Leading pizza franchise, Papa John’s, has confirmed the appointment of Gareth Davies to regional vice president for Western Europe. Davies, a 25 year veteran of the pizza business has worked at every level from pizza chef through to leading Papa John’s in the UK. He now adds responsibility for emerging markets to his remit and will drive new stores openings in Europe this year including locations such as France, Spain and The Netherlands. Gavin Lilley formerly senior operations director has also been promoted to the role of senior commercial director.

Davies who recently presented a keynote speech at the National Franchise Exhibition held at the NEC, comments: “Papa John’s is currently experiencing unprecedented growth. We now have more than 4800 stores world-wide and well over 300 in the UK. Capitalising on the popularity of our ‘Better Ingredients, Better Pizza’ concept, we now aim to bring our superior quality pizza to even more customers by adding further stores in the UK and throughout Europe.”

Over the years, Davies has developed new operational concepts in the UK and overseas, building successful high performing teams which have delivered results for multiple brands. His experience of dealing with both corporate entities, franchise operations and also with master licence holders has enabled him to lead the drive for quality ‘Guaranteed’ at Papa John’s, achieving unparalleled results for franchisees and investors.