How casual job led to owning multiple restaurants for uni dropout

Manpreet moved to Australia as a teenager to study at university, but dropping out was the best career decision he ever made.

When Manpreet Parmar arrived in Australia in 2012 at age 19 to study a degree in business, he never thought his part-time job would become the biggest business lesson of all.

“None of my family back in India works in business - most of them work in Government,” he told news.com.au.

“My dad was a lieutenant colonel, and he was always very disciplined. He wanted me to join the army as well, but I was never interested in that. From when I was a teenager, I was always just obsessed with understanding how business worked.”

Having to support himself while studying, Manpreet began dropping his resumes around “wherever (he) could”, not realising he was setting himself on a career path that’s becoming increasingly favoured among young Australians.

A call finally came from a fast-food outlet in Melbourne’s CBD, and after a year of night shifts at Subway’s Swanston St location, Manpreet caught the eye of his manager who offered him more shifts at another store.

Manpreet Parmar never thought his night shifts while studying would be a major step in his career.

“I’d been doing night shifts which were interfering with my sleep and uni schedule, so I jumped at the opportunity,” he said.

Within another year, Manpreet became store manager.

“I shouldn’t talk myself up,” he laughs. “But I just found I was really good at a lot of the things that needed to be done.”

Manpreet found himself naturally gravitating to the nuts and bolts of how the store operated - and people around him were taking notice.

“I was on a software training course for managers when this lovely lady who used to run the Eastern Victorian training centre suggested that I might one day be interested in owning a Subway store myself,” he recalls.

There were still a few hurdles to jump, though.

“I was waiting for my permanent residency, but it planted a seed, and after a short move interstate and then back again, when it finally came through, I started thinking seriously about becoming a franchisee.”

By this stage, Manpreet had dropped out of his bachelor’s degree to focus on his new dream, and, being a firm believer in the philosophy that timing is everything, decided to put his new goal out there.

“There was a guy named Sonny who owned about five stores, including one in Epping, and I’d heard he was planning on moving on from the franchise. I just went in there one day and said if he was ever keen to sell, I’d be keen to buy.”

In 2017, at just 24 years old, Manpreet did just that, becoming a franchisee and now boasts a portfolio of multiple restaurants.

Mr Parmar now runs three Subway restaurants.

Turns out dropping out of his business degree was a great career move.

Although his pathway to business success is not the one Manpreet imagined for himself when he initially crossed the globe in search of qualifications, the path he ended up taking is an increasingly popular one.

More and more young people are choosing non-study pathways to work, with an increased focus on entrepreneurialism.

“On-the-job training is an important part of what it means to be qualified,” a spokesperson from the Australian Government’s Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA).

“The transfer of skills and knowledge from employer to employee, supervisor to worker or peer to peer, is a valid and vital form of learning. Formal training is not always necessary before starting a role and work experience can sometimes be the preference of employers.”

In fact, a recent JSA report on employers’ experiences of young job applicants showed that one of the skills and qualities employers value the most from young jobseekers includes relevant experience for the job – although 60 per cent of employers placed the highest value on demonstrating the right attitude.

“Further proof of the importance of experience compared to a ‘piece of paper’ is that a lack of experience was also the most common reason employers give for why a young applicant was not successful in winning a role,” said the spokesperson.

Manpreet has found the on-the-job training and advancement opportunities within the company he started working for as a teenager have been essential to his ongoing success.

More young Australians are choosing non-study pathways when they start their careers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

As a recent franchisee, Manpreet was committed to learning even more about the business at every opportunity.

“I was just so excited, I used to work in the restaurant every single day,” says Manpreet. “It was where I wanted to be.”

But a piece of advice from a friend reshaped the way he thought about things.

“He said to me: you can’t work on the business if you’re working in the business,” he said.

After that, Manpreet took on a more strategic approach.

“I’m someone who likes to take baby steps, rather than diving headfirst in all at once,” he said. “I think otherwise, you end up getting freaked out or burnt out.”

The approach worked. The store at Epping has experienced an 85 per cent growth in weekly sales since Manpreet took the helm, giving him the confidence boost he needed to expand his empire.

He purchased a second franchise in Westfield Plenty Valley in 2019, something he describes as a career highlight.

“One month after we took over, the sales increased by 10 per cent and we knew then that we could build something even stronger with the brand,” he recalls.

Manpreet opened a third restaurant in Whittlesea in late 2024.

“My dad always says: what you do today, you’ll see the consequences in five years,” he explains.

“So that has always been my strategy. In five years from now, who knows how many restaurants I’ll own? Why limit myself to a number? All I know is that I find it incredibly valuable and rewarding. It’s not about the destination for me, but the journey - and it has been an amazing journey.”

Originally published as How casual job led to owning multiple restaurants for uni dropout