Nick Seddon’s entrepreneurialism is clear from his ownership of a successful Vancouver dental practice and two Freshii franchises.
The former professional soccer player with the Vancouver 86ers recently sold his first dental practice, Dundarave Dental Clinic, for six times the price that he paid for it, when he bought the venture just before the global economic crisis in 2008.
Seddon sold Dundarave because had bought Oceanfront Dental Group, which has an office downtown, closer to where he lives. Seddon is a dentist at the clinic and employs a second dentist as well as three hygienists, two receptionists and a treatment co-ordinator.
“The West Vancouver practice had a beautiful location, team and patients, but I knew that for me, I needed to grow both personally and professionally,” he said.
“I felt stagnant, and it wasn’t challenging for me, so I needed to move on.”
That existential crisis in 2014 led him to simultaneously buy his first Freshii franchise, on West 4th Avenue.
Sales were strong at that healthy fast-food outlet, so Seddon bought a second Freshii franchise, in the Wesbrook Village neighbourhood near the University of British Columbia (UBC), which is his alma mater.
His two franchises employ about 20 people.
“One of the reasons I opened a second location was to take advantage of economies of scale,” he said. “I can spread expenses, such as a manager’s salary, across the two stores.”
When not cleaning teeth or overseeing restaurants, Seddon is active with the UBC fraternity Beta Theta Pi, where he is president.
He is also on the UBC faculty of dentistry’s dean’s advisory board and is president-elect of the BC Academy of General Dentistry, a professional association of general dentists.
“Each year I try to do a [philanthropic] excursion,” he said before recounting trips to Peru, Nicaragua, Cambodia and Ecuador.
“We go as a team and see a bunch of patients who are often in very poor areas. We set up shop in various villages, schools, churches or even orphanages, and do dentistry.”
Join us to celebrate the 2016 Forty under under 40 Awards January 25, 2017 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. For tickets and event info visit www.biv.com/events/40under40.
