Domino's newest franchise partner had to learn English from menus but rose to store manager in Portsmouth before becoming entrepreneur

Alok Yadav came to the UK from India as a student in 2007 after landing a year-long placement as part of his college course.

Having left Delhi only knowing how to say basic phrases such as ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in English, he spent hours learning how to pronounce words like ‘chicken’, ‘anchovies’ and ‘pineapple’ from the Domino’s menu.

He started out as a store cleaner and he spent time with his colleagues outside of work to try and learn the language.

Alok soon mastered English and his hard work saw him work his way up the ladder and he quickly became the Domino’s store manager in North End.

He said: ‘I knew I had to learn the language quickly if I wanted to progress, but it was really hard.

‘It was tricky when someone ordered a Meatilicious pizza because I couldn’t say it.

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‘As I was young, I’d only heard of onions and tomatoes, so I had to learn the names of the other toppings and how to say them.’

After rising to the challenge and progressing to area manager, Alok decided that he wanted to open a franchise of his own and whilst he was waiting for the perfect time to do so, he began opening up other outlets including pizza and coffee shops.

Alok added: ‘It wasn’t easy and my colleagues were great in helping me learn and I was determined to do it as I really enjoyed working in Domino’s.’

When the opportunity to own a Domino’s franchise in Norfolk came up through the Homegrown Heroes programme, he jumped at the chance and is now a franchise partner for the company.

He said: ‘I was always in contact with my ex-colleagues at Domino’s so when I heard that Domino’s was onboarding new franchise partners through the Homegrown Heroes programme I just had to get involved. It was special for me.

‘It was my first love as they gave me my first job, so I have really come full circle now.’