Muniba Lughmani is the proud franchise owner of Papa John's Pizza's East Ham store, and is on course to open another two outlets in the next 12 months.

The mother-of-two is one of only a handful of female Papa John's franchisees, and came to the company after eight years with Dominos Pizza. The founder of Papa John's Pizza, John Schnatter, flew over from the USA to officially open the East Ham store in May 2009 as it was the 50th outlet to open in London.

Muniba said: "My store has been thriving since it opened, meeting our optimistic trading targets in spite of the challenging economic climate. I decided to join Papa John's Pizza because we have a fantastic product, and we fully live up to our 'Better Ingredients. Better Pizza' promise. It's also a growing company, and that's an exciting prospect for me because there is the opportunity to take on a number of new stores and expand my franchise portfolio."

Muniba is planning to open her second store in Finchley later this year, and a third in Essex as soon as possible after that.

Muniba added: "I want to encourage other women to take on a Papa John's Pizza store. I haven't been treated any differently because I am a woman, and I've been able to spend enough time with my family and still make a success of my business. I have two sons who are very supportive, loving the fact that their mother runs her own pizza store! Women who dismiss the pizza industry as male dominated are missing out."

Anyone interested in finding out more about the franchise opportunities available at Papa John's should call 0844 5670937 or email enquiries@papajohns.co.uk.