Indian street food and café brand Chaiiwala has named Ben Clayton as its new chief operating officer.
Clayton moves to Chaiiwala from Splendid Restaurants, part of Splendid Hospitality Group, where he was managing director responsible for overseeing 38 KFC restaurants across the North and Northeast of England.
Before that, he spent almost a decade at TGI Fridays, rising to senior director of restaurant excellence, and has also held senior roles at both Papa John’s UK and Papa John’s International.
At Chaiiwala, he will oversee franchisee relationships to help sustain the brand’s growth, which recently saw group system sales rise 35% to nearly £90m in the 2024 financial year.
He will also help drive the group’s goal of expanding to 500 locations worldwide through franchising over the next ten years.
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!”
Co-founder and chief executive officer of Chaiiwala, Muhummed Ibrahim, 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.
Founded in Leicester in 2015, Chaiiwala has since expanded to over 100 sites in the UK, more than 20 in Canada, and several locations in Dubai.