Four Star Pizza to create 900 jobs in NI and Republic
Four Star Pizza is to open 18 new stores in Northern Ireland, creating 360 new jobs over the next three years.
It will bring the total number of NI stores to 32, with stores in the Republic increasing from 42 to 69, with the creation of a 540 jobs there.
New Lurgan-born CEO Colin Hughes said: “It’s been an extremely busy, but very productive, first few months in the job. Our ultimate goal is for virtually everyone in Ireland, north and south, to have access to a local Four Star Pizza outlet, and the road to achieving that has already started.
“From the outset, my priority was to carry out a full review of the business and speak to each and every one of our valued franchisees, who have been amazing in helping me understand the many facets and challenges of running one of the country’s biggest franchisee networks.
“Add the current situation in Ukraine and a cost-of-living crisis into the mix and, as far as the wider business environment goes, we’re currently in the midst of a perfect storm but the frontline feedback from our franchisee base remains positive with sales volumes and average transaction spends holding up well.
“The good news, from a Four Star Pizza point of view, is that we are operating from a position of strength, having just enjoyed our best year to date in 2021, and having carried out a data-driven location analysis of our business, I am very excited at the potential to grow the business across many areas, not least geographically.”
“Whilst we are excited by our growth plans, we’re under no illusions that the road ahead will not be easy, as we continue to operate in the most challenging of business environments,” added Colin.
