When Harman (Lucky) Singh won the Domino’s Leadership Eagle Award recently, it marked the fruition of 13 years of hard work and dedication for the pizza store owner based in Wellington.
The company honours employees and franchisees who “consistently demonstrate outstanding leadership and operational excellence all year around.”
Singh, who owns and operates six Domino’s stores in Wellington and Auckland, stood out for his business success as well as service to the community. He has donated pizzas to the needy, sponsored sporting clubs and helped promote job opportunities for Maori and Pasifika youth across New Zealand.
“I am honoured to be recognised with a Domino’s Leadership Eagle Award,” Singh told the Indian Weekender, adding, “The past 12 months especially have reminded my team and me what a privilege it is to be active members of our local Wellington community and beyond, from providing job opportunities that lead to life-long careers to feeding local emergency services volunteers and individuals who continually give back to the community.”
Singh arrived in New Zealand as an international student in 2010 and picked up a qualification in business management. He started out with Domino’s as a part-time driver in Auckland. “I had no idea that I would end up buying and operating Domino’s stores,” Singh says.
“I was drawn to the pizza business because of its vast customer base. Soon I got involved in management processes, such as looking at how the business is run, how staff are managed and ensuring customers’ orders are met on time,” Singh explains.
When Singh got an opportunity to become a regional manager at the company’s corporate head office, he grabbed it with both hands. It was a role that initiated him into the franchisee business and led to a franchise consultant role mentoring Auckland franchisees. “It gave me the confidence to invest my own money in the pizza business,” Singh recollects.
In 2020, when NZ was gripped by the Covid pandemic, Singh bought his first Domino’s store in Wellington’s Johnsonville and quickly opened a second store in neighbouring Khandallah.
“It’s part of the DNA of Domino’s to give back to the community. We are the first stores to stay open in challenging times. Our Feed the Knead programme delivers pizzas to the hungry free of cost, and covers NZ and Australia.”
How many people have benefited from the programme?
“I’m asked this question many times,” Singh says, adding: “Between 2020 and 2021, I would have distributed 2000 free pizzas.” The local pizza store supplies the pizzas to the target customers via expressions of interest lodged on the company’s website as well as by in-person or word-of-mouth requests.
There is also the Domino’s Doughraiser Programme which donates one dollar from every pizza sold to a charity or a person in need in the local community.
But Singh’s pet project is the Hot Shot Award, where outstanding amateur performers on the sports field are rewarded with a certificate and a free pizza. “That’s something I personally enjoy because it promotes sports in the community.”
Singh and his 150-member staff are vigilant on maintaining the PSI (Product, Service, Image) for every pizza sold, and upholding the policies and standards of the Domino’s brand followed by its network of over 3700 stores worldwide.
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