Rising Stars: Meet Brian Canale of Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Canale.

Hi Brian, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
DeVore’s Hopocan Gardens was started by my grandparents Helen & William DeVore in 1944. Barberton is known for its Serbian Style fried chicken, which we are part of this heritage. With the large factory base in the mid 1900’s. Barberton Chicken became a family tradition on Sunday’s after church. Dinners were $1 for four pcs of chicken, hot rice (sauce), vinaigrette cole slaw and fresh cut fries. I’m the 3rd generation owner. I wish I had a nickle for every customer that tells me the story of “my parents brought me here as a child for $1 dinner”

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Barberton started feeling the pinch of factory closing in the early 80’s. We lost close to 10,000 factory jobs. It hurt the city’s tax base but DeVore’s build such a great name by then that the down turn only caused a small problem. Our customer base is about a 30 mile radius. The biggest issue in my 50 plus years in the business was the Pandemic. That changed the way people ate out. We still have a strong business but the breakdown of traffic is heavy to the carryout side.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My formal education is in Accounting. I chose to stay with the family restaurant because of the legacy. My training has helped on the numbers side of the business. We are a strong family, community based business. My managers Anita Davis, Sherry Winston and Christian Wilson have 100 year combined service at DeVore’s. I would have a hard time running this restaurant without them. We also support all education and athletics events in the area. More often than not with chicken for meals or fundraisers. We also feed the families at the local Ronald McDonald house once per month. It’s important to give back to the community that has supported you for over 80 years. My grandfather always said, “don’t let anyone go hungry”.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Barberton truly is the Magic City. We have a city park in every neighborhood. We have Lake Anna in the middle of the city. Named after the founding father, O.C. Barber’s daughter. It’s one or our city parks. Surrounded with cherry blossom trees. Beautiful in the spring. Our four schools are less than 25 years old thanks to the Barberton Community Foundation. Very few small towns, under 25,000 people, have foundations to help with growth. Barberton is not experiencing anything exclusive. Job creation, political involvement, roads and budget issues are all addressed on a limited basis.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hopocangardens.com/
• Facebook: DeVore’s Hopocan Gardens