Apollo Global Management is still interested in buying Papa Johns, according to a report from Reuters.
In June, the publication reported that Apollo and Irth Capital Management offered a deal that would value the pizza giant at just above $60 per share. Now, Reuters is reporting that Apollo upped the bid to $64 per share.
The publication also noted that no transaction is guaranteed and that “multiple activists” are interested in Papa Johns.
Any such agreement would take the brand private. Papa Johns has been publicly traded since June 8, 1993. The chain is the U.S.’ fourth-largest pizza chain, trailing Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Little Caesars.
Apollo comes with heavy experience in the restaurant sector. The company acquired QDOBA from Jack in the Box in 2018 and recently brought in Wagamama owner Restaurant Group in 2023. It also previously owned CKE Restaurants and Chuck E. Cheese.
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Papa Johns’ Core-Product Focus Boosts Sales and Transactions
In Q2, Papa Johns’ North American same-store sales lifted 1 percent, which marked its first positive comp result since Q4 2023. The increase was fueled by a new Cheddar Crust pizza and the addition of the Shaq-a-Roni pizza as a permanent menu item, combined with the value-based $6.99 Papa Pairings deal. Transactions rose 1 percent, 200 basis points better than Q1.
CEO Todd Penegor has been at the helm for more than a year, and one of his priorities has been to focus on Papa Johns’ pizza-making. Thus far, the strategy has been a success; the number of pizzas sold was up 4 percent year-over-year in Q1 and 6 percent in Q2. In addition to the Cheddar Crust and Shaq-a-Roni pizzas, Papa Johns launched a Garlic 5-Cheese pizza and the new Papa Dippa, a pizza designed for dipping into three sauces: Roasted Garlic Parmesan, Garlic Hot Honey, and Creamy Garlic Pesto.
Marketing and technology are central to Penegor’s plan as well. In Q2, Papa Johns spent $9 million more on marketing compared to the year-ago period. The chain also plans to step up its local marketing at company-operated restaurants and is asking franchisees to do the same. Additionally, Papa Johns has partnered with Google Cloud to transform the digital customer experience, launched an upgraded app to simplify navigation and reduce clicks, explored AI tools to better anticipate customer needs, and rolled out a new delivery tracking system to give guests real-time updates on their orders.
Papa Johns finished Q2 with 5,989 restaurants systemwide. In North America, it had 3,517 stores after opening 19 new locations and closing 18 in the quarter. This year, the brand expects North America closures to be higher than usual, with half of those occurring in smaller, nontraditional, or rural locations that are performing well below the system average.
Internationally, the chain opened 26 restaurants and closed 57 in Q2. That brought its total international footprint to 2,472. For the year, Papa Johns expects to open 180 to 200 restaurants abroad.
