Former Franchise Business Manager ‘Keeps it in the Family’ to Become a Papa John’s Franchise

Leading pizza franchise, Papa John’s, has announced former franchise business manager, Iain Heron has become a Papa John’s franchisee and now runs eight fast food franchise stores within Scotland.    

At the end of last year, Iain Heron (Papa John's Franchisee) gave up his job as a franchise business manager for the fast food franchise giant Papa John’s, moved from Durham to central Scotland with his family and opened three fast food franchised Papa John’s of his own.    

Iain explains: 

“I purchased the existing franchisee outlet within the franchise territory of Dundee first, then opened two new franchise stores within the franchise territories of Stirling and Livingston and have since taken over Ayr, which was fully refurbished and also opened the Hamilton franchise territory. This month we’ve also opened a brand-new store in Dundee. It’s been quite an exciting time!  

It’s great to have my whole family on-board as we begin this new chapter. My partner Lindsey sold her florist business in Durham and has helped me set up while she still works part time in another florist shop. My mum and brother who have worked in the pizza industry before, have also joined us on our journey.  My mum’s now our above store manager, looking after training and standards and my brother is on the ground, working in the stores too. It was a big move and certainly quite a commitment and Papa John’s has been right behind us to help make this happen.  The head office team has been really helpful and I’m very thankful for that. I just felt it was the right time to invest in our future in this way.  

The Papa John’s pizza franchise brand continues to get stronger and the company is growing in the UK and I can continue to contribute to that growth, now through our own store numbers. I’ve got a long history in the pizza industry, as well as working for Papa John’s QCC as a franchise business manager helping franchisees develop, previously, I also oversaw more than 30 pizza stores for a franchisee for a rival firm for more than six years.  I was even a pizza delivery driver when I was a student, so I know the industry pretty well. Previously, I have looked after the businesses of others and so now I’m in charge and suddenly it’s all very real.  However, running your own business means you can make changes quickly and see the results just as quickly too which is really rewarding.  My goal now is to keep the stores turning over well and to improve sales and then grow year-on-year.  I will continue to develop my multi-unit portfolio, aiming to acquire more Papa John’s stores as and when they become available.  Who knows what the future holds?  I do know one thing for sure: it will certainly involve plenty of great Papa John’s pizza!”

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