Friends jumped at chance to open Papa John’s Pizza franchise in Brandon
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2017 (3103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A trio of friends are opening Brandon’s first Papa John’s Pizza franchise within the next couple of weeks.
Their target soft opening date is Oct. 16, though co-owner Parth Patel said it would be up to whether they clear all the hurdles a new business must leap prior to opening.
He said they plan to host a grand opening as soon as their fresh-faced staff is up to snuff enough to tackle the onslaught of patrons who typically come with the introduction of a new restaurant.
Located in the middle of the strip mall at the northeast corner of 18th Street and Rosser Avenue, the future restaurant space was a flurry of activity on Friday, with various contractors and service providers lining things up with the trio of owners.
Parth is joined by Gary and Prakash — all three of whom have the same surname of Patel, no relation — in opening the franchise.
Parth and Gary manage a Subway restaurant in Pine Falls, which they credit with helping them build up their confidence as managers prior to breaking out on their own with a Papa John’s Pizza franchise.
Prakash lives in Brandon and rounds out the ownership trio.
With Papa John’s Pizza seeking franchisees for a Brandon location and the Patel trio satisfied with the quality of product at the chain’s Winnipeg locations, they jumped at the chance.
Parth said they studied the Brandon marketplace prior to setting up shop and liked the slow but sustainable growth they found in the Wheat City’s statistics.
They’ve been renovating their Brandon space since July and Parth said they’re excited to get going.
They’ve hired seven people so far and plan to bring on several more within the next couple weeks, bringing their in-store staff to approximately 15 and their delivery driver staff to 10.
The restaurant is takeout and delivery only, leaving most of their staff of 15 devoted to pizza-making.
Much of the facility’s equipment has already been installed, including a pizza dough-making area, which is both climate-controlled and cordoned off from the main restaurant space.
Papa John’s Pizza director of operations for Western Canada Joe Mabee joined a few others from Western Canada in helping ease the Patel trio into the swing of things this week.
They’re a keen trio, Mabee said, adding that he’s confident that although Brandon already hosts a number of pizza restaurants, Papa John’s would carve out its niche in the coming weeks and months.
» tclarke@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB