Papa Johns fights an uphill battle as its brand perception lags behind pizza rivals

Papa Johns has been the subject of several take-private deals for well over a year now as the pizza chain grapples with negative sales and major stock declines. In its most recent quarter, same-store sales were down 8.3%, for example, while its share price is down over 50% versus last year.

Further, the chain’s market share has fallen from about 9% in 2023 to about 7.8% in 2025, according to new research from BTIG.

During the company’s second quarter earnings call in August, CEO Todd Penegor, who came on board in August 2024, addressed “media speculation regarding a potential sale.”

“We thoroughly explored whether alternative opportunities were available, including a potential sale of the business … The value creation opportunity that is actionable is the execution of our transformation plan,” he said. “We believe it is in the best interest of the company and all of our shareholders to focus 100% of our attention on Papa John's transformation and the initiatives we are discussing today.”

In other words, the company is forging ahead with the strategic plan Penegor put into place shortly after coming on board, including more investments in technology, a marketing evolution with more price-based promotions, and “tough conversations” with franchisees to ensure everyone has a “growth mindset.”

Brand perception issues

Nearly two years later, new data from YouGov BrandIndex, shows that there remains a lot of work to be done. Across five metrics, the chain scores below average against the top five domestic pizza chains, which also include Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, and Marco’s Pizza.

The narrowest gap is in the “quality” metric, where Papa Johns scores 12.8, just 0.7 points behind the category benchmark of 13.5.

Penegor said the company is prioritizing consumer insights to “elevate and optimize” core products, including through “dough optimization, baking consistency, toppings, and product presentation.”

Just this week, for instance, Papa Johns launched an Ultimate Pepperoni Pizza with 30% more pepperoni than its traditional pepperoni pizza. The company is highlighting the fact that the pizza is made with six ingredients and no artificial colors or MSG.

As for the other four YouGov metrics:

• Papa Johns’ “recommend” score is 10.6, versus the 14.5 average

• For “satisfaction,” the chain scores 12.6, versus 16.6

• The chain registers a 15.1 for “impression” versus the 19.4 average

• Its largest deficit is in “value,” where Papa Johns scores an 8.4 versus the industry average of 14.0.

Closing the value gap

Given the current value-heavy environment, closing the value gap has become a bigger priority for Penegor.

“We see two clear opportunities to gain share: continuing to strengthen our value perception with more targeted personalized offers, and a consistent, elevated customer experience and attracting new customers through a sharper aggregator strategy, total addressable market expansion, our rebuilt innovation pipeline, and a reenergized local presence through reestablished co-ops,” he told analysts last month.

The company recently added its oven-toasted sandwiches to its Papa Pairings lineup, for example, and featured its premium Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza at a $13.99 price point.

Despite lower scores versus its peers, there have been some silver linings for Papa Johns. The chain’s index score rose from 5.5 on August 27, 2025 to 10.4 on August 25, 2026. (The index score is a a measure of overall brand health, calculated as the average of six metrics: Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Reputation and Recommend).

Further, at the end of March, Papa Johns’ Index score stood at 7.2, compared with 11.4 for the industry leaders, but by late August, Papa Johns had jumped to 10.4.

As YouGov notes, “The brand has been moving in the right direction in recent months, even as its major competitors have continued to improve as well.

“… Consumer perception can provide an insight into whether or not a brand is on the right track and where it has room to improve. YouGov BrandIndex suggests the chain is starting from behind its biggest rivals across several measures, although the relatively small Quality gap and recent improvement in overall brand health give it some areas to build on.”

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