By Charlie Pogacar
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: At 21 years old, Nadeem Bajwa was not prepared for the workforce. Growing up in Pakistan, his parents stressed getting an education over everything else. One problem: “I was a mediocre student at best,” Bajwa said.
When he came to the U.S. to complete a college degree, Bajwa got a job washing dishes at a local restaurant for $4.25 an hour. It was the first job he’d ever had, and his boss was dumbfounded that Bajwa didn’t even know how to mop the floor.
That boss would have a harder time believing that Bajwa is, about 33 years later, the largest Papa Johns franchisee in North America, overseeing 266 of the brand’s restaurants from his office in Canfield, Ohio (just outside of Youngstown). He has goals to scale his unit count to 500 stores, and, rather unusually for a franchisee of his size, does not franchise with any other brands besides Papa Johns.
Related: Papa Johns Plans to Be as ‘Noticeable as Possible’ in New Marketing Campaign
Bajwa’s journey with Papa Johns began in 1992. Seeking a pay bump beyond the $4.25 he was making washing dishes, Bajwa took a job as a delivery driver with Papa Johns. He went on to manage multiple Papa Johns locations before opening his first franchise store in 2002. That first decade with the pizza brand was spent learning the ins and outs of the business and how to do every job in the shop.
“I didn’t just fall in love with the brand; I fell in love with the simplicity of it,” Bajwa said. “Papa Johns was about doing a few things really well—and that really inspired me. It was so simple, yet so challenging. If you don’t have the passion, you won’t be successful. That’s what kept me hooked.”
One of the fundamentals Bajwa learned early on was that the pizza business is a people-first business. That’s something he has stressed to everyone who works for him from day one.
“Whether it’s your team or your customers, it’s all about managing people’s expectations,” Bajwa said. “Humility is extremely important. If you always think you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re done. I take every crisis as an opportunity. I don’t look at challenges as the end of the world but as chances to improve and grow.”
Bajwa tried franchising with other brands—he opened about 20 Dairy Queens in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between 2014 and 2020. When the pandemic hit, those restaurants were shuttered and ultimately sold. While he isn’t opposed to filling out his franchise portfolio with other brands, it’s clear he feels most at home with Papa Johns. In fact, as he spoke to PMQ, it became increasingly clear that Bajwa’s passion for the brand would make him an incredible franchising salesman if he ever wanted to go in that direction.
“The product is phenomenal,” he said at one point. And later in the conversation: “Everything we do at Papa Johns, there’s a story behind it—whether it’s the crust, the sauce, or even the choice to leave the edge unsauced. It’s all intentional.”
It’s also clear that Bajwa’s love for the brand is reciprocated by those in the corporate offices of Papa Johns. When the brand wanted to test a call center that would help streamline efficiencies in the delivery space, their first call was to Bajwa. He implemented the call center and found it was a success. Papa Johns began rolling the call center out brand-wide.
“I wanted to cut costs,” Bajwa said. “But it ended up creating an entire tech company. Sometimes challenges really do turn into opportunities.”
In April, Bajwa inked a deal with Papa Johns to open 50 new restaurants across the next five years. He’ll open stores in Arizona, Florida and states in the Midwest, which will get him closer to his goal of owning 500 Papa Johns stores. It’s a goal he takes great pride in striving to reach.
“Individuals don’t last forever, but what we build should,” Bajwa said. “The goal is to create something that lives on for generations.
“I want to leave behind more than a business—I want to leave a legacy,” he continued. “That’s why I surround myself with good people who share the same humility and passion to win.”
