Papa John’s: Family affair

Leading pizza franchise, Papa John’s, has announced that franchisee Zulfiqar Haidar, who runs four Papa John’s stores in Scotland with his brother Iftikhar, has been named as the company’s international franchisee of the year.

Zulfiqar, who also recently won Papa John’s UK franchisee of the year award, was presented with $20,000 by Papa John’s founder John Schnatter at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida.

Reinvest

Zulfiqar plans to reinvest 75 per cent of the prize money in the funding needed to open his fifth Papa John’s, while 25 per cent will go towards setting up Papa John’s Glasgow - a foundation to help charities obtain funding for local worthy causes.

“Papa John’s has more than 4,800 stores across the world and by winning the International Franchisee Award we have put Glasgow on the map,” Zulfiqar says. “We were selected from hundreds of franchisees due to our sales performance, growth and community contribution.

“I joined Papa John’s 15 years ago, as the food franchise offered the chance for my whole family to become involved in a business. These days, our Papa John’s family has grown and we employ around 150 local people across our four stores.”

As well as being named as Papa John’s international and UK franchisee of the year, Zulfiqar and his team also won Papa John’s marketing award for 2015, which recognised innovation in marketing through contribution to charity via a fundraising for schools scheme.

Zulfiqar and Iftikhar plan to open their fifth Papa John’s before the end of the year.