By: Niveja Assalaarachchi, News Writer
On September 3, CRUST N CRUNCH opened as one of SFU Burnaby’s newest fast food joints. The restaurant, replacing the old Jugo Juice franchise, aims to serve “an elevated pizza experience that delivers on quality, convenience, and value,” according to a company press release. CRUST N CRUNCH, which first opened in 2024, is a chain restaurant serving an array of pizzas, donairs, salads, and other meal options.
In a statement to The Peak, CRUST N CRUNCH highlighted that the Burnaby campus was an ideal place for the company to expand, noting that it “is a vibrant community with thousands of students, faculty, and staff who are looking for convenient, crave-worthy meal options every day.”
This franchise differs from CRUST N CRUNCH’s regular locations, as the SFU location serves a streamlined menu. This sees the location ditching the donair menu option, typically sold at other locations, in favour of a more pizza-focused business approach.
CRUST N CRUNCH explained that the decision was made with “careful consideration of the SFU campus environment.” Limiting their menu helped the franchise “simplify operations, speed up service, and better match the needs of students and staff who often want a quick, filling, affordable option between classes.”
The franchise is owned and operated by Parminder and Kamaljit Parhar, the owners of Renaissance Coffee. The Peak interviewed Parminder Parhar about his hopes for this new business expansion.
“My mission is to provide value here and good-quality meals to the community. And I have successfully done it for 29 years, and I hope to continue this thing with the pizza concept.”
— Parminder Parhar, owner of CRUST N CRUNCH and Renaissance Coffee
Parhar hinted that, although unlikely in the short term, he would not shy away from a chance to expand his business operations to SFU Surrey and SFU Vancouver, if the right opportunity emerged.
Throughout the Parhars’ time serving SFU, they have helped students with their education through an endowment fund. The fund provides scholarships and bursaries to high-achieving and community-oriented SFU students. Parminder spoke about his sensitivity to the needs of students and the role he wants to play in helping them throughout their educational journey: There are “two or three dimensions of the university. People come here to advance their career, to learn, to grow, and I am more like a support service to meet that goal.
“I have seen the struggle of the students. I was also a struggling student. It’s very difficult to, at times, get going with your studies when you have very limited funds and when there is so many other challenges happening,” he said. “And these challenges are not getting any better. They’re getting worse every single day. So my mission [is] to provide a good quality, value meal, and by doing this thing, I’m not doing anybody any favour.
“I am here for the students, staff, and faculty.”
