---
title: "NRN: Papa John’s CMO Brandon Rhoten to Step Down"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/84509a1c-2cd3-4694-80f9-690537514072
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/nrn-papa-johns-cmo-brandon-rhoten-to-step-down-2706508
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2018-05-10T16:11:26.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:31:50.142Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/30b7e1d3d212f32f86bc35e01af9132c7178.jpg
---

# NRN: Papa John’s CMO Brandon Rhoten to Step Down

**TL;DR:** Papa John's CMO Brandon Rhoten will resign at the end of May, and President and CEO Steve Ritchie will act as interim CMO until a permanent replacement is found. Rhoten's resignation comes after a first quarter with declining sales and revenue for the company.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-05-10. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/nrn-papa-johns-cmo-brandon-rhoten-to-step-down-2706508).*

## Story

Papa John’s International Inc.’s chief marketing officer, Brandon Rhoten, will resign at the end of May.

According to an article on Nation’s Restaurant News, Papa John’s President and CEO Steve Ritchie announced Rhoten’s resignation to investors on Tuesday.

Rhoten’s resignation arrives on the heels of a first quarter that saw North American same-store sales decline by 5.3 percent and revenue decline by 4.9 percent. Papa John’s closed 17 locations in North American and repurchased 2 million shares in Q1.

Rhoten joined Papa John’s just a year ago after serving as vice president of media and digital/social at The Wendy’s Co. Ritchie will act as interim CMO until the franchise finds a permanent replacement.

“We will be initiating a search for a new marketing leader that has the necessary skills to execute our strategy with urgency and agility. . . We need to be faster in improving how we communicate and connect with consumers to improve results,” Ritchie said.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Wendy's (company)
- Papa Johns (company)
- executive change (topic)
- cmo resignation (topic)
- q1 sales decline (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/nrn-papa-johns-cmo-brandon-rhoten-to-step-down-2706508). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/84509a1c-2cd3-4694-80f9-690537514072).