Former Splendid Restaurants MD named COO of Chaiiwala

Indian street food and café brand Chaiiwala has appointed Ben Clayton as its chief operating officer.

Clayton joins the 130-strong business from Splendid Restaurants – part of Splendid Hospitality Group – where he served as managing director, overseeing the operations of 38 KFC restaurants across the north and northeast of England.

Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade at TGI Fridays, where he was later senior director, restaurant excellence. He has also held senior positions at Papa John’s UK and Papa John’s International.

At Chaiiwala, he will manage franchisee relationships to ensure the business can maintain its momentum, which recently saw group system sales increase by 35% to nearly £90m for the 2024 financial year.

He will also support the group’s ambitions to reach 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 chief executive officer at 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.”

Chaiiwala was founded in Leicester in 2015 and has since grown to over 100 sites across the UK, more than 20 in Canada and a handful in Dubai.