‘My generation has always admired what was done before us: the discipline, the structure, the systems that made the company survive and grow. At the same time, the older generation understands that markets, technology and client expectations change quickly and what worked decades ago won’t work as effectively today,’ says Mitri Dahdaly, president of Toronto-based Cullitons Limousine Service.Peter Power
As a luxury transportation company that’s been around since the days of the horse and buggy, Cullitons Limousine Service knows a thing or two about tradition, customer service and loyalty.
The Toronto family business today is marrying those values with innovation and marketing to modernize its operations, achieve cost efficiencies and find new markets, while maintaining a culture that caters to its legacy customers and attracts new ones.
“The connection we have with our clients is critical,” says Mitri Dahdaly, 34, president of the company, which was started in 1918 by Frederick Cullitons and changed hands a few times through the following decades.
It was bought in 1982 by Mr. Dahdaly’s father George, 76, who came to Canada from Lebanon in 1976, began working as a taxi driver at Lester B. Pearson International Airport and joined Cullitons in 1979. He took over ownership of the company in 1982 and began remaking it with the help of his brothers and their families.
Cullitons had a good base of corporate-level clients but had gone through some difficult times. Its fleet also consisted entirely of stretch limos, which were declining in favour among executives concerned about being seen as “showboating” in high-end automobiles.
“We had to adapt with the times,” Mr. Dahdaly says.
Sedans, minibuses and SUVs were slowly added to the fleet, which today also includes highway coaches that hold 55 passengers, with a focus on the Greater Toronto Area but a range throughout Ontario.
Building leadership skills from the back office
Mr. Dahdaly began working in the company’s reservations department in 2012 and, by 2015, was splitting his time between dispatch, reservations and accounting to better understand operations and the financial side of the business.
“That progression made the transition into a leadership role feel natural, and it also allowed me to build trust internally with the team.”
He’s been president since 2020, while his father remains owner but is not involved in day-to-day operations. The company has a fleet of some 60 vehicles and 70 employees, 16 of them working in the main office in North York. The rest are drivers, who go through a rigorous vetting and training process and dress in a uniform that includes a suit with Cullitons emblazoned on the lapels and custom tie.
“We’re not looking for somebody who just wants to drive; we’re in the customer-service business,” Mr. Dahdaly says, noting that more than 90 per cent of revenues comes from corporate clients and contracted work, for instance banks, law and accounting firms, with the remainder from special events and one-off customers.
Technology drives efficiency but human touch still ‘paramount’
The technology has evolved from contacting drivers on pagers, who then had to call into the office from payphones to get assignments, to artificial intelligence-enabled booking, real-time GPS tracking and fleet-management systems.
“We see AI as a tool to help us behind the scenes, but in our industry, the human touch is paramount,” Mr. Dahdaly cautions. “When our clients call us, it’s not just a transaction, it’s a relationship. You use technology to try to run lean, but you cannot sacrifice service.”
He considers AI and software a double-edged sword in the industry.
“Ridesharing apps have made it extremely convenient for the end consumer, but it comes at a cost,” he says.
Drivers for those services often cancel and refuse rides to increase demand and create surge prices, while at Cullitons he says, “our pricing is our pricing, whether there’s a storm, a traffic condition or an event.”
The company has strengthened its visibility through affiliate partnerships across North America, and it revamped its software to give clients real-time access, he says. The airline sector has been a main area of growth for Cullitons, which expanded from serving one airline client in 2022 to more than 10 today, as one of the largest crew transportation providers at Pearson Airport.
In the 1980s, Cullitons built a dispatch and reservation system based entirely on pen and paper, then put all its business operations onto a custom-built computer system, which Mr. Dahdaly says increased operational efficiency and scalability “and set the stage for technology investments we continue to make today.”
More marketing helps bring repeat customers
Revenues have been healthy, especially since the pandemic, with strong demand in 2024 driven by a resurgence in corporate travel and tourism. But a slowing economy over the last year or so brought Cullitons to seek marketing help, after it had previously relied on word of mouth and repeat customers.
Erin Sue, a marketing consultant and owner of Grow Your Revenue, a Toronto marketing firm that helps service-industry companies, has been working with Cullitons for the last six months on improving its website and search-engine optimization.
“In this economy, if you aren’t discoverable, it doesn’t matter how successful you are, people are not going to be able to find you,” she says.
Performance marketing, such as Google ads and sponsored posts on Instagram, markets Cullitons to corporate booking and travel agents.
“We want to make sure that as much as we have long-term relationships, we can get a larger audience by finding new people and new corporate entities to reach out to,” she says.
The goal is to appeal to tour companies in Europe, Asia, and South America looking to book transportation for groups in the Toronto area. Cullitons also wants to book more transportation for large events in and around Toronto, such as the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Keeping up to date online is critical, Ms. Sue says.
“Once you’re in that digital sphere, you need to evolve with your social media and your online presence,” she says. “It’s how anyone finds you these days, and if you don’t have that, you don’t exist.”
Francesco Barbera, a professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMI), says Mr. Dahdaly’s adoption of the latest technologies and marketing moves is an example of a successful intergenerational transition.
“All firms are operating in a changing environment and they need to make shifts when it’s important; that’s what we call strategic renewal,” which can be a challenge, says Dr. Barbera, who specializes in family-owned enterprises as founding academic director of TMI’s Family Business Institute.
Family businesses, however, “have a built-in strategic-renewal mechanism” in the next generation, he adds, “provided the culture is correct and the intergenerational dynamic is working as it should.”
Dr. Barbera says the company’s relationship focus is a hallmark of family-owned companies.
“A profit-oriented business would have some call centre in the developing world and they would make money out of that, while family-owned businesses have other objectives,” he says.
Family enterprises also have long-time horizons, he notes.
“They’re not thinking about satisfying shareholders in the next quarter; they’re thinking about their kids and grandkids who might one day reap the reward of the seed they plant today. That enables all kinds of competitive advantages.”
Intergenerational respect through evolving markets
Mr. Dahdaly says there’s a sense of mutual respect between the generations at Cullitons.
“My generation has always admired what was done before us: the discipline, the structure, the systems that made the company survive and grow,” he says. “At the same time, the older generation understands that markets, technology and client expectations change quickly and what worked decades ago won’t work as effectively today.”
While automation is important to improve efficiency, “it will never replace human interaction,” he says. For instance, most people still book trips with Cullitons over the phone, which are answered by a person in three rings or less.
While the United States is experimenting with driverless transportation fleets, they won’t easily come to Canada, “especially with our weather,” he says. “Somebody’s always going to be willing to pay a premium for somebody to carry their luggage or help them down the stairs.”
What are Mr. Dahdaly’s plans for the business?
“It’s less about becoming bigger and more about remaining trusted,” he says. “We’ve been around for over 100 years because of our focus on consistency and relationships.”
The company’s history provides an advantage, but he’s taking nothing for granted.
“Legacy can give you a platform, but it does not assure you a future,” Mr. Dahdaly adds. “You have to gain trust every day. For us, that’s meant honouring the discipline and structure that built the company, while modernizing in ways that keep us competitive.”