Chaiiwala appoints new COO

Chaiiwala has appointed Ben Clayton as its chief operating officer.

Clayton joins Chaiiwala from Splendid Restaurants – part of Splendid Hospitality Group – where he served as managing director. On a franchised basis, Splendid Restaurants operates 38 KFC restaurants across the north and northeast of England. 

Under his leadership, Splendid Restaurants won a World Class Operator award from KFC. Prior to this, Clayton spent nearly a decade at TGI Fridays, working across several senior, operational roles, including senior director, Restaurant Excellence, where he led people, operations, training and project management across 60 countries. He has also held senior roles at Papa John’s UK and Papa John’s International.

At Chaiiwala, he will be responsible for “inspiring franchisees and their teams to deliver operational best practices, maintaining strong and positive relationships with franchisees, and helping franchisees unlock opportunities to deliver profitable growth”.

Chaiiwala operates more than 130 sites globally and over the past decade has quickly scaled through franchising. Today it has a “diverse and scalable” mix of formats, including shopping centres, retail park flagships, travel hubs and university campus sites.

The group is aiming to scale up to at least 500 locations globally through franchising over the next decade. 

Clayton said: “I am super excited to be joining Chaiiwala as COO. Muhummed, Sohail, Mustafa and Abdul have built a fantastic business that champions the delicious and authentic flavours of Indian street food and karak chaii and – in just 10 years – have scaled it to more than 130 locations globally. 

“As more consumers look at the world beyond coffee, pizza and burgers, I see a huge opportunity to continue building this brand and delivering strong results for our franchised partners. I can’t wait to get going.”

Muhummed Ibrahim, co-founder and CEO of Chaiiwala, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Ben Clayton to Chaiiwala. In this role, we have someone who brings unrivalled experience on both sides of franchising that can help us continue evolving our internal practices and – ultimately – realise the global potential of our brand.

“We genuinely believe that Chaiiwala can become the global leader in Indian street food. We have a fantastic brand and customer proposition that is making traditional Indian flavours more accessible at all dayparts, a proven operating model, and growing and equally ambitious franchise network. Ben will help us continue driving forward with even more momentum, ensuring that we continue winning with our customers and franchisees as we scale. I look forward to working with him for years to come.”