Om Pizzas and Eats, the master franchisee for Papa John’s Pizza in India, has appointed Tejpavansingh Gandhok as its new CEO. The company also franchises Chili's Grill & Bar restaurants in India.
The appointment came after private equity firm TVS Shriram Growth Fund invested in Om Pizzas and Eats.
Gandhok previously served as CEO and co-founder of Litebite Foods. He has more than 15 years of experience spanning Australia, US, South East & Middle East Asia with strategy consulting and private equity firms. He joins the franchisee nine months after Om named Sanjay Coutinho as its CEO. It could not be confirmed however if Coutinho left the company. Om Pizza has also named V Kannan as general manager of Commercial and Operations. "We are very bullish on the growth prospects of both the Chili's and Papa John's brands. They are great brands with offerings that appeal to Indian consumers aspirations and tastes. We have aggressive strategic growth plans for both these brands over the next few years. We are delighted to have a leadership team of Pavan and Kannan's capability with an outstanding track-record to lead this venture into the next level of exciting growth, from the strong platform that has already been established," said Gopal Srinivasan, CMD of TVS Capital in a report by VC Circle. At present, Om Pizza has 30 Papa John's units across India.
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