In the summer of 2024 Aarav was just finishing a masters in international business management at a British university. Born in India, and on a student visa that was fast running out, he needed to find a job with a company that would sponsor him to remain in the UK.
When someone shared an advert in a WhatsApp group promising exactly that, Aarav – not his real name – thought he had struck gold.
“Papa Johns work visa available – all over UK,” proclaimed the advert. It offered positions at the pizza chain with no need for experience or qualifications, although successful candidates would need to pay a sponsorship fee.
Aarav replied, and soon found himself in an interview with a man called Jabbar Mumtaz. Described by local media as the “Papa Johns saviour”, Mumtaz was responsible for 13 Papa Johns franchises across Devon and Cornwall, having taken them over in late 2023 from a company that was going under.
Aarav took the job and started managing one of the stores. Mumtaz agreed to sponsor his visa.
“In the beginning he was nice,” said Aarav. “But after one or two months the tone changed, and he started asking for £750/800 from our salary each month.”
Originally Aarav had been told that he would only have to pay some minor expenses for the visa. Subsequently, he claims that Mumtaz’s associates forced him to pay £14,000. Typically visa sponsorship fees are no more than £2,000-3,000 and are covered by the employer. Mumtaz has said these allegations are “categorically false” and that “no sponsorship fees were charged, nor were any such monies paid to me personally”.
A joint investigation by The Observer and BBC Radio 4’s The Naked Week has revealed that Mumtaz employed more than a dozen sponsored workers at his Papa John’s branches, many of whom claim they were exploited by the so-called “saviour” and left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
According to several workers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Mumtaz did not stop at profiting from the visa.
Papa Johns has terminated the franchise agreement of Jabbar Mumtaz
Staff claim the franchisee routinely underpaid them, went without paying them for days at a time and ordered them to work full days without pay. Again, this is denied by Mumtaz.
Messages seen by The Observer show one sponsored worker asking where his salary was, saying he was “really worried” because he had loans he needed to repay. Mumtaz replied, threaten ing that he would request “to cancel your visa and you can work elsewhere, it’s your call”.
Mumtaz’s workers are not alone. According to a recent report by the anti-modern-slavery charity Unseen, of 550 potential victims of exploitation identified between January 2024 and June 2025, 485 were in food and drink establishments. The average debt from unlawful visa fees for those working in hospitality was £18,000.
The charity’s helpline recorded a 60% rise in the number of claims of labour abuse in hospitality last year.
Staff at Mumtaz’s franchises claim they were regularly made to work extra hours for free – in some cases they were forced to work a whole day unpaid each week. Mumtaz said this was “entirely false and without foundation”.
And then, one day, Mumtaz messaged the staff, telling them he was leaving. The branches were closed and his staff were left without jobs. Eventually, in late spring of this year, staff received a letter from Papa Johns distancing the pizza brand from their situation.
“You are employed by the relevant company run by Mr Mumtaz and Papa Johns is not therefore your employer,” it said. “Papa Johns is however very disappointed that the restaurant operated by Mr Mumtaz’s companies have closed and appreciate this is a difficult time for each of you.”
Mumtaz rejected the allegations made against him, which he told The Observer were “false, misleading, and damaging to my personal and professional reputation”. He said he had operated “in full compliance with UK employment and immigration law at all times”.
A spokesperson for Papa Johns said that Mumtaz’s actions were “entirely contrary to Papa Johns’ values and standards” and had prompted an internal investigation after which “we served notice and terminated his franchise agreement”.
“Franchisees are required to comply fully with UK law and Papa Johns’ code of conduct, including strict rules around worker sponsorship and right-to-work checks. We continue to review and enhance our compliance processes to uphold the highest standards across our UK franchise network.”
How Mumtaz was able to pass due diligence tests required by the Home Office and Papa Johns in the first place remains unclear.
Our investigation found that Mumtaz has past form in running branches of major global fast-food franchises. He was a key figure in bringing the Subway sandwich brand to the UK – building a franchise of 18 shops by 2010. However, by the end of his time at the corporation, Mumtaz’s companies had gone into liquidation with debts of over £2m, £1.3m of which related to unpaid tax owed to HMRC, while £137,000 was owed to employees in unpaid wages.
In 2018, Mumtaz was then charged with leading the introduction of Australian retail behemoths Crust Gourmet Pizza and Donut King to the UK. Again, the companies through which he was carrying out this venture were dissolved after running up debts of nearly £1.5m.
Mumtaz told us: “The closures were primarily a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on the hospitality sector.” He added: “The only outstanding liability related to a commercial landlord. All employees were fully paid, and any HMRC balance was nominal. I was, in fact, the principal creditor in those businesses, having personally incurred substantial financial losses.”
In July the Home Office was heavily criticised for having failed to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers.
Parliament’s public accounts committee found that the Home Office did not know how many people with skilled worker visas had been referred as potential victims of modern slavery.
The committee also found it was unclear whether arrangements to safeguard care workers whose employers’ sponsor licence has been revoked were working effectively, and said not enough had been done to prevent exploitation by bogus agents in applicants’ home countries.
And yet the Home Office is still playing catch up.
This week the updated its register of worker and temporary worker licensed sponsors. Three of Mumtaz’s companies – all of which are in liquidation, according to Companies House – were on the approved list.
It was only after being approached by The Observer that the Home Office removed them.
A spokesperson said: “We have taken action against all three companies and revoked their licences. Those who abuse our immigration system will face the strongest possible consequences. We will not hesitate to prevent companies from sponsoring overseas workers where this is being done to undercut British workers and exploit vulnerable staff.”
This is the latest in a series of investigations by The Observer and The Naked Week. To hear the investigation in full, tune in to The Naked Week, on air every Friday from 6.30pm on BBC Radio 4 and on BBC Sounds in the Friday Night Comedy podcast feed.
Photographs by Shelby Knowles/Bloomberg via Getty Images, BPM Media