Leading pizza franchise, Papa John’s, has announced the opening of the brand new Merthyr Tydfil store. Franchisees John O’Brien and brothers Clif and Dale Roberson are a trio of local school friends, turned entrepreneurs, who also plan to open three, further Papa John’s in Wales within the next year.

Former Maths teacher John O’Brien explains: “We opened our first store in Cwmbran at the end of 2015 and sales quickly added up to way higher than our expectations! Papa John’s TV advertising campaign has been great to raise awareness and now we have opened in Merthyr Tydfil in an amazing high-street location, right on the main square. The huge elevated decking and seating area is fabulous and has been getting top marks from customers already!

“Although Clif, Dale and myself run the stores our team is the sum total of what we have achieved so far,” continues John. “My son Liam is the new manager of Merthyr Tydfil plus a number of the staff were trained in Cwmbran, so they could gain hands-on experience before we opened the new outlet.

“As well as overseeing the operation, I love making pizzas and being where the action is!” confirms John. “We are planning a big pizza party over the next few weeks to officially launch the store and look forward to welcoming the local community to sample our great pizza which really is top class!”

Papa John’s is the only branded pizza chain to use only 100% fresh dough, giving a better natural flavour and our unique tomato sauce is made from the best Californian tomatoes, picked and packed from vine to can in just six hours. The company’s “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” concept combined with excellent customer service and rapid delivery times has contributed to Papa John’s recently being named as the UK National Pizza Delivery Chain for the sixth consecutive year.