Former Greene King executive Craig Lewis becomes first Tiger Bills franchisee: Craig Lewis, the former Greene King operations director and Pubmaster senior operations manager, has become the first multiple franchisee of Tiger Bills, an ‘East meets West’ neighbourhood dining concept. Lewis will be opening his first Tiger Bills franchise in Birmingham this month, with his second opening very shortly after in his home town of Worcester. “It is really exciting to be bringing the Tiger Bills dining experience to Birmingham and then to my home town. I have lived in Worcester for 25 years and feel passionately that Tiger Bills will really add something to the city and I also believe it is ideally suited to Birmingham too,” he said. Birmingham Tiger Bills is located just off Broad Street - an existing restaurant has been converted to the brand. James Eyre, who created the Tiger Bills brand, said: “We launched Tiger Bills in Exeter in 2007 and five years later opened another in Torquay. Tiger Bills Torquay hit the ground running and the restaurant was profit-making from day one of operation. It was at this point I started to really consider its potential as a viable restaurant franchise and met with the Approved Franchise Association in order to learn more about the process of turning a business into a franchise and they helped shaped Tiger Bills into a really solid franchise opportunity.” Within the first 12 weeks of officially launching the Tiger Bills franchise model, Eyre had very serious interest in at least three territories in the UK. He is currently working with several commercial property agents to identify appropriate sites throughout the UK - and 24 towns and cities are currently under scrutiny. Meanwhile, over the next three to five years, Lewis will be building a portfolio of around 10 to 12 Tiger Bills restaurants in the Midlands. “Our experiences to date clearly shows there is a healthy appetite for the right type of franchise restaurant brand and, thanks to the level of interest already shown in Tiger Bills, we are already due to smash our original targets, both in the UK and overseas, and pipeline business is looking very encouraging,” added Eyre. Eyre, owns The Lifestyle Group, which operates nine venues throughout the South West, comprised of hotels, bars and restaurants. The company has also hired an international franchise manager.