Poppa’s Pizza is celebrating its 45th year in business, after being established and first owned, in the 1970s, by an Otago student who had travelled to the United States and realised how popular pizza was there.
New owner, Indian-born Captain Johar (27), who has "adopted" the name Captain Poppa, has lived in New Zealand since 2014, having initially undertaken business management studies at NTec Ltd in Auckland.
In 2016 he worked part-time at Poppa’s Pizza, and was back working there from June before buying the business late last year.
He knows there are many special memories for former students woven into the the pizza parlour, and is working hard to build up the firm’s reputation again.
"I’m not taking anything for granted — I’m working seven days a week."
Mr Johar had initially planned to buy a house, but then decided to buy the pizza parlour instead, undertaking a big cleanup and repainting over the Christmas holidays.
A series of quirky posters promoting Otago University Students Association concerts from decades ago were lovingly cleaned and then laminated, to preserve them for the future.
He had long enjoyed dining at the pizza parlour, and having also worked in the pizza industry elsewhere, had a clear sense of what needed to be changed and improved
when he became owner.
A hands-on approach, emphasising fresh, quality ingredients was important, but most of all he wanted new generations of students to share the love of pizza that he had enjoyed himself when he first ate there five years ago, he said.
