Bengaluru, Karnataka, Global Franchise Architects (GFA) Global announced the appointment of Mr. Joseph Cherian as its Global CEO. Mr. Fred Mouawad, Founder & Chairman was the CEO and with Joseph elevation to the position of CEO, he would now assume the role of Executive Chairman of GFA Global. Prior to this elevation, Joseph Cherian was the Managing Director of GFA Global. During his stint as Managing Director of GFA Global, Joseph had also taken up the additional responsibility of CEO - GFA India. Earlier to this, Joseph was the Managing Director of GFA Thailand.

Speaking on this occasion Mr. Fred Mouawad - Executive Chairman - GFA Global said, "I have full confidence in the ability of Joseph to take the reign over as our CEO. Our succession plan has been in motion for the last 3 years and we have finally reached the moment of handover as Joseph proved he has the vision, dedication, and execution skills to keep on growing the organization."

Joseph has now relocated to India from Bangkok, with GFA stated intent of focusing and strengthening its Indian operation. GFA has established itself in Thailand with over 100 stores and also expanded its footprint in 9 countries over the last few years.

Speaking on GFA global plans Mr. Joseph Cherian - CEO - GFA Global said, "Currently we have 200 stores globally across our portfolio of brands and plan to grow over 500 stores by 2014. With the new plan, India would account for roughly 50% of these stores".

Speaking on GFA India, he said, "Currently we have 70 Stores in India across our four brands and we plan to make India the largest market for GFA Global by 2011. In order to strengthen the Indian operations we plan to accelerate the expansion through both Corporate and Master Franchise route. We are in the process of finding potential Master Franchise partners for West and North and also in talks with some Private Equity (PE) players to raise funds for our expansion in India".

In India GFA operates 4 specialty food brands - Pizza Corner, Coffee World, The Donut Baker & The Cream & Fudge Factory. The first Pizza Corner outlet was started in 1996 at Chennai and the brand currently has 45 stores across India. Coffee World has 5 outlets across Bangalore, Hyderabad & Chennai while The Donut Baker has 8 outlets across Bangalore. The Cream & Fudge Factory has 4 outlets across Bangalore and has recently launched one store in Hyderabad in the combination store format with Pizza Corner.

Notes to Editor

About Mr. Joseph Cherian:

Joseph started his career in 1997 with McDonalds India as a Management Trainee after graduating from the Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology. At McDonalds, Joseph started in the restaurants section and got promoted to managing restaurant teams and then moved up to the Training Department. As a Training Consultant for McDonalds, he developed and conducted various management training programs for both the restaurant and corporate teams.

In 2005 he moved to Dubai to take up an assignment with Thomas Klein International - a consultancy firm - to set up high end restaurants across the Middle East. One of his assignments was as the Franchise Manager of Lipton t-Junction for Unilever Arabia. Joseph has traveled extensively across Asia, the Middle East, the USA and Australia and has gained first hand insights on how to manage the food business across multiple markets.

He is also currently pursuing his Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School, Boston.

Global Franchise Architects:

About GFA (Global Franchise Architects)

Global Franchise Architects - GFA - is a pioneer in launching new food service brands and was the first to offer the premium coffee experience in India with the launch of Coffee World in 2004. Pizza Corner - the first brand of GFA in India - was started in Chennai in 1996. In India, the GFA portfolio has four brands - Pizza Corner, Coffee World, The Donut Baker and The Cream and Fudge Factory. GFA India currently has 70 Stores across its four brands.

Fred Mouawad - a global citizen and an entrepreneur, known for launching successful and innovative ventures across different industries and countries formed Global Franchise Architects - GFA - in 2004 in order to group all his food service brands under one entity. GFA is a privately held company based in Geneva - Switzerland - with corporate offices in Thailand and India. The Company has its Global Service Center in Bangkok and Training Academies in Bangkok - Thailand - and Bangalore - India.

For More Information on GFA please visit the GFA website - www.gfacorp.com