Papa John’s CEO Reveals the Shocking Weakness Threatening His Pizza Empire — Here’s the Bold Move to Fix It Fast
Ever wondered how a giant like Papa Johns could be tripping over its own dough? Todd Penegor, the CEO, didn’t mince words on the latest earnings call — inconsistency across its restaurants is dragging the brand down like a soggy pizza crust. It’s that classic “Achilles heel” moment, where the best-performing locations are pulling way ahead, leaving the laggards in the dust. So, what’s the game plan to slice through this mess? Penegor’s whipping up new field teams, rolling out a $5 million carrot to franchisees, and revamping how they play the marketing game — aiming to dough up some uniform excellence across the chain. It’s a bold move, and a reminder that even the biggest pies can crumble without steady hands on the oven. Curious how this recipe for change is unfolding? LEARN MORE
Todd Penegor says inconsistency is hurting the brand. His fix includes new field teams and $5 million in incentives for franchisees.
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Papa Johns has a consistency problem, and its CEO isn’t hiding from it. On the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Todd Penegor said inconsistency across its restaurants is the chain’s “Achilles heel,” and that it’s hurting brand perception nationwide, according to Restaurant Business. Right now, the best-performing Papa Johns locations are outselling the worst ones by a wide margin.
To close that gap, Papa Johns built a “brand standards coaching team” for training and restaurant evaluations, created a new regional director model for more frequent in-store visits and is dangling about $5 million in financial incentives to franchisees that are tied to satisfaction scores, inspection results and service times.
The company also shuffled its marketing team, naming Chris Lyn-Sue as Global CMO, and it’s going back to marketing decisions made locally by franchisees instead of nationally, and making its deals clearer on apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Papa Johns isn’t the only one playing the field. Wendy’s and Popeyes have both beefed up their teams recently, and Jack in the Box restructured its own field staff to spend twice as much time inside restaurants.
Entrepreneur Staff
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