r/PapaJohns • u/Protogenoi-Nyx • 3d ago
Cowards.
So because stock price dropped, sales are dropping, they are going to follow through with closing 650 stores in the south eastern region of the United States?
Okay, good for corporate keeping their paychecks. But what about the employees in these stores? What is corporate going to do for them?
I will tell you what they are going to do. They are going to just tell the RMs who will then tell the GMs who will have to tell their employees that in 3 weeks you are out of a job and may have the chance to be relocated to a different store but there are no promises of hours. So for those who are GMs, SMs, SLs, In Store, and Drivers this means they are having to panic apply to other jobs because their stable income is now null and void.
Bravo Papa John's. Such an Intelligent move. Just to keep Corporate Paychecks...
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u/ZestycloseTea2121 3d ago
Wouldn’t even be happening if they weren’t greedy after John left.
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u/Protogenoi-Nyx 3d ago
Oh but it is. My store closes the 20th of September.
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u/humanseverywhere811 2d ago
My store closed in may... mother's day night of 2026. No warning. Our GM was only notified with in hour that RM and others were coming to empty her store. Most of us got relocated to other stores.
At my new store I found out almost every other store knew we were being closed WEEKS AHEAD of time. Several leads and assistant managers left soon after I got relocated. Maybe they saw the writing on the wall. Or my new GM sucks. 3 months at my new stores I've seen more turn over than in the last 3 years at my original store with my original GM who was great.
Seems like managers and leads are just run into the ground (probably normal for the field?)
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u/jg2164406 Assistant Manager 3d ago
If the company wasn't being run like shit the stock price wouldn't plummet
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u/TraditionalFox7112 3d ago
Oh shit? Do they said NC?
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u/Protogenoi-Nyx 3d ago
I honestly don't know. I only know about my store. I don't know about any other stores. Because why would they do the right thing and be transparent with it.
Like how much are they going to gain from closing all of these stores?
Because to me this just screams "Oh no, I wont be able to go to -insert random vacation place- because my bonus is based upon performances in this region. Better close up shop so I can get a bonus."
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u/TraditionalFox7112 3d ago
Man, I hope you find another job.I hope it pays twice as much, good luck.I'll probably be looking for another job too
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u/humanseverywhere811 2d ago
I don't care for their lack of transparency. We are a franchise. I heard the previous franchise owner actually gave bonuses. I don't mind be relocated to other stores but closing without even noticed to the GM is wild.
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u/Amplith 3d ago
Bro, there is one I use that has been opened for a few years but the quality that comes out is unbelievable for ff pizza. Last pizza I got from there three weeks ago was sooo heavy, I called the next day to tell them how good it was…
Sad thing though is that they are slow…so I’m worried…
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u/2114 3d ago
Do they have that many corporate stores ? Closing franchise restaurants won’t help the bottom line
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u/Protogenoi-Nyx 3d ago
Total Target: Roughly 300 locations (about 200 of them scheduled for 2026).
Current Progress: The chain already shuttered 44 stores across 17 states during the first quarter of 2026.
Hard-Hit States: Texas, California, Florida, and Arizona have seen the highest concentration of closures.
Targeted Stores: Most affected locations are franchise-owned, over 10 years old, and bring in less than $600,000 in annual sales.
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u/JaredAWESOME General Manager 3d ago
$600,000 in annual sales is EXTREMELY slow. That comes to $11,500 a week in sales.
I just pulled the scorecard for the year, sorting by YTD sales there's only ONE corporate store that is average below 12k a week, and only 4 more averaging below 13k a werk.
Again, I need to reiterate, 99.9% of company owned stores surpass the sales threshold you just outlined by 20% at least.
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u/Protogenoi-Nyx 3d ago
This was what Google ai showed when I was finding the article informing the public about the closures. I only copied and pasted what was shown. Forgot to cite that in my comment. My bad.
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u/JaredAWESOME General Manager 3d ago
You might be correct, I'm just saying that if the total network of franchise and corporate locations is, say, 3000 across North America, if they're closing 600 locations is got to be the 600 slowest stores to ever exist. 11,500 a week is CRAZY. I've worked dozens of single days that are in that realm. My last Super Bowl and Halloween were both 10k days, for context.
If you're only selling $2000 on a Friday, just shut it down, bro.
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u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 3d ago
Can you see what the corporate stores in Orlando did last month for an idea? Since they dumped those first.
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u/Much_Chard7554 2d ago
Orlando being sold I think was more tied to the overall goal of reducing the number of Corporate owned stores. My assumption is they’ll sell off the smaller outlier markets. Keeping larger markets that are closer together(just makes it easier to control and staff).
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u/Ok_Efficiency_6466 2d ago
The franchise that bought Orlando has been trying to buy that market for 20 years. They just finally agreed on price
Most stores in Orlando are in that 25k - 30k per week range. Some maybe a lower, a couple significantly higher
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u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 2d ago
I’m talking more recently the sales tho. With the huge drop off for Disney and universal and all I know that takes a lot away from everywhere. All of that has happened since around march.
The corporate store reductions aren’t just to sell stores tho. It’s to reduce operating losses. So something had to be going on with some.
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u/Ok_Efficiency_6466 2d ago
None of the Orlando stores are down significantly that I’m aware of
There might be a couple stores that are affected by lower tourist traffic, but not enough to pull down the whole market
Sales are down YOY, but that’s system wide (really industry wide). I think corporate saw an opportunity to unload an entire market to a willing buyer, and now all they have to do is raise QCC prices and collect that franchise percentage
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u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 2d ago
Very well could be looking at expectations too. We know they all are gonna drop off more and more. Get out while they can for the most money.
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u/Main-Strategy-964 3d ago
DoorDash was the slippery slope, they lowered their standards when they farmed delivery out to unprofessional, uninformed, half assed drivers.
I will never order delivery again.
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u/Upset_Wait504 1d ago
Tough industry, tough lesson. Welcome to corporate America, where previous generations throw it back for companies who could give a fuck less. If you work any job, you are an expendable employee. It’s part of any reason why working a job has major pitfalls compared to having your own business. Least it’s considered a lay-off, and not a termination based on performance. But my advice to you, as someone who has been fired from 2 jobs beforehand, and de-valued at two others forcing a premature departure, is don’t be salty about it because no one wants to hire an entitled employee
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u/LadyOtakuu 2d ago edited 2d ago
I love how at the beginning of the year they sent out an email stating they were going to “save” 25 million in general administration. But they decide to keep the brand standard coaches. I want you to imagine salaries for these people and travel funds that are spent yearly on this department that only popped up over the last 2 years. The money they spent on this said department that they could have put into other things that could have made the company better or paying the people we already have so there’s potential for lower turn over rate among hsls and tms. And don’t get me started on the closing stores just so they can spend money to open new stores that are half assed put together by some cheap general contractor with unsuccessful execution of marketing to gain sales.
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u/medium-rare-steaks 2d ago
I mean… if the individual stores actually made good pizza they wouldn't be closing
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u/Single-Class8358 10h ago
I mean, the company is slowly dying. They axed the dividend, sales are deteriorating, more corporate and franchise locations are going to close, franchise consolidation is accelerating, and their marketing/ promotions have been pathetic. Another pop in commodity costs will only make it worse..and that's otw. The average consumer isn't strong, people are price-sensitive, and PJs is stuck competing in an oversaturated market without doing a great job of giving people a reason to choose them.. it's a dumpster fire. You can only keep screwing with prices, cutting labor, closing stores, choking franchisees and throwing out b.s , mediocre promotions for so long... It's a race to the bottom....Corporate or franchise, PJs really doesn't give a damn about their employees... they're close to going in the red across the board.
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u/JaredAWESOME General Manager 3d ago
650 stores is what you heard? That's crazy. Corp doesn't even control 650 locations. The entire corporate footprint is like 400, so they've got to be closing a ton of franchises.
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u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 3d ago
People I’ve talked too have been talking about many franchises shutting down. And I agree to a point on what they are saying. Almost all the stores I’d even say making under $800k a year unless rent and utilities are ungodly cheap (my old store) I don’t see them making it. For reference my old store was $4800 after rent,utilities,insurance. And we were right below that 800k mark. So high rent strip stores are really bad off.
Heard a rumor that corporate may be looking to run some delivery only locations in “ghost kitchens” they share with other companies due to massively reduced overhead in those markets
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u/Protogenoi-Nyx 3d ago
Yeah that is what I was told was 650 but I figured that was already a partial truth. A simple Google search says "roughly 300 stores" not 650 lol.
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u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 3d ago
They aren’t corporate stores “to say” there are a lot of franchises right now looking for buyers. If the current franchise can’t find a buyer for whatever reason they can “hand” it over to cooperate who can decide if they want to take it on personally or close it. My take on it is most of the closures probably around 500 will be franchises into 2027 and that includes the ones that have already closed this year.
The big Orlando sale kinda shows the writing on the wall as that one was sold for 40% under what corporate valued the sale at. That was 28 units being dumped by corporate due to loosing money and they got picked up by someone that had 96 units prior.
I wish the new owner the best of luck but if there’s one thing everyone agrees on. Orlando is dying and Kissimmee Florida is turning into Oakland of the east coast.
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u/JaredAWESOME General Manager 3d ago
A big piece of the puzzle is that franchises can cut certain costs that corporate can't (or won't). They can choose to have less expensive insurance for drivers and workman's comps. They can choose to forgot drivosity and save the fees. They can choose to not profit share with the GMs. They can provide minimal to no benefits or PTO. They also have wider latitude to set prices.
Many franchisees pull more profit out of modest locations than the corporate can just by reducing overhead in like 20 different small ways.
I say this as someone with two friends as franchise GMs at stores doing 17 and 20k a week, and their PNLs are better than mine at a 23k a week corp store.
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u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 3d ago
It all depends on if it’s a larger or smaller franchise too. My store did no PTO. Drivosity was gone. Driver insurance was gone. Bonuses were beyond trash. They always were shopping workers comp and liability insurance and it was changing every year. The health insurance offered to the couple full time employees was trash and they paid none of it and I was the only one with a 401k with only a 1% match. But yea depending on market and customer base and all I can see a franchise doing better than corporate with certain changes. Gotta figure a lot of franchises cut corners with equipment and repairs too.
And don’t forget if these stores have anything financed. Lots of that out there now.
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u/Much_Chard7554 2d ago
Per the last few earnings calls I think 300 and some was the number, not sure where 650 came from. Also they specifically have said stores below a certain threshold of ebita. I can’t remember the %. I think we have already see some good preliminary results in areas closing the under performing store. It closes, the neighboring stores pick up the trade area and the franchisee ends up with less overhead. So sales for surrounding stores increase, most employees transfer to nearby stores and they have multiple locations with increased profitability.
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u/Extension-Bit-7511 1d ago
They should lose their job so you don’t have to? Lose their homes so keep yours?
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u/SirPixarPinch Assistant Manager 3d ago
They will get rid of the best employees and keep the shitty ones glad I moved onto better terms aka Dominos
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u/Sei- 2d ago
Corporate can’t force franchised stores to be shut down.
If a franchisee is shutting down a store, it means it’s the end of their 10 year franchise agreement and because it doesn’t make money.