ALMOST two decades ago, Mark Coyle was delivering pizzas for West Tamworth Dominoes – now he owns the store.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
During his prodigal-son journey from delivery boy to store owner, he’s worked in almost every position in the pizza fast-food chain.
In December, he bought the three Tamworth franchises, along with the Gunnedah store.
It all started back in 2001, when he was working at the golf course, hitting a few balls with the then manager.
“She asked if I wanted to do a few deliveries – 12 month later I was running the show down there,” Mr Coyle said.
“I then worked my way up through the company, working in New Zealand, Sydney, Melbourne. I moved around the country as an area manager, and in 2007 I took the plunge and bought my first store in Adelaide.
“In 2008 we bought another one. We now have six stores in Adelaide and more than 200 staff down there.”
Last year, when the opportunity came up to buy the three Tamworth stores – West Tamworth, North Tamworth and the new Calala store – along with the Gunnedah branch, he didn’t need to think twice.
It was an incredibly proud moment for me to come back to Tamworth and buy the first shop I ever worked in.
- Tamworth Dominoes group owner, Mark Coyle
“I never had an intention of staying in the system, I thought I’d do this for 12 months after school. Now we make 35,000 pizzas a week, we employ 400 people in over 10 different locations in two different states.”
He officially took over the reins on December 19, with the Calala store opening the following day.
Mr Coyle wants to use his story to encourage other to consider a career with the pizza fast-food chain.
“It’s more of a people business for me now than a pizza business,” he said.
“Nothing would make me happier than to see others come up through our system and buy their own stores.
“The job doesn’t just have to be an after school job that you do for 12 months.
“It’s something we push in our own systems, that these kids can work their way up and run their own show.”
Mr Coyle told pizza lovers to keep an eye out for the new electronic delivery bikes cruising around Tamworth.