In the latest chapter of the pizza wars, Papa Johns announced it is closing hundreds of North America locations during a fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday. It will also cut about 7% of its workforce.
In that call, Papa Johns’ chief financial officer and president of North America Ravi Thanawal said the company plans to shutter a total of 300 underperforming restaurants in North America “that are not meeting brand expectations or lack a clear path to sustainable financial improvement, as well as locations where we can effectively transfer sales to a nearby restaurant.”
The closures will happen by the end of 2027, with the first two-thirds closed by year end. According to the company’s annual report, it had about 3,500 locations at the end of 2025, per CNN.
Papa Johns International (PZZA) was trading down over 8% at the end of Thursday’s trading day.
Fast Company has reached out to Papa Johns for a list of locations that will be closing.
The news comes just three weeks after Pizza Hut said it, too, was closing 250 “underperforming” locations in 2026 as fast-casual restaurant chains struggle, with consumer spending dropping amid higher inflation and a high cost of living. Pizza Hut plans to shut those 250 locations, which amount to about 3% of its U.S. locations, in the first six months of this year. The chain cited competition from rival Domino’s Pizza and declining store sales.
Speaking of Domino’s—unlike Pizza Hut and Papa Johns, its earnings beat expectations, and its success proves people are still eating tomato pies, even as the competition falters. What’s the secret sauce?
As Fast Company previously reported, Domino’s chief financial officer Sandeep Reddy mentioned the company plans to capitalize on Pizza Hut’s recent store closings.
With overall pizza-eating up somewhere between 1 to 2%, the question remains: Who can capture these consumers, given their current nuanced purchasing behavior?
“The total number of pizzas sold [is] actually increasing 1%, as well as improvement in orders that included multiple pizzas . . . [but] single pie orders declined during the quarter, and total pizza sales declined low single digits as our order mix shifted towards smaller, non-specialty pizzas,” Papa Johns CEO Todd Penegor explained during Thursday’s earnings call.
Papa Johns reported fourth-quarter earnings results with revenue missing expectations, coming in at $498.2 million, below estimates of $517.9 million; and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) coming in at 34 cents, beating the expected 33 cents.