Mark Coyle never had any intentions of staying in the pizza game for long – but he found he was pretty good at it, and more importantly, he liked it. Soon he bought his own Dominoes franchise, and after spending time around the country, he returned home to Tamworth in 2017 to buy the store were it all began. The Leader caught up with him at the start of the year at his Calala store.
ALMOST two decades ago, Mark Coyle was delivering pizzas for West Tamworth Dominoes – now he owns the store.
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.”
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
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,” Mr Coyle said.
“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.
Jamieson Murphy
Newcastle Herald news director. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Newcastle Herald news director. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
