Chaiiwala, the Leicester-founded Indian street food and café brand operating more than 130 stores globally, has appointed Ben Clayton as its chief operating officer.
Clayton brings a wealth of experience to the brand. He joins 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.
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.
With significant experience leading teams on both sides of the franchising dynamic, Clayton will bring a unique set of skills to the role. 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.
Clayton also joins at an exciting time for the brand. Building on its strong momentum, which saw the Group increase system sales by 35% to nearly £90m in FY24, Chaiiwala is aiming to scale up to at least 500 locations globally through franchising over the next decade. Clayton will play a key role in supporting this ambition, ensuring that the Group continues to have a strong and supported franchisee network as it scales.
Ben Clayton, chief operating officer at Chaiiwala, 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 chief executive officer of Chaiiwala, said: “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.”
