Fouad Qreitem, CEO of Northern Virginia–based pizza delivery chain Paisano’s, announced that the Herndon, Virginia, location is now a franchised operation.

The new Paisano’s owner is the same person who has managed the outlet for the past year, Pierre Chahine.

“To say this is a special moment in my life doesn’t do the phrase justice,” Chahine says. “I am living a dream. As the hands-on manager of the Herndon site, seeing the operation of a Paisano’s up close as only one can from within, I just knew this was the right fit for me. I wanted to go from manager to owner and ‘walk the talk’ as it were; I am super-encouraged with the company’s business model and am glad to be a part of their growth moving forward.”

“At Paisano’s, we promise great food and great service,” Qreitem says. “That would not be possible were it not for good people behind that pledge. We exceed customer expectations only with the resolve of our operators and Pierre has always struck me as someone who would—and who should—put some skin in the game. Based upon his management of the Herndon location, I fully believe he’ll make a superb franchisee.”

Mike Halpern of Franchise Consulting LLC, the firm tasked with growing the Paisano’s footprint in Virginia, Maryland, and the greater Washington, D.C., area, is bullish on the brand and sees the Herndon transaction as the harbinger of bigger days to come.

“The pizza segment features an efficient sales-to-investment ratio and has been a darling of the franchise business for quite some time now,” he says. “I see no reason for that dynamic to change, especially once you factor in the established business model Paisano’s has prospered by these past dozen years.”