Papa Johns reaches location milestone

Papa Johns reported that it opened its 6,000th restaurant in 2024 while disclosing preliminary sales figures for its fourth quarter ended Dec. 29, 2024.

The pizza chain and franchise opened 122 total new locations during its fourth quarter including 63 openings in North America and 83 international openings.

“We are pleased with the progression of our transaction trends and new restaurant openings in the fourth quarter,” said Todd Penegor, Papa Johns president and CEO. “Our focus on traffic-driving investments with an emphasis on crafting high-quality, traditional pizza – while amplifying our brand promise and more effectively engaging our customers across all channels – has contributed to these improving trends.”

Sales for the fourth quarter 2024 fell about 8% to $1.2 billion party due to an additional week of operations in fiscal 2023. Excluding the 53rd week in 2023, global sales were roughly flat compared to the prior fourth quarter.

North America comparable sales were down 4% compared with the prior year period as transaction and ticket were each down 2%. North America franchised restaurants comparable sales were down 4% while domestic company-owned restaurants were down 6% from a year ago.

Full-year global sales fell 3% to $4.9 billion in 2024 as North American sales decreased 4%.

For all of 2024, Papa Johns had a net of 124 new restaurants. In North America, the company 112 new restaurant openings.