5 years ago
To Papa John's credit, the company has been on the offensive this year, but positive same-store sales will likely not come until 2020.
Pizza chains inking deals with third-party delivery companies will force independent pizzerias to make a choice: pay more to services to keep order counts coming or unplug and go at it alone.
Papa John's has its CMO. It will be interesting to see how the industry vet attempts to turn the company's fortunes around.
Papa John's is fighting for cultural relevance, and it is doing so in every way imaginable. It's easily the greatest soap opera happening right now.
Papa John's is going full court press on its turnaround. Delivery, check. New management, check. And now, star power, check.
Papa John's and Pizza Hut partnering with DoorDash and Grubhub give them access to an entirely new consumer base each company needs. But they will need more than this to dethrone Domino's.
Papa John's needs all the help it can get, and these new board appointments are steps in the right direction.
Third-party ordering and delivery services are starting to power big chain pizza delivery, a big departure from the in-house strategy we've come to know.
It seems obvious to market ingredients as a pizza chain. But Papa John's chose to market value promotions and limited time offers to win back customers. I can't blame them because the strategy has worked wonders for QSR restaurants.
What a whirlwind the past eight months have been for Papa John's. After a long battle with its former chairman, the company can now focus on putting Starboard's recent $200 million investment to good use.
It's telling when even the pizza chains — the one sector of the industry that had a leg up on delivery long before the third-party services arrived on the scene — are turning towards Grubhub, Postmates, and DoorDash to help out with off-premise sales and logistics.
At least losses for Papa John's are no longer in the double digits.
