By Jamie Barrie I n a heated rivalry that is usually found between compet- itors not a company and its founder seem to be showing no signs of cooling off between Papa John’s board and ousted founder John Schnatter. The feud is having a significant affect on Papa John’s sales and partnerships as allegations slew between the compa- ny’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ritchie and company’s founder for Papa John’s poor performance. Sales are not the only problem for Papa John’s as this feud is causing a strain on partnership as companies try to distance themselves from the conflict with Major League Baseball stopping its Papa Slam promotion — a campaign on which it had collaborated with Papa John’s since 2016. The Miami Marlins also announced that the team was sus- pending its relationship and all promotions with the pizza chain.
founder and its board might want to be looking at the com- pany’s debt levels.
With falling pizza sales and a ton of bad publicity that has left the company at risk, telling investors that if it can’t turn things around in coming months that it will have to renego- tiate its $579 million in loans and credit lines with lenders which could make financing more expensive at a time when its business is struggling. With all this, Papa John’s more than 5,000 Franchise owners have growing concern for their businesses with pizza sales dropping and look to the board of directors to come up with answers on how they can turn this around. One potential option could be for Papa John’s to sell, as insiders say that there might be interest from Restaurant Brands International which definitely has experience with franchises and internal conflict with its Tim Hortons Brand and The Great White North Franchisee Association. There is also said to be possible interest from the private equity firm Roark which owns Buffalo Wild Wings. After all, what goes better with pizza than a dish of buffalo wings as that is just what it might take to get Papa John’s on the table at your next sporting event party.
This is not good news for a business that is suffering from poor sales.
However, a closer look shows that Investors that may be concentrating on the bitter battle between Papa John’s
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2018
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