've been listening to the Okotoks podcast, solid as the big rock and proudly powered by Carlin Lutzer Real Estate. See you next time. I.