Ottawa serial entrepreneur Tracey Clark, one of the founders and the former CEO of Bridgehead Coffee, is the recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Board of Trade.
The award is presented to a businessperson who demonstrates long-term business success, innovation and perseverance, strong leadership and a legacy of community building.
OBJ caught up with Clark to talk about entrepreneurship, her passion for community and equity projects, and what she’s serving up at her new restaurant, Linden Pizza.
The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: One of the defining chapters in your diverse career was the 20-year transformation of Bridgehead Coffee. As co-founder, CEO and chief culture officer, you transformed a fledgling coffee chain into Ottawa’s largest, independent coffee company, which was sold for $9.5 million in 2019. What are some of the hurdles you faced and how did you overcome them?
TC: One of the very first hurdles was getting started, because I didn’t expect that I was going to become an entrepreneur. Many people don’t know Bridgehead existed before we turned it into a coffee company. It started as a coffee importing business in the ‘80s, then it was a voluntary relief organization and Oxfam took it over; it was one of Canada’s first social enterprises. I joined the board, then an organization from England took ownership and I was made a temporary managing director. I put together a business plan to get back to the company’s roots in coffee, to put fair trade coffee in the cup, but the new owners didn’t want to back me. I had to decide if I wanted to buy the mark, raise money from friends and family, and carry on with this plan to create a chain of community coffee houses.
It was also challenging to remain corporate and to not pursue the franchise route. I felt that would have more integrity, but it’s harder to use your own money, bank debt or find investors. It took until we had eight shops before our bank agreed that we had enough of a track record. We also grew fast; there was a lot of scaling of people. At our peak, we had 325 employees with a warehouse, a kitchen, a roastery and all the shops. With 20-plus coffee houses, you’re hiring and training a lot of people; you need to be people-first, so we developed powerful training protocols. I was really proud of that, because at one point we were hiring and training with 160 people a year in our frontline position, yet the customer experience was always consistent.
Q: On Fogo Island, you brought Fogo Clay Studio to life with a business plan and buildings before selling your interest to a potter. Today, how are you leveraging your entrepreneurial experience as a strategic adviser with Differly Inc.?
TC: When I’m working with the founder of a business, I use a north, east, west and south model. The point for the compass is the founder’s intentions: are they clear about their intentions for themselves and their family, for their core group of employees, for their shareholders? Then we tune their go-to-market strategy; is that really sound? The lower point of the compass is talking about data points and how to measure. Are they employing the right technology to focus on the right data? The last piece is looking at the interface of human systems and the HR plan to ensure the creation of high-performing teams throughout the organization.
I think of innovation in a few ways. There’s the straight-on way, such as R&D investment, and then there’s organizational design around innovation. But there’s also a cultural piece around how much permission is given to allow innovation to emerge. Ultimately, I think innovation is more human, and I’ve always been interested in small to medium-sized businesses and how they begin that scaling journey.
Q: You served as founding board chair for Impact Hub Ottawa and as director of Shorefast Social Enterprises. Today, you’re director of the Ottawa Community Foundation, chair of its Impact Investment Committee and co-chair of the Ottawa Climate Action Fund (OCAF). You’re also the director of Ecotrust Canada. What are the guiding principles you weave into your work with community organizations?
TC: For me, the common thread is community and equity. I’ve always been interested in social justice and the intersection of community, like how we’re addressing poverty in our city. (The Ottawa) Community Foundation is essentially a poverty alleviation organization, tackling issues around housing and homelessness, eradication of substance abuse. With OCAF, it’s the intersection of equity and climate. Ecotrust has a reconciliation framework, and they’re very much a practical organization. My current voluntary activities are sunsetting a little bit. Going forward I’m looking for opportunities in foodways, food sustainability, food systems and regenerative agriculture.
Q: Named after the Lindenlea neighbourhood where you’ve lived for more than 25 years, you’ve described your restaurant, Linden Pizza, as a “deeply personal project.” Tell me what opening this restaurant has meant to you from a community perspective.
TC: I’ve lived in that neighbourhood since 1997. In 2023, I had my hip replaced and I was walking along Beechwood with my cane as part of my convalescence. This little house was there and I thought, ‘That needs to be one of these little holes in the wall that people love.’ Pizza is an everyday, universally loved food that allows us to be with each other. I wanted something that I would want to go to in my neighbourhood and that my friends and neighbours would want to go to. We have a great team: Camille Hopper-Naud (manager and beverage director) in the front of the house, Mackenzie Coombes (chef) in the back of the house. It’s been so much fun to collaborate with them — it took five weeks just to develop the crust recipe!
Q: As both a coffee and a pizza connoisseur, what are your go-to orders for both?
TC: I love a pour-over coffee, something kind of light, fruity and anaerobically fermented. On the pizza front, one of my favourites is a marinara, which we call ‘Nada’ on the (Linden Pizza) menu, which is just plain tomato sauce. I also love the ‘Linden,’ which is garlic confit with roasted leeks, Gruyère, Italian fennel sausage, a little bit of parmigiano and chervil. That’s one that we’ve been making at home for over 18 years and it’s our son’s favourite.
Q: When you look back over your diverse career, how would you say your definition of success has evolved?
TC: What I’ve learned is that you have to follow your own measure of success. What does success mean for you and what does success mean for the people on your team that you care about? Do you want to sleep well or do you want to eat well? At the end of the day, it’s nice if you can do both. But I’d always rather sleep well, which means that you were acting with integrity.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is part of the Best Ottawa Business Awards, better known as the BOBs, which are presented annually each fall. Clark and other notable local business leaders, including the CEO of the Year, will receive their awards at a gala at the Westin Ottawa on Friday, Nov. 28.