Diane Kaelin has spent most of her working career moving pizza, but she likes it, she’s good at it and she sees herself doing it for a good time to come.
Kaelin is the operating partner with owner Kevin Sonneborn of Papa John’s Pizza franchises in Everett, Mill Creek, Lynnwood, Lake Stevens, Monroe, Marysville and Oak Harbor. As operating partner, Kaelin runs the day-to-day operations of the nine stores from her Everett base at 5129 Evergreen Way. The stores employ 150 people, she said.
After 29 years in the pizza business, Kaelin likes being her own boss as a franchisee. She spent 17 years working for Godfather’s Pizza before she answered an ad placed by the franchise’s investors who sought someone local to run the stores. She started in April 1999.
After Sonneborn’s purchase of the franchise a few years ago, she gained a 10 percent ownership interest in the operation.