Fresh Delivery

A young immigrant rises rapidly in the pizza business.

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Ag Mahmud is 30 and owns four Papa John’s restaurants in New York and Connecticut. But there was a time when he didn’t even know what pizza was. He grew up in a small village in Bangladesh, where fast food wasn’t exactly common fare. In 2002, when he was 16, his family moved to America. “I didn’t really have any goals at the time,” he says. “I was just focusing on school and getting a part-time job.”

That first job was as a delivery driver for Domino’s. “I realized I could make a career out of this,” he remembers. “I saw how the franchisee was making a lot of money and was able to grow his own business. I made owning a pizza franchise my goal.”