Papa John’s Comeback Plan Depends on Getting Rid of John
Skift Take
Papa John's was already having sales troubles earlier this year, before the fallout with the company's founder. Now, however, the situation is exponentially worse: the company is expecting an unspecified number of store closures and potentially double-digit sales declines by the end of the year.
Papa John's is hurting in every way possible, according to its most recent earnings report. Same-store sales were down 6.1 percent in the first six months of the year compared to the same period the year prior, total revenues were down 5.5 percent in the same period, and income before taxes was down 45.6 percent.
Papa John's is juggling the same cost increases as every other chain in the industry — minimum wage hikes, higher operating costs — but it's balancing that alongside the very public disaster that is its founder, John Schnatter.
The result? Nothing is going well, and it's not going to get better anytime soon. The company took an extra step in its report and broke out its July same-store sales, which decreased over 10 percent, in order to show that Schnatter's comme
