Papa Johns will cut Papadias and Papa Bites from its menu during the second quarter of 2026, CFO and North American President Ravi Thanawala said Thursday during an earnings call.
The decision comes after the chain conducted productivity studies and collected feedback from franchisees and customers, he said.
While these removals will result in a roughly 150 basis point impact on North American comparable sales, they will help the brand in the long term as it works to improve operations and grow sales outside of its core pizza, Thanawala said.
When Papadias were introduced in 2020, they helped drive incremental check growth. When Papa Johns added a Doritos Cool Ranch Papadia to its menu in 2023, that also led to higher same-store sales. Papa Bites joined the menu about three years ago and offered a variety of flavors at $4.99 each. These snack-sized items helped drive incremental sales.
But a renewed focus on improving its core pizza and reducing operational complexity is winning out over these once-popular sales drivers.
Papa Johns, which reported a same-store sales decline of 5% in North America during Q4, is undertaking a transformational plan to improve traffic and drive sales.
Last year, the chain focused on improving its menu innovation pipeline, as well as the brand’s health, technology platform, customer experience, restaurant system and cost structure, CEO Todd Penegor said during the call. The company also said it would close 300 underperforming locations by the end of 2027 and has laid off 7% of its corporate workforce as part of cost savings.
“The elimination of Papadias and Papa Bites will have an impact on our business, but it's absolutely the right thing to do … to create great service experiences time and again moving forward,” Penegor said.
He added that making these items often breaks the rhythm of operations and removing them will allow operators to better focus on being “not just the best pizza makers in the business, but over time being the best bakers.”
New menu items are forthcoming
Instead, the chain will focus on menu innovation and its value proposition, where it has begun to see momentum.
“We expect the benefits of a sharpened, comprehensive value proposition, along with consumer-led, data-driven product innovation to win new customers, drive incremental orders from existing customers, and improve order mix on the path to sustainable, profitable, top line growth,” Penegor said.
The chain’s 50% carryout deal, $9.99 create your own pizza and its popular Papa Pairings menu helped boost the chain’s value perception scores by the mid-single-digits compared to 2024 amid a highly aggressive promotional environment, Penegor said.
The chain has already done some work to recalibrate its ovens, adjust bake temperatures and optimize bake times that will allow it to produce an expanded pipeline of new menu items while improving product quality and consistency, Penegor said.
The company launched a Pan Pizza platform in January that is already performing above expectations and will continue to build momentum off this launch to boost trial and awareness, he said.
“Our innovation pipeline expands our aperture beyond traditional QSR pizza and is designed to drive incremental sales and attract a broader customer base throughout the day without complicating our makeline,” Penegor said.
Papa Johns has been testing oven toasted sandwiches in North America and plans to test the item in several international markets. These sandwiches are made with Ciabatta bread with “innovative flavors and high-quality meats brushed with our signature garlic sauce,” Penegor said.
“We are pleased with the early results of this new growth platform, with our new sandwiches, increasing sales of non pizza items in test markets,” he said.
The company will expand the variety of side items it serves at “accessible price points.” Those sides could boost average tickets, increase sales and benefit four-wall margins. In the U.K. the chain has been testing crispy coated chicken tenders alongside new dipping sauces, which have increased sales for side items. The company will use lessons drawn from that test for chicken innovation in the U.S., Penegor said.
In terms of pizza, the chain has piloted a protein crust pizza that offers 55 grams of protein per serving, including 23 grams from the crust. It has received positive customer feedback during the test phase.
“The protein crust pizza is an example of how we're rebuilding our innovation pipeline and aligning with the trends that matter most to our customers,” Penegor said.
Papa Johns has been working with notable brands and creating strategic partnerships to help introduce the chain to new customers, but Penegor said it is too early to share details about these particular partnerships.
“We're putting innovation behind these partnerships with a new single-serving pizza soon joining our menu lineup,” he said.
