Dive Brief:
- Papa Johns has completed a refranchsing deal involving 28 corporate restaurants in the Orlando, Florida, area, according to a Tuesday press release. The restaurants were sold to PZZA Group and Magic City Pizzerias, both of which are owned by Wade Oney.
- Oney and his franchise organizations now own over 120 Papa Johns restaurants, including 10 locations that opened in 2025 across Central and South Florida.
- This sale is part of Papa Johns’ initiative to transfer corporate-owned restaurants to experienced franchisees, thereby creating an asset-light organization.
Dive Insight:
Papa Johns is on track to reduce its ownership of restaurants to a mid-single-digit percentage of its North American storebase, Christopher Collins, interim CFO and SVP of corporate finance and principal accounting officer, said during an August earnings call.
As of June 28, the company owned 456 units in North America, according to an earnings release. That store count makes up 13% of the chain’s North America system and 7.6% of Papa Johns’ global restaurants.
Collins said the chain is also looking at several additional North America markets for refranchising, as well as evaluating opportunities globally.
“We expect these actions will support incremental growth opportunities and strengthen our franchise network by transitioning select restaurants to high-performing franchise partners,” Collins said.
Oney has worked at pizza restaurants since 1981 and has held leadership positions at major pizza companies, including serving as chief operations officer at Papa Johns from 1995 to 2000, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission. During that time, he helped grow Papa Johns’ system to over 2,000 restaurants.
“Over my 35 years as part of the Papa Johns family, I’ve learned how the brand offers a great place to work, equips franchisees to grow, and overall, presents a solid investment opportunity depending on economic times and how well you operate and take care of the customer,” Oney said.
Collins said the Orlando transaction will reduce Papa Johns’ consolidated revenue by $4 million. During the second quarter, company-owned restaurant revenue decreased by $37 million due to the sale of 85 corporate restaurants during the fourth quarter and lower comparable sales.
Papa Johns has struggled during the last two years, posting negative same-store sales during eight out of the last nine quarters. During the second quarter, the metric was down by 8.3%, the steepest decline since Q1 2019.
In addition to refranchising, the company is working to improve its value proposition with more personalized offers, improving the customer experience, attracting more consumers through its aggregator partnerships, bolstering operations through various training programs, expanding its marketing program and improving overall costs, CEO Todd Penegor said during the earnings call.
